PODCAST - The Truth About Dairy and Asthma
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[00:00:00] I am not happy about this podcast episode ~be. I'm not happy about this one ~because ice cream is probably my favorite thing ever, ice cream and guacamole. Either way, today I'm gonna go through the truth about dairy and asthma.
Welcome to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host Johnny Ha, an ultra runner endurance athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone a hundred K ultra. I prove them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get [00:01:00] started.
~Now, ~when I was a kid, I had multiple food allergies that impacted ~me in addition to ~my asthma, ~and ~I've always had to be mindful ~of those things ~because any ~sort of ~food allergy can create inflammation in your body.
And when you have more inflammation in your body, it can have a negative impact on asthma, when I was a kid and I was told that I was quote unquote lactose intolerant, I was crushed because I've always loved ice cream, and to this day I do eat ice cream and I know that I'm going to be impacted by it.
~Now, ~I've cut ~it ~back a lot and I have different strategies ~that I use in order ~to ~still indulge in these different things.~
~So I can still indulge in different dairy products, so I can still indulge in different dairy products, but I still,~
~so I can ~indulge in ~different ~dairy products. But I'll tell you this, at least one to two weeks, ~if not more, ~before a race, I completely cut out dairy and ~any other inflammatory.~
Any other inflammatory foods from my diet? In general, the inflammatory foods that I eat at this point is pretty low, [00:02:00] but I get even stricter ~when I get ~close to a race. ~So ~dairy has the potential, if you're lactose intolerant or not, it has the potential to increase.
Inflammation in your body, especially low quality dairy. I ~personally ~get the most stuffy, ~the most ~congested when ~I am eating non-organic.~
~I don't like that.~
~When I'm eating non-organic, I don't like that either. So I can do a dot~
~when I am ~eating non-organic and low quality dairy. Hits me the most. ~I remember ~back in 2011, I traveled to Europe ~and I ~spent a lot of time in Italy and I ate so much pizza there and pasta and cheese
caprese salads, literally a salad made with cheese and tomatoes, and I did not have the [00:03:00] response that I have here in America. In 2017, I went to Greece and ate cheese like crazy, and I felt fine. ~So ~the quality of dairy is important, at least for me, and the impact it has on my system. Now, I'm not a healthcare professional and I'm not a doctor, and I have a disclaimer in the show notes and in the description below the YouTube video.
So ~I highly recommend you ~check with them about all of this, ~but. Okay. ~In general, non-organic, low quality dairy is harder on our systems and can create more inflammation.
Next, I find ~that ~cow dairy affects me much more than sheep. And goat dairy, sheep and goat, I can eat ~a lot ~more of. So ~that means that yogurt, cheeses I, so that means that ~yogurt, [00:04:00] cheeses, if ~I want to eat these things and ~I don't go fully plant-based, I focus on sheep and goat milk sources.
~Yeah, cool.~
Now the craziest thing ~about all of this ~is that most of us. ~Who are ~eating things in general. It might not be dairy, it could be something else that creates inflammation in your body. We have normalized how we feel in society. We have normalized the fact that we always sound like we have a cold. We always are stuffy.
We have normalized the fact that our asthma's not getting better when if we made some changes, we increased the quality of our dairy or foods in general. Too organic, higher quality. When we go and we eat organic and ~we eat ~grade A dairy, it's ~much ~better for us. For me, I don't feel the inflammation come on nearly as much. In general, as a society, chronic inflammation has been [00:05:00] normalized. ~And I'll tell you this, ~I have changed my diet drastically. ~Okay? The normal and. And ~we're not taught how to read our own blood tests. So we'll get a blood test and our doctors will tell us, Hey, yeah, your numbers are fine. What I've learned is that ~a lot of the quote unquote ~optimal numbers for blood tests are ~optimal ~based on the average of society. ~So ~when you get your ~blood test ~results ~back, ~you may be in the quote unquote green because the data of all the blood tests are from a society that is heavily inflamed and not the healthiest.
So maybe you have decent numbers versus what society has. ~Well, ~what I've done is ~I have ~almost 100% gotten rid of non-organic low quality. Dairy ~from my diet. ~The only dairy ~that I have ~that isn't organic ~and is low quality ~is ~I do eat ~soft serve ice cream a couple times a month. Other than that, it's completely cut outta my diet [00:06:00] and my blood test results this year versus last year.
This isn't the only factor. I've also cut alcohol out and I've reshaped a lot of my diet ~in general, but ~all my numbers. Are phenomenal. ~MIT ~triglycerides were cut in half. They were ~already ~good, ~and ~now they're exquisite. That's what happens ~when we make changes like this ~when we focus on ~having ~higher quality products ~in our system. ~So what can you do to manage your asthma symptoms when it comes to dairy?
Hey, friend, I wanted to take a moment to ask you a quick question. Are you struggling to lose weight due to your asthma? If so, I get it. I used to run marathons and still kept gaining weight. It wasn't until I learned about the three pillars of healthy [00:07:00] living that everything changed,
so I put together a healthy living guide that you can access absolutely free by clicking the link in the description. This guide shares these amazing three pillars of healthy living that you can easily integrate into your life. To start losing weight and live healthier today. Click the link in the description or go to athlete with asthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your free copy.
Now let's get back to the rest of the show.
The first thing is I highly recommend that [00:08:00] if you've never cut out low quality dairy, sugar, these other things from your diet, do it for a week ~and ~see how you feel ~so you can start seeing and feeling that how you were feeling isn't normal.~
~It is caused by these things. So. Number one is ~go through a detox for at least a day to one week or keep it going. I just want you to feel how powerful your body is when you aren't feeding a toxins. So that is the number one action that I believe you should try out in your life. Now, some more sustainable actions, because this is really, the purpose of this is so that you understand that how you feel isn't.
Normal. So if you're like, Johnny, I'm watching this. I'm not allergic to dairy. I can eat whatever I want. ~I don't have any food allergies. ~Try eating healthy for a [00:09:00] week. ~And, uh, you will realize that you were, and you'll realize that you've, and ~you will realize ~that ~how you were feeling wasn't normal. But ~what can you do next?~
~So what can you do next? Well, if you, so ~what can you do next? Look for substitutes. ~So ~you can substitute dairy ~for cat, for or ~for sheep, goat, ~or even go plant-based. ~Or go plant-based. ~For me, ~I'm allergic to ~the ~nuts, so I can't do almond milk, ~so ~I ~really ~focus on coconut,
oat and hemp. ~Now, ~be careful with. Different plant-based milks because they can be heavily processed and a lot of sugar can be added. We actually make our own oat ~milk ~and ~our own ~hemp milk, and all it is is taking raw oatmeal, blending it, and mixing it with water, or taking hemp seeds ~and blending it.~
With water. ~That's all. You can make these milks, you can make these milks a lot cheaper, okay? ~You can make these milks ~a lot ~healthier and significantly cheaper by doing that. It's literally the thing [00:10:00] plus water and you get a beautiful milk,
and if you want ~a little bit of ~sweetener ~in it, ~add a little ~bit of ~honey. Don't add ~that ~processed sugar, ~that added sugar. You can add a little bit of honey. So substitute.~
~Now if, ~now if you're like me and ~you really ~love ~one or two things that come from ~cow dairy, because I'll tell you this. Yogurt made from sheep and goat milk does not taste good as yogurt made from cow milk. Yogurt made from coconut and oat milk ~actually ~tastes pretty good. ~It's ~still not as good as ~my favorite yogurt made of ~cow milk Icelandic yogurt.
~So ~if you ~are going to ~keep eating cow dairy, only eat organic grade. A cow dairy and only dairy once a week, so these your action steps, I highly recommend no matter what, that you cut out dairy and these other things, sugar, ~these unhealthy things ~for at least a day up to a week ~so you can feel. How you should feel and then just do these things. ~[00:11:00] Substitute only organic grade a, only do it once a week. Now, if you wanna take this a step further, I have a gift for you.
My Healthy Living Guide where I go through the three pillars of healthy living, movement, tracking, and accountability, it's gonna take you less than two minutes to ingest this guide and start integrating these three pillars into your life.
I use these three pillars to not only lose 40 pounds, ~I keep it off and become. ~Keep it off and become an elite ultra runner with asthma. ~So I highly recommend you ~grab this free guide. ~It is ~linked in the show notes and ~in the ~description below ~the video on YouTube. ~Or ~you can ~go to www.athletewithasthma.com forward slash healthy Living guide to grab your free copy today.
I'll see ya in the next one.
Thanks for tuning in to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your [00:12:00] health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. I. It is about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals, and if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.
