Is dairy paleo? The answer to this question, like way too many people’s Facebook relationship statuses, is “it’s complicated”.
Table of Contents
Is Dairy Paleo?: The Bad, The Better & The Best Options
Upon first hearing about the paleo diet, most people will come across the standard response:
Dairy is not paleo.
But there’s not just one one type of paleo. When you look into thedifferent types of paleo, you find that the dairy situation looks a little more like this:
Strict paleo:No. Nada. Zip.
Primal:Well, sorta.
Everyonewhen it comes to grass-fed butter:Yeah, it’s pretty good.
Let’s Break It Down
What’s wrong with dairy? Well, there are two main issues.
Insulin Response
Some kinds of dairy trigger a huge insulin response, which immediately puts a stop to all fat burning. Not good for those people trying to lose weight on paleo. That said, there are some instances (post-workout for example) when this is beneficial.
Casein
Casein, like gluten, is a sneaky protein which promotes the deterioration of your gut lining. Not good. While it’s tough to say exactly what effect casein has on the body, it doesn’t seem too good, so we don’t recommend having too much of the stuff.
Lactose-Intolerance
Quite a few people lack the enzymes necessary to properly break down and digest milk. As a result, they end up with bloating, diarrhea, and other indigestion problems. They are lactose intolerant.
Cancer
This is where most people seem to object to dairy. Loren Cordain, theauthor of The Paleo Diet, argues that milk can increase the risk of cancer, as well as a whole host of other bad diseases. It’s when they hear this that most paleos write off dairy.
That said, the studies Cordain cites tend to be a little fuzzy and not all dairy is created equal. Some forms are better than others and they all react with your body in different ways.
Dairy: The Bad, The Better & The Good
The Bad
Overly processed dairy:
- Fat-free
- 1% milk
- 2% milk
Who says this? Everyone. You’ll find very few people promoting these forms of dairy as they’re all highly insulinogenic. Furthermore, the beneficial part of most dairy is its healthy fat, which is stripped away in the creation of these forms.
Better
- Fermented full-fat dairy (yogurt/ cheese)
Most of these products are almost free of both casein and lactose, which is nice. Be sure to watch out for the sugar content of yogurt but, apart from that, these forms are decidedly better for you than the processed junk listed above.
Good to Best
Grass fed butter, cream and full-fat dairy are pretty solid. Even Robb Wolf who’s as strict as they come says it’s hard to make a case against grass-fed butter. It contains a ton of healthy fats plus a great Omega-3 : Omega-6 ratio. This is one reason thatbulletproof coffee is so popularin the paleo community.
Honestly, very few people will put up much of an argument about grass-fed, full-fat dairy, but this is one of the arenas that’s ideal for personal experimentation. See how it affects your body and go from there.
So Is Dairy Paleo?
Well, maybe.
We know – that’s still super inconclusive. Fortunately, we do have recommendations for you to help you find out what works best for you:
- Try cutting out all dairy for thirty days and see how you feel.
- Try adding back in grass-fed butter.
- Consider trying whole milk, yogurt and/or cheese in small amounts and see how they affect you.
The key to all of this is experimentation – trying things on yourself and seeing how you end up feeling. If you find that some foods affect your more than others, reduce them or cut them out of your diet completely (note: this should be the rule for all foods but dairy makes a great testing ground as it’s such a gray area in the paleo world).
There are some interesting arguments against dairywhich are worth exploring but, in the end, it comes down to what helps you perform the best.
So what do you think? What’s your take on dairy? Is dairy paleo?
References
- http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dairy-intolerance/#axzz2t9owD1x5
- http://thepaleodiet.com/qa-with-dr-cordain-milk/
Photo credit:U.S. Department of Agriculture
Download Your FREE Paleo Starter Kit Today!
- 3-Day Paleo Diet Meal Plan
- Comprehensive Paleo Diet Shopping List
- 5 of Our Favorite Paleo Diet Recipes
Olivesays
I believe that dairy is paleo but it has to be organic grass fed, which might be difficult to find. Also there is dairy from goats, camels etc. what do you think about I have goats milk and butter from St Helens Farm here is the link:https://www.sthelensfarm.co.uk/them?? and I find that I do not have a problem with it as compared to cow milk.
simosays
Hi Olive
Just to let you know that unfortunately the goat products you mentioned are neither organic nor grass-fed. St Helens Farm is a big operation supplying many supermarkets across the UK which already it made me wonder. On their website (https://www.sthelensfarm.co.uk/farm) they said that they keep their goats inside (so they are not even free range) and although they also give them haylage, they feed them concentrates, that is, they are mainly grain-fed, and these are not even organic so most likely also includes GM soya. Altogether not a good choice, thought you may like to know. If you ask around you can probably find some other local small dairy that can provide a much better option. Good luck
雅says
我们买克里草喂奶酪的美味啊n Mary’s seeded crackers. A nice snack a few times a week that won’t harm anything if you don’t go overboard.
Joel Runyonsays
Kerry gold is solid – but dairy typically falls into “primal” rather than paleo – even if it’s the good kind. Strict paleo typically says no dairy whatesoever.
Joel Runyonsays
Agreed with the butter – but we’ll have to disagree on the crackers which are decidedly not paleo.
雅says
You are right Joel, but strictly Paleo is too strict for me especially when it doesn’t affect me in a negative way. Moderation is my key.
Joel Runyonsays
We take the approach here at UPG to precisely define what “paleo” is and then encourage people to experiment for themselves to find out what works best for them personally. Some people can handle dairy better than others – which is why it typically falls under the “primal” framework rather than strict “paleo.”