Can You Remind Me Why Dairy (Milk Especially) Is so Wrong?

Hey JJ Here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays. And Wayfair is my go to for that. Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my books stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts for loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with ease. If you're ready to make your home feel as good as it looks, get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, every home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order. Some people think nature is like this, but actually it's like this. That's why Columbia engineers everything we need make for anything nature can throw at you. Columbia engineered for whatever Good morning.

Would someone be so kind and remind me why dairy milk especially is so wrong? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert, and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions, and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the Health Expert. Good morning. Would someone be so kind and remind me why dairy milk especially is so wrong? I know it's inflammatory, but I always thought it was the casein that made my skin go nuts. Now, at almost 50, my skin isn't so much the problem anymore. As much as I notice, my gut just seems to stop when I make my homemade instant pot yogurt. You guys, it's so good. Just plain, no sugar. But I can't poo for days. Why is this? I've tried and tried to make alternative milk yogurt, but it never thickens up like the Greek style I love. This is virtually the only dairy I have in my diet anymore at all. But I may have to go back to none anymore. I'm so sad because the yogurt is so, so good. Any thoughts? Please educate me again as it's been a minute since I read the Virgin Diet. Thank you, Julie Dunn from Facebook. Oh man, there's so many things I want to unpack in this question. And I tried to emphasize where she had things in all caps, so hence the enthusiasm for this. And I still remember back when I used to have a little bit of snow steamed regular milk on my coffee in the morning and I thought it's just a little bit will be fine. Pull it out. Drop weight, Clear up my skin in a week.

Wow.

So let's deconstruct this. I'll be right back to share my thoughts about dairy.

Stay with me. Hey, it's J.J. here. Now, let's be honest. The holidays are basically a financial ambush. Travel, hosting gifts, surprise holiday school things. Suddenly you're wondering how December turned into a spending spree. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone. What really grabbed my attention is how fast those little holiday expenses pile up with Monarch. Seeing everything in one place makes it a lot harder to accidentally overspend. And honestly, I appreciate anything that keeps me from starting January with a money hangover. You'll love exploring the holiday spending category. Imagine how good it will feel to actually see what's happening before your credit card statement does that whole dramatic reveal thing. Monarch basically shows you exactly where the money is going in real time. And that level of clarity could change everything, right? Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year. @monarch.com with code Virgin, the holidays are all about family.

But at the Chrysler Wrap of the year sales event, it's all about you. Enjoy every mile in the most awarded minivan in America, the Chrysler Pacifica. With the most standard safety features in its class, available Stow n Go seating and the available Stow and back built in vacuum. Make the most of the holidays with a great deal at the Chrysler Pacifica. Wrap up the year sales event based on Ward's small van segment. Based upon the latest available competitor information. Chrysler is a registered trademark of FCA US llc.

So I actually just grabbed my book the Virgin Diet and turn to chapter five, dump the dairy. And I'm going to share a couple things from there. But here's the deal. So the Virgin Diet walks you through the seven foods that are the most likely culprits to cause food intolerance. And when you have food intolerance, you're reacting to the very foods that you think you're eating to be helpful but could be hurting you. These cause all sorts of things. Skin issues like acne, gas and bloating, joint pain, constipation or diarrhea, headaches, fatigue. You crave the very foods that are hurting you. Autoimmune triggers can be a strong autoimmune trigger joint pain. I think you're getting the story here. And so one of the things that we do in the Virgin Diet is you pull all these foods out for at least three weeks longer, better. And then you go back one by and you check in, you connect the dots, you see how you feel when you eat that food. Because even if you were to do a food sensitivity test and said, hey, you're fine, and tests don't really actually say, hey, you're fine, but it would say no result, right if you eat the food and feel like crap, I don't know what test you really need that food's not working for you and it doesn't mean it won't work for you forever. But it means at this moment in time, you need to heal your gut. Because a leaky gut is why we key reason we get food intolerance and then go back and try it again. So just had to point that out and then I'm going to deconstruct this. So what are the issues with dairy? Well, skin's a big one. And so we know that dairy can cause acne and other skin problems. And that actually isn't the casein in there. The casein tends to be the one that triggers more of the gas and bloating and stuff like that. The dairy in general can impact your skin. And for most people that's more cow's milk, but it doesn't have to be. It can also be the sheep and the goat. It can also make you gain weight. And this was really interesting. I pulled this study out from Walter Willits School of Public Health. And I mean, Walter Willett, big, super amazing researcher, he looked at kids who drank three servings of skim or 1% milk a day as opposed to higher fat dairy products and found that the kids who drank three or more servings a day of the skim or non fat milk were at a higher risk of becoming overweight. They tended to be more overweight than the ones who didn't. All right, so then the ones who didn't do anything or did full fat. So part of this we got to look at is if you are going to do dairy at all. So first of all, you take dairy out. It's one of the highest food intolerance foods. When I was looking at food sensitivity testing, dairy and eggs were always at the top right there with gluten, which is another type of test. If you are going to do dairy, if you find that you don't react to it, which right now I'd say you're reacting to it because it used to be your skin, but it sounds like your skin's okay, but you say isn't so much the problem anymore. So I still want to know about that. But if it's making you constipated, which dairy can constipate you, but doesn't sound like you're going crazy on the intake. So that's pretty interesting that you are constipated for days. That seems more of a food intolerant response. So what we're really looking for is when you're eating these foods, is it causing any of those reactions? If it is, it's not working for you. It could be creating inflammation. We know it can cause weight gain. Part of that is because it raises, it can promote insulin resistance and that of course makes you better at storing fat and that can cause weight gain. Then the other crazy part here is what it does to your bones. So we always think, oh, we should drink dairy, it's good for your bones. Well, actually dairy is very acidic and when you are eating more acidic foods, it leaches the calcium out of your bones to buffer your PH back to normal. So that's not necessarily the case. So what should we do here? First of all, see how you feel with dairy. If you're doing fine with dairy, you don't have any of those responses. And the only way to know is to pull it out. Go through that three to four week process completely where it's pulled out completely. I detail this in the virgin diet. Then go back and challenge it over the course of four days. If you start to feel a symptom, stop, you've got your answer. If not, let it go for three to four days. But you're looking for any of those symptoms. Constipation gas and bloating, skin problems, joint pain, headaches, fatigue, craving. Now clearly we got a craving problem right now because you are having an issue giving this up and generally your body will develop these antibodies and they make you crave the very food that is hurting you. Julie, which is what it sounds like is going on. However, if you found out that you weren't having any of those responses, you would then want to make sure that you are eating a quality food product. Grass fed, pastured cows is where you'd want to get the dairy from. Then you want to not drink milk because that's basically a bunch of sugar. You want to ferment it so that the sugar gets eaten up by the bacteria. Right. Fermented into a yogurt or a kefir like you were doing. That was awesome. And keep the fat in. If you're eating high quality pastured, then the fat you're going to get, you're going to get something called cla, which is actually can help you burn fat. So there you go. And that was probably the problem with the Dr. Walter Willett study is they were eating the skim and they were having milk, which basically means they pulled the fat out, they kept the sugar in and you know, then just was giving that to the kids, not bueno. No bueno. All right, there we go. So my answer is work on making a yogurt that you do like from almond or cashew or oat milk and mess around with some of the different pectins and gelatins to thicken it on up. All right, Happy hunting. Happy fermenting. This is JJ with Asking the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetoj.com.

Hello listeners. This is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website, whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.