Raw milk…This sounds so strange to our modern ears. Raw means not cooked, right? And milk isn’t cooked, is it?
Close your eyes and imagine a dairy cow. The golden sun shines as she munches lush green grass in a pasture. Here comes the farmer in his overalls and hat, coming to bring his girls in for their afternoon milking. Cowbells jingle as the cows stroll to the barn.
Time for a reality check. Chances are the milk you drink came from a cow that has never even seen grass. In fact, she stands in the same sludgy spot most of her days with a thousand other cows, producing milk like a machine. She can only produce large amounts of milk during her short life because she’s been pumped full of hormones and antibiotics and eats an unnaturally high protein grain diet.
You might think grain makes for good cow chow, but it’s not what cows normally eat. A grain diet will eventually kill cows by destroying their livers. This toxicity necessitates widespread use of antibiotics in the cow’s feed. Real feed for cows is green grass in spring, summer and fall and green feed, consisting of silage, hay and root vegetables in the winter. A high grain diet greatly diminishes naturally occurring levels of vitamins A and D as well as the “Price Factor” (a fat-soluble catalyst that promotes optimum mineral assimilation).
The milk from these cows will also be pasteurized, which kills the germs and bacteria swimming in it, but which also kills all the vital nutrients and beneficial bacteria that make milk a potentially perfect food. The milk you buy has also been homogenized. This is a process that breaks down butterfat globules so they do not rise to the top. Homogenized milk has recently been linked to heart disease.
Raw milk, on the other hand, is not pasteurized or homogenized. Sound like a recipe for food poisoning? If you were to drink the milk from the typical dairy cow without processing it, yes. But raw milk comes from a completely different kind of cow.
What makes raw milk one of the best nutritional choices you can make? Stay tuned to find out.
Here in Santa Clarita, raw milk is available at Whole Foods from Organic Pastures and Claravale Farms.
If you are…
• Done talking about creating better health
• Tired of thinking about what to do next
• Ready to make positive changes and live a more vibrant life
Then make that investment in yourself because Women’s Health Advantage is ready to help.
For more information, please contact Jill Redfern RN, digestive health specialist at 661-310-7373 or at www.womenshealthadvantage@msn.com .
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