Raw Dairy

While the thought of consuming unpasteurized dairy in inconceivable to many, I will share that raw dairy is an incredible way to improve the health and wellness for most. I know that we have been led to believe that raw unpasteurized dairy will make us sick but we will address this with some facts.

Let’s start with the differences in how the cows are raised. Conventional dairy cows typically are never exposed to natural sunlight, they are stuck in pens with lack of movement, they consume grain rather than grass, they are pumped with hormones and anti-biotics, their food source is chemically toxic and they typically live to an average of somewhere around 44 months.

Now a cow that you would enjoy raw dairy from, is out to pasture walking under the natural sunlight, eating grass and hay, and is not fed hormones or antibiotics. The average age of this cow is about 10-12 years. Now looking at the difference of the average ages of these cows tells us quite a bit about the health of the animal, which in turn will tell us about the health of the product coming from that same animal. Which cow would you rather get your milk from?

Another factor that I hear often is, “I am lactose intolerant, or I simply do not do well with milk”. I will share that personally, I am lactose intolerant but I do fine when my milk is raw. You may ask, “What is the difference?” The difference is the enzyme activity. Milk in a natural state contains 7 enzymes to assist with the breakdown, absorption and assimilation. When the milk is pasteurized all 7 of these enzymes are destroyed. Funny how man has decided that we can do better that nature in this regard.

As far as the safety is concerned, I will share that to my knowledge, there are no recorded deaths of anyone dyeing from the consumption of raw dairy, yet there are many recorded deaths from consuming pasteurized dairy. I believe that back in the 70’s there were 200 or so deaths in California and 20 plus deaths in Illinois alone.

It is also interesting that different states have different laws in regard to raw milk. I live in California currently and I can share that all I have to do to get raw dairy is go to the local grocery store. My previous years living in Illinois, I had to belong to a food coop to get my raw dairy. With the coop, I would pay to be a part owner of “Elsie” the cow and this would give me the right to get milk from my cow. Other states will not even allow coops. To find out about the availability of raw milk in your area visit www.realmilk.com and search the locations tab.

Go enjoy some raw milk today...it really does a body good.

To get some incredible information on dairy, I recommend reading “The Untold Story of Milk” by Ron Schmid, ND.

*As a special note, some individuals that are challenged with pasteurized dairy still do not do well with raw. For some this is due to the size of the protein molecule in cow’s milk. Some individuals simply cannot break this down very well. Unless you have extreme reactions to milk, it is generally worth the experiment.