September 13, 2013

Feeling Good Friday: The Benefits of Raw Milk

Do you drink milk? You might say, "No, I am lactose intolerant." or "No, I can't have dairy."

Dairy is one of the biggest "allergens" in our country at the moment. There are many reasons for this, some of which I will get into in this post. First, is that the dairy products that are available to our society in the USA at the moment are actually dead. Yes, I really mean that, dead. When we purchase dairy (even organic) at our stores the end product has gone through a pasteurization process. Milk is pasteurized, cheese is pasteurized and butter is as well. Actually, there are many food and drink products that go through this process to make them "safe" to consume. Pasteurization is a process of heating up the dairy to over 145 degrees to kill off e.Coli or Salmonella bacteria. The problem is that when this is done is also kills everything else good in the product.


Let me start by telling you about the living parts of raw (unpasteurized) milk. Yes, raw milk is actually a living food! God made it this way because he made humans and he knows how our bodies work and what we need to properly function and digest.

  • Milk, in its raw state, is a perfectly balanced food. This is the way God made it. A WHOLE food. 
  • It has a high nutritional content. It is naturally higher in vitamins (A and D to name a few) and minerals (calcium, phosphorus and more) than its pasteurized counterpart. Raw milk also has a higher level of Omega 3's and Essential Fatty Acids.
  • It also has high levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which helps with metabolism, abdominal fat, muscle growth, insulin resistance and more.
  • Raw milk has many beneficial bacteria in it that helps us in a plethora of functions in our body. **Side note: did you know that you have literally trillions of beneficial (and not so beneficial) bacteria in your intestines that thrive everyday making up between 70-90% of your immune system? One of the beneficial bacteria present in raw milk is called Lactobaccili. This particular bacteria helps to digest (or eat) lactose. Do you think with all the "lactose intolerance" in our country that we need help digesting lactose? I do. Lactobaccili is good for this. This good bacteria is killed through pasteurization.  A lot of the other beneficial bacteria in the raw milk actually help kill off any bad bacteria that may be present in the milk and they perform dozens and dozens of other functions that are helpful to our bodies. I want to write more on this but it is really a whole new post topic in and of itself.
  • There are also over sixty live enzymes present in raw, unpasteurized milk. These enzymes are necessary to remain alive because they aid our body in digesting the milk. Without them our bodies are incapable of properly processing the proteins, vitamins and minerals that are in milk. These live enzymes can also help protect our bodies against asthma, allergies and immune diseases.

Raw Milk is truly a health promoting food.

Pasteurization kills all the enzymes, lowers the vitamin and mineral levels and actually changes the molecular make-up of the milk. When humans come in and alter something that was created perfect generally the result isn't so wonderful. That is the case with pasteurizing milk.

One of the reason why there is so much intolerance to dairy in our country is because most people drink (or try to drink) dead milk. It doesn't have the necessary components in it to properly digest in our bodies so therefore an intolerance presents itself or a reaction happens. I do believe there are true dairy "allergies" but I am talking about "intolerance" not true dairy allergies in this post. There is a significant difference. Milk is fragile and the living properties can be destroyed very easily. This is why I believe only raw milk should be consumed for those who have dairy as a part of their diets.

It can be more expensive and hard to find but I venture to say that the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience. Not to mention, when you actually get your milk from a farmer your kiddos will know that milk actually comes form a cow (or goat or other mammal) not from a factory or a store!) Also, if you get it straight from a farmer you will pay less money than if buying raw milk from a store front.

My youngest son was born with lots of rashes, pretty bad eczema and would physically swell sometimes when he would have milk. This was before we were drinking raw milk. I hesitated to give it to him because it was clear it caused a reaction. It wasn't an anaphylactic type reaction but it was a reaction nonetheless. After a couple of years of giving him milk that was pasteurized I started giving him organic thinking that would help. I really did not notice a difference in him so I started to just have him stay away from milk as much as possible. Then I discovered raw milk though the GAPS diet because of my own health problems. I found a farmer and now we purchase our milk once a week through him. I love getting the milk and being able to skim off the cream and do what I want with it. I have tried my youngest son on the raw milk and I have not seen a reaction in him at all after drinking it. I believe this is because this raw milk has the proper balance of enzymes and beneficial bacteria in it so that my son can properly process it. Both of my boys love milk!

If you do decide to find a farmer who owns milk cows or goats for milk I would recommend going to see the farm and meet the animals. Check out how they milk the animals and their sanitary practices. Make sure that they take some precautions in how they do their milking process. Our farmer actually gets inspected every month to ensure that they are safely obtaining and storing their milk.

Here are some links if you want to read more on the benefits of raw milk.:
From my doctor, Chris Kresser: Click here
Raw Milk Testimonials: Click here
An Excellent and thorough overview of raw milk (some of where I got my info from): Click here
An interesting article by Dr. Mercola on Raw Milk: Click here

Feel good this Friday and try some Raw milk!

~Blessings~

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the info Jen. I have started drinking raw milk and my kids too. I feel grateful that I have access to it here.

    I am taking a cooking class right now where I am learning about the GAPS diet and ancestral cooking. It's all so fascinating!

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  2. You're welcome Sam! it is nice to be able to get raw milk. Some places are easier than others. You cooking class sounds fun! All that learning will fit right in line with your homeopathy practice. How exciting!

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  3. Hi there,
    I just found a way to get raw milk at half the cost as from a store (which is $16 a gallon!)
    A truck comes to deliver at a lady's home in Del Mar and one of my friends picks it up and drops it off at my door! Yay!
    Thanks for all of the info. I knew it was good but I didn't know all of the reasons why.
    ~Mihelle

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    1. Michelle, $16 a gallon! Seriously? What in the world. It IS good but it is NOT gold! My gosh. I am so glad you found it cheaper. Time to move out here :-) So convenient though that someone drops it off at your door. What a blessing. Like old days.

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For any and all health advice/suggestions and/or posts on this blog, I do not assume any liability for you. The posts and comments on this blog are not meant to be a substitute for your own practicing physician's care in your life. These posts are based on my experience and research in my own healing journey and are placed here to encourage and help those ailing with their health. We are all individuals and there is not ONE pat answer or resolution that applies to everyone across the board.