*Why* Raw Milk?

[mamoma]

Maybe it'd be better to get "Nourishing Traditions" from the library... but at the risk of just seeming lazy : and in the *hope* that you'd like the chance to talk about your convictions, I'm wondering... why raw milk?
Specifically:
1. Isn't pasturization required for a reason?
2. Isn't pasturization just heating enough to kill bacteria?

[425lisamarie]

yep, as in killing GOOD bacteria.

Look here: www.realmilk.com

[ramlita]

The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid explains it all really well.

One tidbit that stuck in my mind:
at a time when cities were first really filling up and sanitation was dismal, people with tuberculosis were hand-milking cows, infecting the milk.
When they started pasturizing the milk, TB infections from milk were greatly reduced... but the babies being fed that milk came down with rickets because of all of the nutrient loss from pasturization.

In a nutshell:
Grass fed cows are healthy, and make great milk.
Clean conditions keep the milk safe.
Keeping milk raw/drinking it fresh means getting all of the original nutrients and enzymes.

[Kimmiepie]

READ "The Untold Story of Milk" by Dr. Ron Schmid

Very eye opening as to why pasteurization was used in the first place and why we don't need it. I had no idea!

Highly recommend it. And of course, yes, you should read NT too.

[Kimmiepie]

Double post

[cwaddick]

When you milk a single cow by hand and then handle the milk in a way that keeps it clean, the milk does not grow bacteria.

Similarly, when doctors wash their hands, they do not introduce bacteria and viruses into sequential patients.

But, for a long time, people didn't know that.

Pasteurization does kill the bad bacteria in unclean milk. But, the bad bacteria do not develop in milk unless the milk is handled in an unclean way.

When milk is processed in very large batches, bacteria must grow . If you give cows rGBH (milk-promoting hormone that causes the cows to get mastitis), then the cows will produce more milk, and they will get sick. The bacteria and pus passes into the milk. The only way to get rid of the bacteria is to heat the milk. The only way to cover up the low quality of milk due to the high pus content is to mix milk with other products.

If a cow is milked humanely and the milk is stored and processed in small batches in containers that are kept clean, then the resulting milk is a very high quality milk and pasteurization is unnecessary.

Large dairy companies promote pasteurization laws because they know the quality of their pasteurized milk cannot compete with the quality of other companies' unpasteurized milk. Similar market problems exist for many organic vegetables. In a similar way, with swimming pools, the chemical industry insists that state laws maintain swimming pools' cleanliness standards by requiring a certain level of chlorine (or bromine) in the water. If you want to have a pool at your business or in your county, then the only way to "prove" to the state that it is clean is to demonstrate a required chlorine level. Safer and more effective ways to maintain public health sanitation conditions in swimming pools are not permitted because the chlorine industry has too much at stake to allow even a small portion of its market share to slip away. [Chlorine is a highly toxic chemical that most people are unaware of.]

-- Caitlin

[cwaddick]

http://www.themeatrix.com/

"Our heroes Moopheus, Leo, and Chickity return in The Meatrix II: Revolting to expose the dark side of the dairy industry."

It is a satire of "The Matrix" film trilogy with Keanu Reeves.

The website does not address raw milk, but the problems with the pasteurized milk industry.
-- Caitlin

[cwaddick]

What is the difference between fresh lemon juice and lemon juice that you buy in a bottle from a grocery store? Besides additives in the store-bought juice, there are living enzymes in the fresh juice.

Fresh lemon juice has living enzymes in it for the first 30 minutes or so after you press it. When you go to digest food, you need enzymes to digest your food. Many people put fresh lemon juice on fish, salads, chicken, and soups.

Crackers from the box have no enzymes in them. The digestive enzymes must be supplied by your body. Every time you eat totally dead food, your body must supply the enzymes itself. Your bodies' enzymes get depleted until you are not benefiting from the food you eat because you are not actually digesting it.

Raw foods, such as raw carrots, raw leafy greens, raw apples, fresh lemon juice, and yes raw milk, contain natural enzymes, essential for our bodies' digestive processes.

Many women express their breastmilk into containers for bottlefeeding. Many people use juicers to make their own orange juice. I squeeze my own lemons to make fresh lemonade. I would not dream of boiling any of these things before I use them.

If you are considering drinking raw milk, ask yourself when was the last time that you ate other raw foods. Think about the taste of freshly squeezed orange juice versus the bottled, pasteurized juice from the store. The difference in quality is amazing. Much of that difference has to do with the living characteristics of the food, enzymes being one of many!

-- Caitlin

[ramlita]

:

Great post!

[mamoma]

Thanks for all of the responses - I really appreciate it. I'll bet it's more delicious (which is part of what has me so curious)... I've had milk that was pasturized but not homogenized and the difference was clear. I guess I have to look into it more. I hope this isn't a violation (I'm certainly not here to debate, since for one thing I don't know anything about it, and for another, this isn't the space for it) but I wonder what you think of the reports of illness outbreaks... do you consider the health benefits to be worth the risks? or do you not believe that illness has been caused?

[BekahJ]

Oh it is wonderful!!! Taste much better than store bought.

[sunanthem]

I haven't studied up as much as others, and dont know much about the illness outbreaks, but I wanted to mention another reason I buy raw milk is because I got to meet the farmer who sells it 10 miles down the road, and I know where its coming from; who knows where the store stuff comes from.

And my kids love to pet the baby cows every time we visit.

[lauradbg]

The salmonella outbreaks have been where people have drank pasteurized milk, including an outbreak in the 80's that effected thousands of people in Illinois.

Raw milk has huge amounts of Vitamin C and naturally occurring vitamin D. It's healthier for you.