This was my daily breakfast growing up.

Milk was a part of my daily morning regimen growing up.  Every morning my mom would pour a bowl of sugar laden cereal and add milk……ahhhhh…instant breakfast of champions.  Of course, I’m not the only one who drank milk daily and it’s still a common practice in households around the world.   Why?  Because every parent wants his or her child to grow up to be big and strong and milk is the way to do it, right?  Well, maybe not.

Over the years, three separate views of milk have evolved.  Some think milk is great, filled with calcium, and good for your bones.  Others wholeheartedly agree as long as the milk isn’t pasteurized.   And then, there are those like myself who avoid dairy altogether.  Raw or pasteurized, I believe milk has more negative than positive effects on the body.

Sure, milk contains calcium and we’ve all heard the wonders it can do to your bones. What you may not know is:

• 75% of all adults experience a decreased ability to handle dairy as they get older
• Americans drinks more milk than other countries, and yet we have more incidences of osteoporosis than other countries that don’t consume as much milk.

Hmmm, maybe milk doesn’t do a body so good after all.

What about raw milk?  Of course, raw milk avoids the pasteurization process altogether, which means it has some of the vitamins otherwise lost during pasteurization.   And, because the cows that produce raw milk eat only grass, raw milk has more CLA’s, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is a naturally produced antimicrobial.

Why avoid milk?

So if raw milk has positive benefits, why skip milk altogether?  The first thing that comes to my mind is no other animal on Earth consumes milk as an adult, suggesting that we don’t need it.  Cow’s milk is meant for, well, baby cows.  Adult cows don’t even drink it.  That makes sense.

My other concern is the tremendous amount of mucous built up in the body as a result of consuming dairy.  Mucous has been known to cause problems with yeast and inflammation, just to name a few.  Maybe I’ll write another post about that in the future.

How do I get enough calcium?

Don’t worry.  Eliminating milk from your diet doesn’t mean that you’ll become calcium deficient. Tune in tomorrow when I discuss the importance of calcium to your diet. After that we’ll discuss where to get calcium when you’re not eating dairy, and of course the answer to the burning question: What non-dairy food will give you the most calcium?

In the meantime, comment below on any interesting non-dairy foods you eat/drink to meet your daily calcium requirements.

See you tomorrow!

Related posts:

1. The Truth about Soda – Finally!