I used to drink 2-3 large glasses of milk a day. I loved it, especially with Ovaltine (I just checked online to see if it’s still made – it is!).

I was also a pretty moody teenager, especially around my cycle.

When I was in my late 20s, and when I got off birth control, my hormones went crazy.

I broke out in painful, cystic acne, and I felt awful! I was moody, tired, and couldn’t figure what was going on.

What I’ve learned is that those many years of being on birth control suppressed the fire that was happening with my hormones.

And drinking milk was a major culprit in my hormonal craziness.

That’s one of the reasons why I suggest NOT drinking milk, especially when dealing with fertility challenges.

The Nurses’ Health Study at Harvard looked at the nutrition and lifestyle habits of over 17,000 women over eight years and noticed some changes in their fertility based on what the participants ate.

They concluded that a small amount of dairy supports fertility.

But, what if the benefits actually came from the added fat and not the dairy?

In that case, there are much better options, like coconut, avocados, olives, olive oil, hemp seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, as well as wild-caught salmon.

So, why do I recommend removing dairy?

First of all, dairy, namely cow’s milk, is a common allergen, along with gluten, corn, soy, eggs, and nuts. And these allergens can create inflammation in your body, like how my hormones felt like hot fire.

These allergens lead to inflammation and a number of health concerns and are harmful to fertility.

Michael Pollan said, “you are what you eat, and you are what it eats.”

So, if the dairy milk your drinking comes from cows that eat genetically-modified and therefore carcinogenic corn, that goes into your body too when you drink a cup of milk, eat cheese, or have yogurt.

These GMOs are toxicants in your body and negatively impact your health and fertility.

Finally, a lactating animal is producing excess hormones, especially estrogen, that enter your system when ingested.

These added hormones can throw off your hormonal balance as well.

The good news is that are tons of non-dairy options. For milk, itself, my favorite is Oatmilk* (from non-GMO oats). It’s the closest in taste to milk.

As far as the other benefits of milk that people talk about, like Vitamin D and Calcium, there are other sources for this.

Vitamin D is best from sunshine, and it’s found in foods like fatty fish. Most of us don’t get enough, so supplementing may be necessary.

Calcium can be found in seeds, beans, almonds, leafy greens, amaranth, and figs.

I hope this is helpful, and you’ll consider other options in place of dairy. 

(*denotes referral link)