Got Milk?

If you do have milk in your fridge (and who doesn’t?), you might want to take a gander below at what could be in that yellow carton. And what it’s doing inside your body.

Let’s say you pick up a gallon of “normal” cow’s milk from the gas station or grocery store. It looks healthy enough. But things are not always as they seem (to reference the Arabian salesman at the beginning of Aladdin. Love that movie!)

That one gallon of milk is teeming with hormones and antibiotics. Bottom’s up!

(At this point you may be eyeing your toddler who is innocently playing with her dolls whilst consuming said hormones and antibiotics. This is a normal reaction. Don’t be afraid to take the sippy cup away from her after reading the rest of this post.)


 “The biggest problems with modern dairy products come from our habit of ‘tinkering’ with dairy animals and their milk products to ‘make them better.’ Dairy farmers today selectively breed dairy cows and inject them with growth hormones to boost their annual milk production from 500 pounds to 3,000 pounds. That gives us lots of hormone laced antibiotic-rich milk--for our enjoyment.

“Rather than allow cows to feed on grass in the field, they pump them full of high-protein soybean meal. The cows, in turn, produce incredible amounts of milk for two years--and then suffer chronic mastitis (infection of the nipples) and shorter life spans. The milk we receive in such high quantities is very low in nutrients--especially compared to the highly nutritious milk produced by grass-fed cows and other animals.”*

So once I learned that, I started paying a bit more for organic milk. That must be the obvious answer, right? If it’s organic, then it must be good for you!

Not so much.......

The pasteurization process that all milk must undergo in order to be sold in stores alters the milk and creates all kinds of problems for our bodies.

“Modern milk producers routinely pasteurize milk by heating it at high temperatures to destroy undesirable bacteria. This process destroys all of the beneficial organisms in milk, along with all of the enzymes (considered the ‘final test’ for successful pasteurization). It also alters vital amino acids, reducing our ability to access to proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals in milk. (In reality, modern sanitation standards, sterile, stainless steel holding tanks and milking technology have made pasteurization largely unnecessary today.)

“Milk producers also “add” powdered milk and synthetic vitamin D2 or toxic D3 to “low-fat” milk to make it thicker. Then they ‘homogenize’ the mixture so fat particles remain in suspension--making them indigestible in the intestine, but highly likely to pass throught the intestinal wall, directly into the bloodstream.”*

Pasteurization also means the following for that tall, cold beverage into which you’re dunking your cookies:

• Encourages the growth of harmful bacteria (the pasteurization process kills the lactic acid bacilli, meaning the milk cannot become naturally sour and therefore decomposes quickly).
  
• Causes constipation
  
• Renders the calcium in milk insoluble.
  
• Destroys 20% of the iodine present in raw milk.
  
• Turns the sugar of milk (lactose) into beta-lactose, which is absorbed into the body far more quickly.

(above from http://www.realmilk.com/rawvpasteur.html)

You may be wondering what you actually can drink..... So glad you asked!

Raw cow’s or goat’s milk are far better options. But don’t look for it in Whole Foods. By law, you have to go in search of it yourself, and even then, it must be sold as “pet food.” But don’t worry-if it comes from a reputable dairy, it is perfectly safe to consume. Find a dairy near you at realmilk.com. Some will even deliver!

Here are some really great facts to know about goat’s milk:

• Goat’s milk is less allergenic (It does not contain the complex proteins that stimulate allergic reactions to cow’s milk)
  
• Goat’s milk does not suppress the immune system.
  
• Goat’s milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk. (An old statistic showed that goat’s milk will digest in a baby’s stomach in twenty minutes, whereas pasteurized cow’s milk takes eight hours. The difference is in the structure of the milk.)
  
• Goat’s milk alkalinizes the digestive system. It actually contains an alkaline ash, and it does not produce acid in the intestinal system.
  
• Goat’s milk contains twice the healthful medium chain fatty acids, which are highly antimicrobial. (They actually killed the bacteria used to test for the presence of antibiotics in cow’s milk!)
  
• Goat’s milk does not produce mucus; it does not stimulate a defense response from the human immune system.

And of course there is always rice milk or almond milk, found in the aisle next to the soy milk--which you should avoid at all costs! Soy (in it’s overly processed state-i.e. anything other than organic edamame) is not a health food. Soy is the most mucus forming food on the planet. It will also mimic estrogen in the body and often contains aluminum from the processing. I’m sure I’ll have more on that later....

If you’ve had any experiences with raw milk yourself, feel free to leave your message at the beep!

*These quotes and the goat’s milk list are from Maker'S Diet by Jordan Rubin--a fantastic book that I highly recommend you read!