Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Real Milk


This year we have been blessed to be in an area of the country that sells certified Raw Grass-fed Jersey cow milk. I can’t tell you what a different animal it is from the “burnt“, homogenized milk you buy at the grocery store. The butter we make from the cream is a deep yellow showing it is full of vitamins. Today I made a batch of Raw cheese with the older milk as well as some sour cream. For some reason I haven’t been feeling well after eating most store bought cheese or dairy products. I’m not sure if it’s from the pasteurization or what but the Raw cheese has sat very well with my stomach (which is good because it’s high in enzymes, calcium, protein and healthy fat and it's low in carbohydrates).

I’ve also taking a liking to the uncultured raw milk. The bad thing is it’s become a comfort food for me and I tend to over drink it. I know it’s very healthy but not the beast thing for weight loss since it’s so high carb. Last week I tried going completely dairy free for a few days but that took away all the energy I needed to exercise. I don’t have a problem with overeat the cultured raw dairy, just the fresh milk. So I’m going to limit myself to one cup milk per day as a reward for having a good day of diet and exercise. I can plan that into my day ahead of time and then work around it. Plus with the raw milk at the end of the day I won’t feel like I need any ice cream (especially if I put a drop of vanilla in it, yum)!

I’m still trying to get myself used to the taste of kefir ( http://www.kefir.net/ it's like yogurt but it's supposed to be even healthier) made from Kefir Grains. If I could get used to that I could give up uncultured dairy. The Fermentation process makes milk easier to digest so you get more nutrients out of it. Not to mention the beneficial bacteria.
Here is a list of comparison between Pasteurized milk and Raw milk from ‘The Raw Truth About Milk’ by William Campbell Douglass II, MD (pgs. 13-28)
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Pasteurized Milk:
*Pasteurization may be used to mask low-quality milk

*Heat destroys a great number of bacteria in milk and thus conceals the evidence of dirt, pus and dirty dairy practices. To combat the increase in pathogens milk goes through ‘clarification’, ‘filtering’, ‘bactofugation’ and two ‘deariation’ treatments. Each of these treatments uses heat ranging from 100-175 degrees Fahrenheit. Dairies count on many heat treatments to mask their inferior sanitary conditions: milk filled with pus, manure and debris.

*Homogenization of milk causes leucocytes (pus) to settle as sediment in the bottom of milk. The milk industry calls this pus sediment ‘slime’: a grayish-oily sludge. This slime is removed by ‘clarification’


*Pasteurization destroys vitamin C, and damages the water soluble B vitamins diminishing the nutrient value of milk

*Calcium and other minerals are made unavailable by pasteurization
Milk enzymes, proteins, antibodies as well as beneficial hormones are destroyed by pasteurization resulting in devitalized ‘lifeless’ milk. Milk enzymes help digest lactose and both enzymes and milk proteins help to absorb vitamins

*Pasteurized milk is more likely to lead to decay in teeth and interferes with the proper development of the teeth

*Infants do not develop well on pasteurized milk

*Pasteurization removes the stimulus to remove diseased animals from milking herds

*Pasteurization has contributed to an increase in allergies

*Pasteurized milk can be held for as many as four to five days in holding silos. The date on the carton is calculated from the time of bottling, not the date of milking

*It’s cheaper to produce dirty milk and kill the bacteria by heat, that to maintain a clean dairy and keep cows healthy

*Consumer Reports found 44% of 125 pasteurized milk samples contained as many as 2200 organisms per cubic centimeter (fecal bacteria, coliforms)

Raw Milk:

*Raw milk may contain no more than 10 coliforms per cubic centimeter

*Raw milk is usually bottled and sold within 24 hours, and yet can be held safely for four to five days because of the strict standards required of the raw milk dairies. The milk is also clean because the natural enzymes in raw milk eat and destroy any pathogens.

*Raw milk is not homogenized. Homogenization destroys milk fat which releases lipase which turns milk rancid.

*Raw milk is filled with fat digesting enzymes (removal of these enzymes by pasteurization causes lactose intolerance)

*Raw milk is filled with absorbable calcium, vitamin C and minerals

*Raw milk does not have the cream ‘skimmed’ from it. Cream contains CLA (cancer fighting and immune boosting organisms). Absence of cream (non-fat milk) is called ‘blue milk’ in the dairy industry and is poured into the ground as it makes animals sick

*Pasteurization was originally used to clean up milk from filthy diaries at the turn of the century. Rather than cleaning up the diaries, pasteurization has enabled dairies to continue to produce dirty milk: cheaply. Raw milk does not need to be boiled, clarified, filtered, aerated and bactofugated. It is clean and healthy. It is the mainstream dairies that are dirty. Contact your state representatives concerning the legalization of raw milk. Demand that they not be swayed by the high paying lobbyists of the dairy industry who would rather produce dirty, cheap milk than spend the money on clean dairies and healthy cows.
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Still, real dairy, even pasturised dairy is so, so much better for you than the cheap imitation stuff that is made with nasty partially hydrogenated oils. If you can't believe it's not butter, believe me, it's not. =)

Have a blessed evening and keep Crunching for Christ,

Genevieve

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, Gen! this is very informative!

Isn't it great you can get raw milk! I think I won't be drinking milk now for a long while. uhhhggg! after reading this statement:

Consumer Reports found 44% of 125 pasteurized milk samples contained as many as 2200 organisms per cubic centimeter (fecal bacteria, coliforms)

That's nasty!
I knew I didn't like milk for a reason.
I will look into getting some raw milk possibly. How about pasturized Goats milk?

Dani Joy

Rebecca said...

I'm allergic to cow's milk so I drink soy. I thought what you had to say was very intresting. Now I understand why I had an allergy to milk. Thanks for sharing.

Annie said...

What a great job sweetie! I have been drinking the costco heavy cream with coffee in the morning, but No More! Not even one teaspoon! Puss and dirk and fecal material--YUK! Genni is absolutely right and our raw milk, if kept cold, keeps for well over a week or even several weeks. Make sure your raw milk cows are feed with grass and not grains.

Landry ladies said...

I know, isn't it disturbing? I think pasteurized goat milk would not be as bad as cow's milk simply because there is not such a large market for it. Pasteurized milk is better than Ultra-Pasteurized.

In Nourishing Traditions ( a really great cook book), Sally Fallon says that most imported cheeses with Milk or Fresh milk in the ingredients list are Raw. She's also the one who said you can redeem the milk quite a bit by making it into kefir or yogurt.