Change Your Brain Every Day - Q&A: Should You be Consuming Dairy?

Episode Date: October 10, 2019

Q&A time! This episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast features Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen answering some of your questions. Topics covered in this episode include the health benefits and risks of drinking milk, and what you can do to avoid a midday crash. If you’d like your own question answered on the show, please visit brainwarriorswaypodcast.com for instructions on how to submit.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome back. We have been talking about toxins this week. And in this episode, though, we are going to answer your questions. But first, we are going

to talk about our book winners. So every time you guys go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com and you leave a question or a review, it enters you into a raffle. So our winners from this week are Mark from Round Rock, Texas, Cody from Salt Lake City, Utah, Bridget from Aliso Viejo, California, and Dwayne from Seattle, Washington. So here's- Congratulations. Yes, congratulations. So go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com, leave a positive review on Apple Podcast, go to our website and ask your questions

and that will enter you into our drawing, into our- Yeah, no, you can leave a negative review and we'll still enter you- But we'd rather you leave a positive one. We'll still enter you into the drawing. I was trying to be sneaky. But we want to know how you think we can improve this. Tana reads all of them. I do. But this is the book you will get if you win. Good. All right. Well, I have one of the reviews. We took our son to get a brain scan to help us understand his ADD.

And we are so grateful we did. Our eyes have been open so much to the actions we can take to navigate this road much more smoothly. Excited for even more information via these podcasts. And this is from Dre W. Awesome. So bless you. Thank you for the reviews. So this is a new podcast that we're doing

where we answer people's questions. And I'll read the first one, and you probably have an answer. Hi, Tana and Daniel. I have a question about milk. Specifically, what's your take on it? I quit drinking cow's milk years ago, except for the occasional bit on my oatmeal or yogurt. Usually, I use a homemade nut milk. However, I'm taking a nutrition class right now, and the USDA recommends three cups of dairy per day. Of course. Three cups. That seems outrageously

high. It feels more like a market-manip manipulated suggestion than an actual health benefit. Any thoughts on how cow's milk or other milks affect the health of the body and brain? Valerie. Yeah. So yes, I would agree with your comments in there about the market. So there's no evidence that cow's milk is good for you or that it's even a good source of calcium really. But what they're trying to do is make a blanket statement so that the general population at least gets some. Your nut milk is actually a fine, well, if you're making it yourself at home, you might not be getting enough calcium because store-bought nut milk actually is enriched with calcium. So just make sure you're getting a good source of calcium, but the best way to get vitamin D and calcium is obviously with your greens is really

the best way. So just make sure you're getting enough calcium and vitamin D. Most people don't digest cow's milk very well. So you're correct about that. The small amounts aren't going to hurt you. I have a whole section on cows milk in Omni Diet and in Brain Warriors Way. So if you want to get into detail about that, I would read that in there, but you are actually correct. And three, you don't need three cups of milk a day. So. So let me add to that a little bit. Almost all the dairy in the United States is raised with hormones and antibiotics. You don't need those hormones and you don't need the antibiotics. And we're a fan, I think both of us are a fan, of eating sustainably raised, clean meat but um one thing nobody ever thinks about is you know your your body when

you're sad when you're lonely when you And so if you're eating industrial raised animals or drinking their milk, you are also not only getting the hormones and antibiotics, but you're getting the chemicals of animals that are generally lonely and sad, angry, and depressed. And so I'm very concerned about it in addition. So you don't need the hormones, you don't need the antibiotics, you don't need the lonely chemicals. Caseomorphins, casein, the protein, one of the primary proteins from dairy, combines with stomach acid and turns into something called caseomorphins that work on the heroin or opiate centers in your brain. So I remember, and you remember when at Christmas we go over to my mom's house and she makes these incredibly tasting pizzas. And so the pizza is like filled with love and cheese. And I wouldn't have one piece. I mean, before I got smart, I'd like eat eight and feel completely like crap. And so cheese can be addictive.

So we just have to be thoughtful and careful. I'm a fan of almond milk. Yeah. That Costco actually makes a really clean vanilla organic almond milk that's not expensive. And for people who are not lactose intolerant, raw dairy would be okay with the exception of the fact that you have to be very careful then. So if you're not getting pasteurized milk, you're not killing the bacteria in it. You have to be very careful of the source you're getting, right?

So it's very risky. The other thing is people who are very sensitive and have allergies to cow's milk often don't have the same allergies to goat's milk. That's a whole long discussion, but I do go into detail on that in the Omni diet. So for those of you who really do want some form of milk, sheep's milk, cow's milk, especially the yogurt or the cheese, oftentimes you don't have the same reaction to that that you do to cow's milk. So big section on that. Didn't you say in one of your books that like with goat milk, there was like 90% less reaction? Yes, reaction. So they actually did a study with kids who had severe milk allergies and it was 85% of the kids that have milk allergies to cow's milk did not react to goat's milk.

And I think one of the reasons the USDA comes out with these recommendations is the political lobby from the dairy industry. It is, and it's also blanket. And often the people who work at the USDA, and it's a huge scandal, end up after their stay there working at the dairy company. And some of these were created so long ago, and they're not updated. And they were created to protect people from one nutritional deficiency, but then they're not updated for a few years. And I'm getting ready to speak at TACA, talk about curing autism. And many of the parents there say when they get kids off dairy and off gluten, their words go up. The number of words they use go up.

So that indicates- And their anger outbursts go down. Often. Do you want to read this one? Yes. So I've recently started the Brain Warriors Way class and i love it i'm having an issue though i'm crashing midday usually around 1 or 2 p.m i'll get really tired and very grumpy from what i'm learning from you this is my blood sugar i know you've said to take protein like medicine

can you give me some examples of good snack that has protein any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated also i feel like I need a schedule, something that guides me as to the best times to eat, exercise, snacks, wake up, et cetera. Is it possible to help me with that? Also, I greatly appreciate everything you and Dr. Amen are doing. I watch y'all every day when I'm working. I keep the podcast. When I'm working, I keep the podcast on. I'm very new to this lifestyle and I do not want to fall off. This is great.

What I'm learning is so eye-opening. It is so sad that I've lived for 42 years without knowing how evil sugar is. I can't thank you both enough, Amber. Awesome, I love this. Okay, so where to start? Number one, the midday crash is probably because you're coming down off of sugar that's

number one number two um yes it's probably your blood sugar and you need a good snack number three it could be that your brain type is telling you you maybe need some smart carbs at that time not dumb carbs not sugar but maybe a little bit of smart carbs you may need a little boost maybe you need some energy in the form of some high fiber carbs so maybe a half bit of smart carbs. You may need a little boost. Maybe you need some energy in the form of some high fiber carbs. So maybe a half piece of fruit, maybe an apple, sliced apple with some almond butter on it might be good. And you could even have a hard boiled egg along with that for some protein. So that would be my suggestion. That actually sounds like a great snack. It's a great snack. And I do have a suggestion for a very specific, very specific. Um, she wanted a very specific, um, schedule. So I have a very specific schedule for food, snacks, menu,

exercise, sleep, all of it in Omni diet. It a six-week program so it's got three phases so highly recommend you get omni diet in fact because you wrote this i will send it to you if you amber if you go to brain warriors way podcast.com don't leave it on the main page go to the section leave us a private um message i will send you the omni diet um so if you are listening go there and i will send it to you because you really practical yeah and it's really because you are working so hard at this and you are actually doing the program i'm going to send that to you and it's got a six week very specific program how much to eat what to eat also the brain warriors way class that people can take online at Amen University.

And so what I want to point out too, because she's just been so good about this, the cookbook. So when you look at the food portion, the food program in OmniDiet, all of the recipes are interchangeable. They're just there to show you the suggestion of how versatile it can be, of how many options you have. You can switch any of those recipes out with these. So I don't want you to think, oh, I have to spend all this time cooking all these different recipes. No, switch them out for whatever you want. It's just to show you what you can have. All right. Well, we're out of time. And that was great. You're so smart. So are you.

That's why I like hanging out with you. We are grateful. If there's one thing you took away, maybe about dairy or about the afternoon blues. You know, sometimes if I get tired in the afternoon, I use Brain Boost on the go. Yeah. From Brain MD. That's why I created it. She might be dehydrated.

You might need more hydration. Well, also Brain Boost on the go has B6, B12, folate, and theanine and is just a great little energy drink for you. So write down the one thing you learned on any of your social media channels and hashtag BrainWarriorsWayPodcast or go to BrainWarriorsWayPodcast, or go to BrainWarriorsWayPodcast, leave a review, leave a question. We'll answer as many questions as we can,

and then automatically, when you leave a review or a question, we'll enter you into a raffle for the BrainWarriorsWay cookbook. Stay with us. If you're enjoying the BrainWarriorsWay Podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode.

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