About Me

I started this blog to keep track of my kitchen creations. I love cooking and eating. In 2008 I was diagnosed with RA. Food started becoming a huge problem. I needed to find a better way to eat the flavors I love. All the recipes I create are driven by my desire to eat good food that won't create extra pain and inflammation in my internal ecosystem. While the recipes are wholesome, the language is not. I swear. I use the word 'fuck'. A lot! I make no apologies for that. It's just a fair warning. I'm raw and real. Happy cooking! Even happier eating! Cheers! Angie

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Milk.....It Does A Body Bad

So you drink milk. I know. It's good. Thick and creamy. Great in a milkshake. And who doesn't love ice cream? Oh! Don't forget the cheese! I'm a former milk-drinker myself. My favorite.....ice cold milk and chocolate cake! I love ice cream and cheese (not together tho). As you read in my intro, I was recently diagnosed with RA. I have found over the past few months that eliminating all dairy from my diet has eliminated much of my pain and swelling. I have also noticed that I have no more bloating. My allergies seem to have disappeared. My complextion is better. I don't feel so "heavy" all the time. For me this is a life style change. There can be no exceptions. I don't like pain.

So we agree that milk tastes good. So does cheese, ice cream, yogurt. But is all that good for you? I have my opinion. I'll let you read on and come up with your own.

The consumption of milk has two distinct types: 1. a natural source of nutrition for all new-born mammals 2. a food-product for humans derived from animals

As human infants we are supposed to be nursed by our mothers, just as all other mammal babies are nursed by thier mothers.

But now listen. Zebras don't drink goat milk. Goats don't drink cow milk. Cows don't drink cat milk. Get it? Bottom line.....animals don't drink the milk of other animal species. So why do humans? Humans consume the milk from not only cows but also goat, sheep, water buffalo, horses, camels, and yaks. Humans are the only mammals that consume the milk of other mammals.

So lets look at the non-vitamin additives first. Most dairy is saturated with chemicals. rBGH (a genetically engineered bovine growth hormone that is banned in Canada and Europe) and antibiotics that are given to the cows travel thru their bodies and ends up in the milk that is produced, similar to when a nursing mother takes medication. When the cows are milked the chemicals come out with the milk. When milk is pasturized (quickly heated then quickly cooled to slow pathogenic micro-organism growth) and homogenized (forced at high pressure through tiny holes to prevent the natural separation of the cream and whey) the chemicals survive the processes. They do not go away!

And think about what is done to the cows! The are inseminated (constantly being pregnant causes a constant flow of milk), bred (btw...un-needed calves head off to the veal farm), fed (possible diseased food saturated with pesticides), medicated (antibiotics to treat mastitis* and rBGH to produce even more milk), and basically manipulated for the sole purpose of providing people with dairy. The things that cows go thru cause them to produce 7X more milk than they are naturally capable of doing. And don't forget that all those ingested chemicals end up in your glass. *Mastitis is an inflammatory disease fo the udders. It is caused by over-milking. But guess what? The dairy farmes don't stop milking for a little disease. Nope. Just give the cow a "pill" and keep on a-milkin'. Technically the cows aren't supposed to be milked for at least 48 hours after they get a dose but that means money is lost and who wants to lose money? Ever wonder why antibiotics, like penicillin don't work on people sometimes? Well, that's one reason.

So, where to begin? Lets start with the rBGH. Ever notice how little girls are becoming big girls a lot sooner? Needing bras in 3rd grade? Geting thier first periods at 7 or 8 years old? This is all thanks to rBGH. Gone are the days when a girl can start experiencing puberty at 13 or 14.

That being said, I know that you can choose to avoid all of that and buy organic. I used organic dairy for years. But the added chemicals aren't the only problem with dairy. Read on.

Allergies: Low-fat dairy products have a high protien content. It's more allergenic than dairy products with a high fat content. Dairy products are one of the leading causes of most food allergies. 1 in 7 babies have a dairy allergy. Some of the over-looked symptoms of a dairy allergy are: irritability, hyperactiveness, depression, headache, bad breath, lack of energy, poor appetite, abdominal issues (such as bloating, cramps, constipation, & diarrhea), poor absortion of nutrients, resperatory issues (such as runny nose, sinusitis, asthma, & shortness of breath), rashes, and eczema.

Bones: The USA has the highest dairy consumption of any other country. We also have the highest occurance of osteoperosis in the world. Something to be proud of? I think not. Dairy ads say for us to drink our milk and eat our cheese and yogurt so we can make our bones strong and healthy with all the calcium that we are ingesting. The fact that seems to be lost is that it doesn't matter how much calcium you take it. What matters is how much calcium your bones absorb and retain. The large amounts of animal protiens that are taken in from our diets make it very difficult to retain calcium. Animal protien makes our bodies acidic. Calcium is robbed from the bones to neutralize the acid. This will make bones weak and brittle later in life.

Iron: Cow's milk can cause an iron deficiancy in infants. Now that can't be good for the baby! Remember ladies.....breast milk is best!

Ovarian Cancer/Female Specifics: Oh gi-i-i-i-irls! Did you know that ingesting lactose (milk sugar) can make you susceptable to this nasty cancer? But did you also know that stopping dairy intake can also prevent the following: menstrual cramps, endometriosis pain, recurrent vaginitis, benign breast lumps, chronic vaginal discharge, acne, and fibroids. I know I don't want to deal with any of that. Do you?

Autism: Did you know that there is a link between autism and milk? Don't belive me? You can ask any one of the 5 people I know who have kids on the autistic spectrum.

Auto-immune diseases: There are about 40 different auto-immune diseases. Basically the immune system attacks the body. RA, MS, diabetes are just a few. People with a high consumptionof milk products are at a greater risk for autoimmune diseases. Hmmmm. Maybe all that milk I drank for the first 30 years of my life didn't help me grow big and strong.

And what about the fat? Sure, you can buy skim milk but just remember.....it has to go thru more processing to ge the fat out. By nature, cow's milk was designed to turn a 60 pound calf into a 600 pound cow in one year's time. Don't be fooled by that label! One glass of skim milk still has 56% fat!

So now that you've read all of this, how do feel about milk? Still the same as you did before? Maybe you're saying to yourself that none of this bothers you. OK. But all I know is that no matter how much I miss cheese and ice cold milk and ice cream and cheese, nothing tastes as good as pain-free feels.

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