Raw What??

Yikes it's been many days since my last post! But since my readers are few and far between, you probably didn't even notice!

So let's cut to the chase on today's topic...milk.

Milk is a tricky one to me, but since I started this blog with some big ingredients to avoid, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oil, I might as well go for another big one, pasteurized milk.

Yes, good ole' "it does a body good" milk.

Is it really that bad? I mean, it's milk...vitamin D, protein, great with chocolate chip cookies and cereal. So let me break it down for you a little and you can decide for yourself.

Milk from the grocery store is pretty much worthless. Milk from conventional cows, which are cows pretty much raised and abused for their products, have an abundance of things to be concerned about. Here are three things in a nutshell to remember: hormones, antibiotics, and feed.

These cows are given hormones to increase their production of milk. Many cows are forced to produce 3 times as much milk as they are intended to. You might have heard of this hormone, genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone. Some milk that you can buy from local dairies is still pasteurized but will say rBGH free or something like that. I suppose that's a step in the right direction, but not far enough. These cows also need quite a bit of antibiotics from getting sick so often. In addition, cows are designed to feed on grass and just be lazy in the field, chewing on the cud (sounds tempting to me on some days). Conventional cows are given feed, often a genetically modified soy feed, which is not digested in their bodies the way cows were designed to digest grass. Arguments have been made that many people who cannot tolerate milk, perhaps can't tolerate what's in the milk, a result of what the cows were fed. While I'm not necessarily an animal lover, this treatment of cows is horrible and affects the quality of the milk product you drink. All that stuff ends up in your milk and in your body when you drink it.

Pasteurization is the process of heating the milk to destroy bad bacteria, and in the process kills the good stuff too. While most people insist it is necessary, we have much cleaner conditions today than back in the day when pasteurization was invented. If you find a trusted source for milk, sanitation should not be an issue. Pasteurized milk still carries bacteria and has caused salmonella outbreaks. Raw milk will sour naturally, but pasteurized milk, because all the beneficial bacteria have been killed, will putrefy. I used to drink organic milk but after 2 or 3 days the smell was so bad I was wondering what in the world I was really drinking. Pasteurization alters the amino acids in the milk making it less digestible and protein less available. It also changes milk-lactose into beta-lactose which is more rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream and has the same effect that sugar does on your body, raising your blood sugar levels rapidly. Pasteurization also destroys enzymes from the milk that help build calcium in your body. Pasteurized milk is linked ironically to osteoporosis and diabetes, allergies, tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems, arthritis, heart disease and cancer.

If milk is pasteurized, all the natural vitamins have been removed so any vitamins in the milk are synthetic ones that were pumped back into the milk. The less fat in the milk that you drink, meaning you drink 2%, 1%, or skim means there are pretty much no nutrients anywhere. Your body needs the fat to help digest the milk as much as it can. When eating food in it's most natural form, that means the full fat version. If I didn't drink raw milk, I'd try to find some non-homogenized whole milk. If I couldn't find that, well, I'd have to seriously think about what I wanted to do. Some people say if you can't drink raw milk, don't drink it at all!

Homogenization is the straining of fat particles, which takes fat molecules which cannot pass into the blood stream and turns them into the small ones that can which allows toxins to enter the body. Homogenization is linked to heart disease. Raw milk has the cream which rises naturally to the top. I usually pour the cream off and use it in coffee or for cooking when I need cream. Or I put it on my oatmeal in the morning. I wish I could get more cream off the top!

A note on organic milk...some people think it's better because it doesn't have the rBGH and the cows are not treated with antibiotics. True, but it's still homogenized and pasteurized and follows the above reasons for not drinking that kind of milk. Plus it is ultra-pasteurized which is a violent process that heats milk to boiling in a few seconds. Why this process is used I don't know so if anyone else knows, please tell me! I used to drink organic milk, thinking it was better but I can't stand the taste of it now.

Raw milk tastes so amazing, I can't explain it. It's smooth and natural and not thick feeling in your mouth like whole milk. The farm we use sell it in glass bottles. There is something very refreshing about milk from a glass bottle. Plastic and cardboard boxes with milk leave a taste on the milk and it's never quite cold enough.

Some states do not legally sell raw milk. If you live in a state that does, check out this website for sources of raw milk or information on raw milk. If you find a local source you can trust, I say go for it! I'm not concerned about the bacteria and both my young kids drink it and we've never had any problems. I've read that many people who are allergic to milk can handle raw milk.

If you're not ready for milk, maybe try cheese and other products made with raw milk. I think cheeses closest to the source taste best but our local grocery store carries raw milk cheese as well. Any dairy you can buy made from raw milk are going to be better pure sources than pasteurized. Dairy products should always be the full fat versions, anything less than that is processed more in some way and all the original good stuff is removed.

Whew...so was that a lot to take in or what?

I know to some of you this sounds crazy and not a step you are ready for. My advice is to just investigate. If it's something you're interested in pursuing, go for it. If you're not ready for it, just educate yourself so you know both sides and make your decision from there.

I'd love to know what you're thinking!