Cows milk is for cows!

I am sorry but when people say that one needs to drink milk to reach optimal health I say to that:

"A single glass of milk can contain a mixture of as many as 20 painkillers, antibiotics and growth hormones".  It is common knowledge now.  How does that sound like a fun time to you?  Using a highly sensitive test, scientists found that many chemicals in samples of cow milk.  Um all be honest that is a lot!

Milk is thought of as a wholesome food, which is why so many parents give it to their children with every meal. And the truth is, it is wholesome when it's in its raw form and sourced from cows fed non-contaminated grass and raised in clean conditions.  Unfortunately there is still the cruelty factor with raw milk as well.

Most cows raised for the dairy industry are intensively confined, leaving them unable to fulfill their most basic desires, such as nursing their calves, even for a single day. They are treated like milk-producing machines and are genetically manipulated and pumped full of antibiotics and hormones that cause them to produce more milk.  They are fed milk re-placers (including cattle blood) so that their mothers' milk can be sold to humans.

Female cows are artificially inseminated shortly after their first birthdays.  After giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated again, continuing the cycle. Some spend their entire lives standing on concrete floors; others are confined to massive, crowded lots, where they are forced to live amid their own waste. Cows have a natural lifespan of about 20 years and can produce milk for eight or nine years.  However, the stress caused by the conditions on factory farms leads to disease, lameness, and reproductive problems that render cows worthless to the dairy industry by the time that they're 4 or 5 years old, at which time they are sent to be slaughtered.

 Human milk is for human infants, dogs' milk is for pups, cows' milk is for
calves, cats' milk is for kittens, and so forth. Clearly,
this is the way nature intends it. Just use your own good
judgement on this one.

 It contains 20% of it's calories from protein as compared to human 
breast milk -- only 5%. Excess protein (more than about 30-40 grams/day)
 has bee shown to contribute to cancer, inflammation, osteoporosis, and 
many other health conditions.

http://www.peta.org/issues/Animals-Used-For-Food/Cows-Milk-A-Cruel-and-Unhealthy-Product.aspx


My point with that is unless you take your happy butt to the farm you are buying your raw milk from and can be for certain that the cows are being milked by hand with their little babies standing there next to them and are not being pumped with sperm and drugs the milk that your children are drinking is not cruelty free!

If the cruelty factor doesn't matter to you maybe your health does!

Unfortunately, the milk that winds up in most Americans' glasses is far from this unaltered state and, as the study above revealed, instead may be a veritable chemical cocktail.

Here are the chemicals that are in your milk!
 
Perchlorate:  which can lower levels of thyroid hormones in women, causing possible issues with proper fetus development and with later infant development as well.

What do those said chemicals do to you?


Well here are my ideas, I truly believe that it is part of human nature to question and seek as well as compete!  I feel that what back in the day could show social positions and wealth is now a common thing that no one questions.  Drinking milk is one of those things to me.  I feel that back in the day the established had milk to drink, and it was sought out for nutrition because there was not other things as widely available.  I think now in 2013 there are more options and it is silly for us to live in this bubble of believing that it is good for us.  I am not disputing that there our some body types out there that actually benefit from the nutrients and calcium that milk offers.  What I am disputing is that all of us need to drink milk.  We actually don't and the people who do benefit from it could find another source of calcium if they had to, but they don't have to "so they think".  We now are able to find the same nutrients plant based, but milk consumption has been ingrained in our minds as the way to go.   And for most people that have enough to worry about they usually are not seeking more info!  But just for the record on top of supplying minimal calcium and nutrients you can bet that all those chemicals are also offering you:

• breast cancer


• diabetes (both diabetes mellitus and juvenile diabetes)

         Oh yes and I am sorry but little girls boobs are getting bigger, and they are reaching maturity quicker, and that can contribute to awful things as a society at some point mark my words!

• kidney stones


• acne


• heart disease


• osteoporosis


• multiple sclerosis


• stroke


• rheumatoid arthritis

Oooh those sound fun right?  Well wrong, and what I think is strange is that people still think that one food pyramid will work for every body type.  And the second thing I think is strange is that most people do not know where they are getting their milk and they just buy it with this blind hope that it will be healthy!  That is somewhat of a gamble in my book, and when it comes to mine and my babies health I won't be buying in! 

So now you might be saying if you come from a thinkers place in the world "what am I suppose to use for my cereal or tea?"

So let's touch on that a hair, just like milk, people are giving soy milk a bad name as well.  There has been findings that soy milk contributes to thyroid problems.  At the end of the day I think that based on your body type it is all fine in moderation.  Moderation means not on your cereal and then to drink, and then put in your tea, and then you bake with in one day.  Moderation means use it in moderation!  And now there is so much to choose from such as sunflower seed milk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk (my favie), hemp milk, I mean there is probably more that I am missing so you get the point.  As long as you know that the milk is organic and research how it is made you are golden.   I have a post all about making your own nut milks http://earthyconsumer.blogspot.com/2012/10/vegan-info-making-homemade-nut-milks.html

Please consider if not cutting milk out, alternating it with raw, and plant based milks.  Moderation is the thing we lack the most as Americans.

“Moderation is commonly firm, and firmness is commonly successful” Samuel Johnson

Tread lightly!