We get emails all the time asking about our stance on dairy. Questions like, “is dairy paleo? Can I eat dairy if I want to go paleo? If butter is included in a paleo lifestyle why isn’t milk, cream or cheese (pleeeease tell me cheese is paleo, I will love you forever!).”
It does get confusing because many bloggers and paleo recipe makers do include some dairy in their lives. We eat grass fed butter and ghee daily (far out it’s all kinds of yum and extremely nourishing) but we choose to stay away from other kinds of dairy. See… that is confusing!
Well here’s our view. We say, if you love dairy, if you feel ok with dairy, no, if you feel GOOOOOD while/during/after consuming good quality organic dairy, GO FOR IT! Eat the dairy! But if you feel crappy, have sinus problems, tummy aches, gas/bloating, skin problems after eating dairy, don’t eat it! Or at least have a short break up with you’re beloved dairy.
We do love human experiments (don’t worry, only on ourselves most of the time). Late last year over a 4 week period we included good quality dairy in our lives, in the form of quality organic cheese and delicious creamy natural Greek yoghurt. We were in a dairy filled heaven. Goats cheese stuffed burgers, yoghurt dressings and definitely butter everything.
After these delicious 4 weeks we sat down on our cute meditation chairs and chatted all things dairy and reflected. We both felt more sluggish than usual but we also realised this was probably from the weekly Salted Choc Caramel Slice recipe testing, oops. So no, we couldn’t blame it on the dairy (and we also realised we need to work on our human experimenting skills!). The one thing we know for sure is that when Carla eats dairy she gets pimples on her face. She’s tested this out several times and every time she eats milk, cheese or yoghurt… guaranteed a couple days later about 5 pimple will pop up! But she’s fine with butter! How crazy interesting and amazing is that?!
When I (this is Emma by the way) am out to dinner and I see a delicious dinner meal with feta on the menu I may just order it (such a rebel). Carla on the other hand stays away from it completely because she likes her clear paleo skin!
When we say everyone’s paleo is different we truly mean it! It’s time to get in tune with your body and notice how you feel after food, this includes paleo approved food. Keep a food diary or start an elimination diet. Once you start to notice how your body reacts to certain foods this kind of experimenting is actually quite fun! And with the goal of optimal health it’s bound to get interesting!
Have you cut dairy from your diet… or do you include it? We’d love to hear from you, just comment below. Then you should probably go make a batch of our nut free paleo cheese because it is all kinds of drool worthy delicious. You could even try our paleo cheese on toast or what about the paleo spaghetti bolognese or cheese burgers?!
Paleo cheese week has officially rocked! #MMCheeseWeek!
Always merrymaking
Emma + Carla
p.s keep an eye out for some NEW recipes featuring good quality organic dairy… mmm feta… mmm natural yoghurt!