Are you lactose intolerant? Do you love gelato, regular ice cream, yogurt, chese, butter, etc? This is my situation. I love these things but I am lactose intolerant. Like many people, I eat these delicious foods and pay the consequences. I get congested and am always clearing my eustachian tubes by opening my mouth, which is pretty annoying.
Now let me tell you a little secret, people are NOT allergic to milk, they are allergic to pasteurized milk and pasteurized milk products. The pasteurization process heats up the milk to a very high temperature which bursts the bacterial cells present in the milk, thereby releasing histamines into the milk. Raw milk does not go through the pasteurization process and therefore does not contain histamines. From my perspective, it is not unsafe if the cows are on a farm which maintains high levels of sanitation. Let’s talk a bit about the history of the dairy business. In the case of pasteurization, this is one of those cases where a society does something many years ago and forgets why they did it.
In Richard A. Meckel’s book, “Save the Babies: American Public Health Reform and the Prevention of Infant Mortality, 1850-1929″, he gives a good background on farmers and the economy at that time in Chapter 3.
He states that during the 1830s and 1840s, farmers had depleted their soil and their crops were yielding less than before. Many farmers moved westward but those that stayed in the northeastern area, turned to dairy farming. In later decades, the railroad industry made transportation of higher quality milk from the west more affordable thereby putting pressure on dairy famers in the northeast to reduce costs. Somes ways to cut costs included watering it down, letting the milk sit overnight to be sold at the morning rates, and the adulteration of milk.
The adulteration of milk meant feeding cows the leftover slop from the distilling process in making bourbon and other similar alchohol. Cows were not accustomed to eating this slop, which smelled bad and tasted sour. So, many farmers starved their cows and then fed them slop added with salt. The condition of the cows’ milk was such that it spoiled shortly after milking the cow and it had a bluish color due to the lack of nutrients. Additionally, when adulterated milk was put under the microsocope, the corpuscles were filled with pus and did not look healthy. [source: Dr. R.U. Piper’s Report on Diseased Milk] All of this led to infant mortality rates that were very high for many years as immigrant populations rose and they demanded milk for their children. Unbeknownst to the parents, the milk they were feeding their children from dairy farms in the city was the cause of these deaths. There were other dairy farms in the country that did not resort to feeding their cows slop but the supply of these types of milk was small in comparison to the total supply to city dairy farms.
So, the pasteurization process was used to kill the bacteria and calm a growing unrest of parents who questioned the safety of their food sources. It most likely was a compromise between too many dairy farmers being in the business and cutting costs at the expense of children’s lives and the outcry of concerned and affected parents.
Now back to my situation. Ever since I was young, my teeth have always been somewhat translucent, making it look like my teeth were more yellow than white. I started drinking raw milk after reading an article in the Los Angeles Times Magazine in December, 2006. After a couple of days, I noticed that my skin was much smoother. After a couple of months, I noticed that the inner parts of my teeth were starting to be filled and became less translucent. Also, I noticed that I was able to gain a small amount of body mass without fat and without working out. When I drink raw milk, I am never congested. Additionally, if I do happen to eat ice cream or other foods that contain pasteurized milk and start to become congested, I drink a glass of raw milk and this counteracts the symptoms.
In Bernarr MacFadden’s book, “The Milk Diet: How to Use the Milk Diet Scientifically at Home”, he discusses milk intake and weight,
It has been observed that, practically without exception, a rapid increase in weight follows the taking of a full milk diet by those who are below their normal weight. This result is practically uniform. Thin, emaciated people frequently take on weight extremely rapidly; for their tissues are invariably undernourished, and respond rapidly to the nutrient effects of this most easily assimilated of all diets.
Those who are merely thin, and who are not the victims of some grave, wasting disease, may expect to gain anywhere from one to seven pounds a week. A gain of from one to three pounds a week may persist for several months – until they are once more up to their normal weight.
The gain from this milk treatment is good, healthy tissue – not soft, flabby fat, as so frequently follows the use of some of the so-called fattening foods, which are largely carbohydrate and do not contribute to actual nutrition, except by furnishing heat and energy to run the body machine.
Nor need fear be felt that any gain made on milk could have a harmful effect. For tissue built up out of milk can not form fat, to clog and hamper the vitally important work of the heart and internal organs.
The muscle cells themselves will actually increase in size under a milk diet, because they become filled with rich blood. Therefore, the cheeks plump out, the flaccid breasts become more firm and shapely, the limbs take on a more symmetrical appearance – the entire aspect changes for the better. And when to this is added a buoyancy of spirits, a clearness of eye, an alertness and a vivid interest in the things that make life worthwhile, it can be understood that, from a standpoint of mere beauty and charm, the milk treatment is in a class by itself. But not only is the milk diet effective in increasing weight. It has been used with success in cases of obesity, where it is desired to lose many pounds. In real obesity the fat is thin, flabby, and watery. The milk has the same effect here that it has in cases of edema. Besides, when on the proper milk diet there is a great reduction in the amount of fattening foods consumed, as fat people are almost universally heavy consumers of foods rich in fattening elements. Also, there is frequently a lack of chemical balance which is corrected by the milk diet. But ordinarily these cases cannot consume the large amount of milk taken by emaciated individuals, as their digestion and assimilation (particularly the latter) are extra good. It requires less food taken into the body to supply the same amount of nutriment – it requires less to maintain wear and tear.
There are always two sides to a story and there are people who believe that raw milk has caused their children to be irreparably damaged. I have experienced what I belive was E. coli poisoning, which was a slight fever overnight. In young children, this could be more severe. Additionally, I do not drink raw milk from any farm other than Organic Pastures because based on what I have read, their operations are very sanitary. This is the key to keeping the raw milk you drink from causing serious health issues. If you decide to start drinking raw milk, start with a very small amount. Otherwise, you may experience diarrhea because your intenstines do not have many active bacterial cultures since they are dead in pasteurized milk. The raw milk which contains numerous amounts of live bacterial cultures, which are good for you and aid in digestion of your food, will be a shock to your system.
NOTE: You need to thoroughly research the subject of raw milk before making any decisions and consult your physician before making any changes to your diet.
Discussion: Has anyone else tried raw milk? Has it cured you of ailments or made things worse? Submit your comments below.
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