Why milk and diary products are not good for us?

Hello!

I have started to revise for my Naturopathy Nutrition exam in April and I came across some research I did on Milk, dairy products and its advantages and disadvantages. I thought I would share my findings  with you.

Cow's Milk and dairy products have been overly consumed in many countries for many years and it has played a large contribution to our diets with the majority of recipes containing some form of dairy products.

Most of us are bombarded with milk, cheese, yoghurt and ice cream from a very young age, growing up not knowing the milk's side effects. The government emphasizes that milk is needed specially for its high levels of calcium, but calcium from cow's milk is harmful to our body mainly due to it's insufficient magnesium content. Milk has about ten times more calcium than magnesium. We need a 1 to 1 ratio of these minerals in our bodies. A more balanced calcium-magnesium combination can be found in dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, in seaweed, seeds and nuts such as sesame seeds and almonds.

The protein, vitamin A and B found in milk are easily found in other sources. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a good source for vitamins and minerals.

Humans are the only mammals that keep drinking milk after been breast fed and throughout adulthood; and we drink the milk from another mammal! It is like a dog drinking milk from a monkey or so. Very unnatural!!! 

Apart from human milk or goat's milk, in case the mother can not breast feed, I can only think of one advantage for consuming cow's milk and it's products nowadays – to experience the taste of it. But is it worth it?

Most cow's milk contains enormous quantities of antibiotics, herbicides, pesticides, 59 synthetic active hormones, pus, blood, feces, bacteria, viruses, fat, cholesterol and many other allergens. A cow is given around 2.300 different chemicals throughout her lifetime. Many of these contaminants which will be later found in concentration in dairy products, like cheese, are very harmful to the human body especially when consumed over a long period of time.

Dairy products have a big concentration of acid forming, saturated fats which make it easy for problems such as asthma and eczema to appear. Diary products contain casein, a protein very difficult for humans to digest. Casein is used as a binder to make plastic and as a glue for furniture. Can you believe it? Casein makes dairy products mucous forming, aiding to respiratory illnesses to happen.

Dairy intolerances and allergies are very popular specially in the west societies. People have intolerances when they do not have enough lactase enzyme to break down lactose, the natural sugar found in milk and diary allergies occur when the immune system reacts to the protein in milk. Children are most prone to cow's milk allergy but anyone can be affected at any time in their lives. Dairy products are also linked with weight gain, constipation, osteoporosis and many other diseases. 

A large percentage of milk and it's products come from factory farms where animals are not treated 'as living creatures but economic unites in a mechanized production system'. Farmers artificially inseminate cows every year to make sure they keep producing milk in high quantities. Modern dairy cows produce 100 pounds of milk a day - 10 times more then they would produce in nature. Factory farms also waste a lot of water and energy throughout the processes of producing milk and its products. 

Becoming knowledgeable of all the disadvantages of dairy products we can then question ourselves if this “need” for over consuming milk and dairy justifies all the harm it causes to humans, other mammals and our planet.

I have cut down my milk and dairy products intake after studying about it. I could not do it, really!  Nowadays, I occasionally eat organic goat cheese and feta cheese bought from a health food shop or a farm market, where I know the quality is much better and the animals were treated with love. I do not drink milk! And I do not miss it! When I first stopped consuming milk I used to crave it for only a couple of months, nowadays, I never crave it. 

I also noticed that I used to get a rash around my mouth every now and then. I found out that the rash always appeared after I had diary. Since I stopped consuming milk and it's products I never got the rash again and my skin looks and feels better.

Throughout this week, I will give you some nut and seeds milk recipes to be used as an alternative to cow's milk. You can use oat cream instead of milk cream as well... 
I will also give you some more facts about milk and diary products and health issues 
related to it. 

In health,

Carolyne x

A few of my references

Websites:

www.notmilk.com

www.milksucks.com and its recommended articles

www.mgwater.com

Books:

Healing with whole foods – Paul Pitchford

Fats that Kill Fats that Heal – Udo Erasmus
Milk : The Deadly Poison by Robert Cohen