A Drop of the White Stuff

Did you have to drink Milk as a kid? Remember, even at school in those little bottles it was warm. I remember when I was little, my mum had to put my mug of milk in the freezer compartment of the fridge to make it extra extra cold so I couldn't taste it

So now you know I don't like milk, I am not going to be biased writing this little article now am I? Honestly, I just want you guys to know why Milk isn't as good as the Milk Marketing Board tells you it is. But as I write this, I must firstly tell you that Raw Milk (Goats raw milk is even better, get yourself a goat!) is awesome, and if you can get some of that from a farmer, then get it, though its hard as the Gov have made it expensive for farmers to follow this route, so they are few and far between. If you thought all milk was raw, then think again! I had to, and here's what I found.

Milk and dairy products are all heavily processed foods, using Pasteurisatioon & homogenisation, the body finds this processed food difficult to digest, the calcium benefits are very few. For me, being over 40 and having been through an early menopause, I was naturally worried about the state of my bones. When the body is depleted of calcium it basically feeds off its own bones to get the calcium back into the bloodstream, thus the bones become brittle. I had a bone scan recently and my bones are fine, and I stopped drinking milk when my mum stopped making me drink it. I am now 45, over my menopause, and not a brittle bone in sight.

So when I told the nurse who was operating the scanner that I hate milk and haven't drunk it for nearly 30 years she was very very worried and looked at me in shock and sympathy, expecting my skeleton to turn to dust in front of her eyes. She told me that Milk remained the top source of calcium and I should be taking calcium supplements, more about those later! When I commented that almonds and green veg have more calcium than milk, she looked at me as if I was totally off my rocker... Milk is best apparently!

So, what happens to Milk, what makes is so intolerable to our digestive system. Lets start with the animal that produces it. Most cows are fed hormones in their feed, their feed isn't that pure, and they aren't fed grass all day long like you see in the adverts. (grass fed beef is hard to come by and expensive, but its the best beef you can eat... but that's for another topic we will cover later)

What are cows fed then? Grain is cheap and there's a lot of it, but its already nutritionally depleted, sprayed with chemicals, other foods may be added like potato waste, bread that's discarded by the factories, rapeseed meal, again, sprayed with chemicals. Remember BSE? I wont go into that, but it was a way to get more Protein into the cattle through feeding them remnants of other, to fatten them up quicker.

Now this enlarge isn't a "lets blame the farmer" topic, but its the demand that they face to keep the milk production going that means they have to use these methods. Dairy cows are now like toys on a Generation Game conveyor belt!

Most of the old style dairy breeds have diminished. The higher milk yielding cows remain (cash cows!), the black and white breeds. When they are expected to produce high yields, the vitamin content the cow passes onto the milk is diluted. Hormones are secreted into the milk they produce. They are fed the nutrient poor grain which their body finds hard to digest. If the food they are fed is below standard, how can we expect the milk they produce to be of a high standard? The same as humans, you are what you eat...

The cows digestive system is complex, but basically the first stomach becomes over acidic, it then produces extra lactic acid to deal with this, which is absorbed into the bloodstream. excess acid then kills the micro organisms in the stomach, not a good thing for the milk being produced. Intensive milking can lead to udder infection, mastitis. Antibiotics are injected into the udders to treat this, which can end up in the milk.

So, Pasteurisation... what is it? It heats the milk to kill the bugs, also killing enzymes whilst its at it, reducing the vitamin quality of the milk by at least half. It last longer in the supermarket and in your fridge, aren't you wondering how a so called "fresh" product can last so long on the shelves? don't you look for a sell by or use by date that means you can keep it longer? ever wondered how they do that?

Calcium: here's a big one then. When I tell my clients not to drink milk, they are worried about calcium deficiency.

But Milk consumption increases acidity in the body. Water will alkalise it (not tap water obviously, that topic will be discussed next!) you need 20 glasses to neutralise 1 glass of milk. Cows Milk calcium is coarser than humans milk calcium (did you think it was made the same?) the calcium is degraded through the pasteurisation, homogonisation, being skimmed, semi skimmed... almost impossible to absorb in our human gut.

Did you know the following will give your body the calcium it needs: Green veg! Broccoli, green beans, peas, cauliflower, hazel nuts, almonds, parsley, spinach, kiwi, cabbage, squashes.

You dont need to cling to the Milk for Calcium rubbish you have been fed for years and years, its just not true!

Magnesium: A mineral found in many vegetables and pulses, magnesium is better for bone density than calcium it is widely thought. Broccoli (again!) spinach, artichokes, green beans, tomatoes, pinto beans, sunflower seeds, Tofu, cashews, fish.

We are told to drink milk for healthy bones and teeth, for calcium, so we do, yet we have a high rate of osteoporosis in the UK, so does Sweden and especially high in the USA and they drink gallons of the stuff. China & Japan are not milk lovers yet have the lowest rates of osteoporosis. There're many reports stating these statistics available for you to pour over!

If you are going to drink the white stuff, drink it raw, untreated, from grass fed cows. If you cannot find that, drink coconut milk, rice milk... anything but milk milk from the supermarket shelves.

Melanie Collie runs successful Metabolic Workouts combined with her L.E.A.N.5 healthy eating plan. The next course starts 4th October. If you wish to join please check the web link below for details or contact Melanie directly. Spaces are limited on the 4 week course!