Thursday, January 29, 2015

Eggs are not "dairy".

At least not when we're talking about intolerances and allergies.

Just saying folks.  Can we stop calling eggs dairy?

They really have nothing to do with milk.  Dairy milk comes from cows, usually, or perhaps occasionally from sheep or goats. Dairy milk products include milk, buttermilk, cream, sour cream, butter, yogurt, kefir and all the cheeses including cottage cheese and cream cheese.

On the other hand, eggs come from chickens and are not a milk product.



Yes eggs and milk both come from farms, and perhaps in the past, many small family farms had both chickens and cows, but in our modern world, not only do eggs and milk not come from the same animal, but they usually don't come from the same place or "dairy" anymore.

Importantly, many people have dairy "intolerances" or "allergies".  These are most often intolerances or allergies to milk products.  (See here for more information on who can eat dairy and why.  If you experience problems with dairy, you might find that there are some milk products you can tolerate.)

Of course, there are also people who have intolerances and allergies to eggs, but the two are totally separate from one another.  If you're allergic to milk, you're not necessarily allergic to eggs.  Fewer people have trouble with eggs than do with milk.

Because so many more people have difficulties in digesting milk products, many are choosing to live a dairy-free lifestyle.  These people are giving up most milk products, but not eggs.

Also, and importantly for healing and maintaining good health, many of us are following anti-inflammatory diets or paleo.  Many milk products are inflammatory and therefore disease-promoting. On the other hand, eggs, at least those from pastured chickens, are high in omega-3 fats which are anti-inflammatory.

So, many people on healing diets are forgoing most milk products but including eggs.

Okay...feeling better now that I got that off my chest.   

No comments:

Post a Comment