Self-Care Saturday. Let’s talk milk. Yes, milk. Stay with me.

Jersey cow standing calmly in green pasture, warm light highlighting gentle features.

If you or someone you love, live with ADHD, mornings already feel like crowd control. Coffee happens fast. Milk goes in. Smoothies follow. Crunchy cereal disappears like fuel before a long drive. Then, an hour later, your head feels foggy, your mood dips, and everyone else suddenly feels irritating for no clear reason. You blame stress. You blame sleep. You blame the day. You rarely blame the milk.

Here is the part many people miss. Most supermarket milk comes from cows that produce A1 beta casein. When your body digests A1 protein, it breaks into a fragment called BCM-7. In some people, BCM-7 irritates the gut lining, activates the immune response, and adds to low-grade inflammation. This shows up as bloating, cramps, fatigue, irritability, cravings, and unstable energy. Quiet. Persistent.

If you already manage attention swings, emotional reactivity, or energy crashes, this mix does not help. Gut irritation talks to the nervous system. Inflammation talks to the brain. You end up overstimulated, underfueled, and oddly angry at the swimming pool lane rope.

Now the useful shift. Jersey cows mostly produce A2 beta casein. A2 protein digests differently. It does not release the same BCM-7 fragment. For many people, this leads to calmer digestion, less immune activation, steadier energy, and fewer post-breakfast mood swings. Same habit. Different response.

This is not about perfection. It is about effort versus payoff. Swapping milk takes seconds. No apps. No supplements. No overhaul. Read the label. Look for A2 milk or Jersey milk. Use it in coffee. Use it in cereal. Use it in smoothies. Then notice how your body responds over the next week.

Self-care does not always look like candles and quiet rooms. Sometimes it looks like removing one daily irritant. Your gut settles. Your energy steadies. Your brain stops picking fights before noon.