"The Truth About Milk"

I have recently been shocked by the "truth" about milk. After seeing Forks Over Knives, I completely understand why we have been told it's this amazing thing. But, after really looking into it I'm trying soy milk for the first time tomorrow (it's been in my fridge for 2 days now, lol and I'm kind of scared but you have to start somewhere!!). I'm going to keep using dairy cheese, for sandwich's and pizza, and such. But, just cutting down and leaving it to the <10% of the food I eat rather than letting dairy be a larger portion of my diet. Here's a post off of the Whole Food Mommies website, the link to her page is on the right side of my page :) This post is a brief overview of milk, and then if you want to learn more, watch Forks Over Knives! They go into the history of the advertising and why we did it. It makes a lot of sense!

The Truth Behind Milk

The usual reaction I get when I tell someone that I don't drink milk is shock! Well by the end of this post I am hoping that you will be in shock and think again about consuming milk.

During a conversation a friend, asked me "Well if we are not supposed to drink milk, then why do cows make milk?" Ummm....for calfs! No other mammal drinks milk after infancy, and certainly not the milk of a different species. More than half of the world’s population is lactose intolerant and can’t digest cow's milk.

But if those reasons aren’t convincing enough, here is a list of problems that have been shown in scientific studies to be associated with eating milk and dairy: constipation, acne, asthma, and eczema. Cow's milk has 59 active hormones, scores of allergens, fat and cholesterol. Even if you are drinking organic milk from a cow who was never injected with bovine growth hormone, the milk is still full of the hormones she produced naturally. And most cow's milk has measurable quantities of herbicides, pesticides, dioxins, up to 52 powerful antibiotics, blood, pus, feces, bacteria and viruses.

But where do you get your Calcium? Well I get my calcium from the same place the cows do...from greens. The body absorbs the calcium differently from different foods and most efficiently from vegetables. Only about 32 percent of calcium in milk is absorbed, while 54 percent of the calcium in bok choy is absorbed.
The countries around the world that have the least incidence of osteoporosis and consume the least amount of dairy are the African and Asian countries. The four countries of the world whose population has the highest incidence of osteoporosis and also consume the greatest amount of dairy are the United States, Great Britain, Sweden and Finland. So if you want to cut out milk but still want to make sure you are getting the calcium you need, consume dark green vegetables, nuts and seeds. Especially good are collard greens, kale, almonds and sunflower seeds.

For those of you like me that thought I won't drink milk but I can't give up butter and cheese, here is a startling fact:

Each bite of hard cheese has TEN TIMES whatever was in that sip of milk... because it takes ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese. Each bite of ice cream has 12 times ... and every swipe of butter has 21 times... Wow.

DISEASES CAUSED BY, OR LINKED TO, DAIRY PROTEINS
	General:		Loss of appetite, growth retardation.
	Upper Gastrointestinal:		Canker sores (aphthous stomatitis), irritation of tongue, lips and mouth, tonsil enlargement, vomiting, gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), Sandifer's syndrome, peptic ulcer disease, colic, stomach cramps, abdominal distention, intestinal obstruction, type-1 diabetes.
	Lower Gastrointestinal:		Bloody stools, colitis, malabsorption, diarrhea, painful defecation, fecal soiling, infantile colic, chronic constipation, infantile food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES), Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis.
	Respiratory:		Nasal stuffiness, runny nose, otitis media (inner ear trouble), sinusitis, wheezing, asthma, and pulmonary infiltrates.
	Bone and joint:		Rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Behçet’s disease, (possibly psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis).
	Skin:		Rashes, atopic dermatitis, eczema, seborrhea, hives (urticaria)
	Nervous System (Behavioral):		Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, autism, schizophrenia, irritability, restlessness, hyperactivity, headache, lethargy, fatigue, "allergic-tension fatigue syndrome," muscle pain, mental depression, enuresis (bed-wetting).
	Blood:		Abnormal blood clotting, iron deficiency anemia, low serum proteins, thrombocytopenia, and eosinophilia.
	Other:		Nephrotic syndrome, glomerulonephritis, anaphylactic shock and death, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS or crib or cot death), injury to the arteries causing arteritis, and eventually, atherosclerosis.