Just curious as to why some "all meaters" here justify eating dairy and at the same time quote V. Steffanson -- who specifically rejected the notion of eating dairy during his year-long documented all-meat diet experiment?Makes sense he would reject dairy beause Inuits certainly weren't milking fish.

But does anyone know about native American primarily all meat diets? Did they ever eat buffalo milk/cheese???

And how do some following a paleoish type dietary regime justify eating butter/cream -- but not cheese??

Sure they did. Haven't you ever heard of a buffalo standing still to be milked??---especially when all the others in the herd where being chased and killed.
But I suppose the best milk during paleo times came from the WOOLY MAMMOTHS. LOL

I'm on my 3rd day without any dairy and I literally shed 5 lbs. overnight. Check out this site.

The guy running the site is obviously a PETA wacko, but he challenges you to go a week without dairy. Give it a shot. See what happens.

Humans have no need of milk after being weaned from their mothers. Most humans just like the taste of milk and milk products. IMO it has nothing to do with nutrition, but the same thing could be said of many things humans eat.
One thing is for sure--most humans like a lot of variety in their diet. ** Notice I said "like" not "need" a lot of variety in their diet.

Not strictly true, humans continue to produce the digestive enzyme lactase throughout their lives which is used to break down lactose in dairy food so not only infants benefit from milk products. I don't know why we do but we just do. Those who are 'lactose intolerant' (an overly misused common selfdiagnosis of the modern age) may simply have reduced production of lactase.

I never said adults could not digest dairy nor did I say we could not utilize it. I said it was not neccessary after infancy. For all I know cows produce lactase all their lives too, but I have never heard of an adult cow still nursing its mother. While it is true that most humans nursed their offspring much longer in the past than they do today (some up to 5 years of age), I doubt that adult humans still nursed the lactating women in their tribes (but ya never know! ). Seriously, milk from non-human sources was probably not used by humans until they domesticated animals during Neolithic times. That means that the earliest humans did not drink milk after they were weaned in childhood.

ps: Just think of cats for an example. Domesticated cats would never drink milk after they were weaned unless humans gave it to them or they were starving and just accidentally happened upon a bowl of milk. The same is true of all mammals. I believe humans are the only mammals that choose to drink milk (use milk products) after they are weaned.

Unless my feline vet was terribly mistaken, cats should not be given milk once they are weaned because it upsets their digestive tracts and gives them diarrhea. I would take this as cats cannot digest milk (especially the milk of another species) past weaning.
It's true that humans are the only creature that I can think of that drink milk past the age of weaning and the milk of another species to boot.
That said, I'm not a big fan of milk and haven't had any since my last pregnancy 11 years ago, but I do like cheese and yogurt and eat them in moderation; I eat them because I like the taste, not because I think they're a necessity for good health. I don't make a big deal about my kids drinking milk, either, because I really don't buy that it's necessary for good health past the age of weaning (with the possible exception of yogurt with active cultures after a round of antibiotics to help replace the 'good' gut bacteria). If they want it, it's available, cheese and yogurt as well, but I don't force them to have a serving of dairy at every meal if they don't want it.
If someone takes the stance that they will only eat foods that paleo peoples ate, all dairy products would be out since paleo people didn't consume any type of milk or milk product past the age of weaning; where would they get it since a wild animal will not stand still and allow its milk to be taken.
OTOH, how many people have their plan listed as "Atkins + coffee" or something similar? Lots of people don't follow their plans exactly as written because they aren't willing to give something up.

I like cheese, and based on the limited food that I eat, eliminating cheese would just make my diet too boring....I grew up in Wisconsin, so I HAVE to eat cheese you know!!



LOL Fluffy!!



I have heard this as well. I used to drink lots of milk (a gallon a day), but then one day I quit as I found it was too hard to maintain my weight and drink milk.

Some people that are "lactose intolerant" are really gluten intolerant (celiac disease). Lactase is produced on the tip of the villi in the intestines. On those that are intolerant, gluten blunts the villi, destroying the cells that produce the lactase.

Once celiacs drop the gluten from their diets and heal their gut, they frequently find that they are no longer lactose intolerant.

The frequency in humans of lactose intolerance varies a lot depending upon your ancestry.

http://www.diagnosishealth.com/lactose1.htm
Lactose intolerance (LI) is a common disorder that affects a quarter of the US population and may affect as many as 75% of the world population. The prevalence varies by race and ethnicity. It is more common among African-Americans, Hispanics and oriental population. In India, for example, it is seen in 25% of north Indian and 70% of south Indian population.

Most common for is the adult-type or primary deficiency where there is usually deficiency of Lactase enzyme activity and not complete absence. Congenital lactase deficiency is rare.

Milk intolerance suggests onset of symptoms after drinking milk and not necessarily lactose intolerance.

Symptoms of Lactose Intolerance include bloating, stomach pains, diarrhea and gassiness. Symptoms may occur in some patients even when their lactase enzyme activity is within normal limits. This may occur in 5% of adults. Thus, some people erroneously think that their symptoms are due to lactase deficiency when that is not true.

Lactose restricted diet may improve symptoms not only in lactase deficient patients but also in irritable bowel syndrome in adults and recurrent abdominal pain in kids.

Having not had anything with wheat since Xmas, I think its safe to say it was strictly dairy screwing me up. Unless the gut takes more than 6 months to heal.

Probably. I wasn't referring to your post, just the lactose intolerance post. It is possible to have an intolerance to casein, one of the proteins in dairy.




A lot of celiacs report that it can take a year or more to feel good again after going off of gluten.

I think it's easy to get too carried away with doing this "strictly," in the sense of following some plan right down to the letter. Most of us are doing this to make our lives better, not to live according to somebody's theory laid down in a book. If loosely following a paleo plan and adding dairy makes somebody happy and able to realize their health goals, more power (and cheese, and butter, and yogurt) to them. If someone follows Bernstein's but is able to maintain BS while eating tomatoes, great for them!

Personally, you can take my cheese when you pry it from my cold, humming, refrigerator, after you get through me first

He, he, he!!! Gotta have my cheese!!!

Gotta have my CHEESE, my dh teases me about the block size I buy. It is sooooobig. But it kills the cravings and thats all I need.