Raw, organic milk might be the last chance the dairy industry still has. Milk is an unnatural, adulterated and inflammatory agent that should not be eaten. Consuming raw milk, without adulteration, might redeem milk and milk products at least a little – it’s last stand, so to speak.
Let me say it again: Dairy is a highly inflammatory, hormonal, mucus-producing, allergenic food that adds to the burden of asthma, hay fever, chronic sinusitis - not to mention obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, arthritis, autoimmune disease. I certainly would not give raw milk to infants and toddlers.
We are neither cows nor calves, and cow milk is an unnatural food for children and grown-ups. But the industry does not want us to talk about it. Dairy adds nothing to bone health - on the contrary. The simple truth is that calcium occurs abundantly in vegetables, fruit, nuts and whole grains - PLUS, plants contain the other minerals that are needed for strong bones like magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc, phosphorus, boron, copper, etc. and which are lacking in dairy.
"Organic" milk is ultra-high pasteurized for longer shelf-life. That is lamentable. But at least organic does not contain bovine growth hormone, antibiotics and pesticides. Pasteurization and homogenization, on the other hand, change the milk molecules and make them less recognizable for the body – hence have higher inflammatory potential.
So what is it about raw, organic milk that makes it - slightly - better? It is less processed. Which means it contains less antibiotics, pesticides and no added hormones. Therefore it is less inflammatory, less allergenic and probably causes less cancer. Since the cows are healthier, the milk contains less pus and fewer bacteria. On the other hand, without pasteurization, diseases can be transmitted through and extreme cleanliness and chilling are required for the whole process. With E. coli found repeatedly in lettuce and burgers, we know that we are susceptible to widespread epidemics from contaminated foods. Listeriosis is a real threat for pregnant women and their unborn children; the different strains of tuberculosis transmitted by cattle cannot be talked way. Still, I think that raw milk is probably not as dangerous as some people are telling us.
I discourage the consumption of milk (see my earlier blogs). But if you insist - at least, have raw milk.
So, if you have milk – which are the healthiest products? Top, in my opinion, are yogurts because they provide healthy bacteria for bowels – but the yogurt has to be plain, without sugar, fruit or any other additives – you might serve it with freshly cut fruit, of course. By definition, skim milk contains, relatively, more proteins and less fat, and since the proteins (eighty percent of which is the glue-like casein that is, chemically, related to gluten) are the inflammatory agent in milk, I would think that whole milk is better. Along that line of argument – and that might come as a surprise – cream and butter are the healthiest. In moderation, of course.
Moderation is one of the problems: Casein breaks down in opioid-like substances, making all dairy addictive. Read More
Blog: On Health. On Writing. On Life. On Everything.
Dairy I: Basics
May 24, 2010
Milk is unnatural, slow-poison food for grown-ups.
Mother's milk is a food designed to put fast weight on newborns, making breastfeeding essential. But we are no babes anymore; we are no calves, either. Therefore, we don’t need milk.
Worse: Milk makes us sick. Milk is linked to pimples, obesity, heart disease, dementia, allergies, asthma, cancer, depression, arthritis, autoimmune and a host of other diseases. On top of it, it tastes terrific and is addictive.
Why is dairy linked to so many diseases? It is highly inflammatory, wreaking havoc in your body, in virtually every organ.
I used to admire my vegetarian patients – until I found out that pizza, donuts and ice-cream are considered vegetarian. Nothing healthy in that fare!
When people settled and became farmers, leaving behind the hunter-gatherer days, milk was a life saver - at that time, starvation was the killer number one (childhood infections came later, when communities had grown big enough to have a virus going around for a long time; in the small hordes of hunters/gatherers, viruses had not chance of surviving long). But we long left behind starvation times; now the opposite is the problem: an abundance of calories, the whole day long.
As if the onslaught of calories from dairy were not bad enough, modern milk is even worse because it is greatly adulterated by pasteurizing (perhaps unavoidable), homogenization, adding of vitamins (notably D and A) and, since 1993, growth hormones. Growth hormones help you “grow” (which you might want to avoid) and helps grow cancer cells (which you certainly will want to avoid). Read More
Probiotics To The Rescue!
May 20, 2010
Probiotics have been shown to help in:
• reducing general inflammation
• improving immune function to generally fight infections
• lowering blood pressure (that alone is such a surprising outcome: HOW do they do do it??)
• preventing harmful bacterial growth in stress situations
• lowering cholesterol
• mitigating irritable bowel syndrome and colitis
• improving mineral absorption
• the prevention of colon cancer
• to alleviate rotavirus infections in children
• healing travelers' diarrhea in adults
• preventing secondary infections in antibiotic therapy
• preventing Helicobacter pylori infection of the stomach
• preventing urinary tract infections and infectious prostatitis
• lowering the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea due to Clostridium difficile
Translated, probiotic means “for life’ and is obviously the contrary expression to antibiotic, “against life.” Don’t get me wrong, antibiotics can save lives, but there is no doubt that physicians have over-prescribed them since they came on the market during World War II. Now we have to live with the consequences: Resistant bacteria.
Probiotics, on the other hand, are not likely to do any harm to your body. In fact, they are the most helpful supplement money can buy, in my opinion (the second is fish oil). Try different strains because the above effects have been shown not to be general to be related to individual bacterial strains.
Side effects may be cramping and occasional diarrhea. If one strain bothers you, try another brand. I personally like PrimalDefense which also contains chlorella - but as usual, I do not endorse a product, and want to hear from you which brand you prefer. Also, start with a low dose, and slowly go up, as your bowels get used to it.
The thinking is that helpful gut bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium will repopulate the intestines, but one study showed that the benefits even accrue with dead bacteria. However they work - they do work. Read More