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The REAL truth about milk.
- Aug 27, 2009 at 10:11 PM
- By
- Comments (46) Total Views (958) Everyone can see this journal post.
I just can't resist refuting inaccurate "facts". It's like trying not to itch a mosquito bite. Here are some facts that I believe everyone has the right to know; what they choose to do about it is up to them. And may I add that what they choose to do is none of my business...I'm not in any way looking to slam people who drink milk. As I said above, I just feel that everyone deserves to know the facts so they are then enabled to make informed choices, whether that choice goes one way or the other.
Oh, and if you don't like the information that you're about to read--take it up with the doctors, medical professionals and scientists who have proved it to be true.
From the Harvard School of Public Health, on the Consumption of Dairy Products (2005):
“The recommendation to drink three glasses of low-fat milk or eat three
servings of other dairy products per day to prevent osteoporosis is
another step in the wrong direction. … Three glasses of low-fat milk
add more than 300 calories a day. This is a real issue for the millions
of Americans who are trying to control their weight. What's more,
millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, and even small amounts of
milk or dairy products give them stomachaches, gas, or other problems.
This recommendation ignores the lack of evidence for a link between
consumption of dairy products and prevention of osteoporosis. It also
ignores the possible increases in risk of ovarian cancer and prostate
cancer associated with dairy products.”
Milk Sucks!
For animals:
Corporate-owned factories where cows are warehoused in huge sheds and treated like milk machines have replaced most small family farms. With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it is common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day— 10 times more than they would produce in nature. To keep milk production as high as possible, farmers artificially inseminate cows every year. Growth hormones and unnatural milking schedules cause dairy cows' udders to become painful and so heavy that they sometimes drag on the ground, resulting in frequent infections and overuse of antibiotics. Cows— like all mammals— make milk to feed their own babies— not humans.
Male calves, the "byproducts" of the dairy industry, endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment in veal crates so small that they can't even turn around. Female calves often replace their old, worn-out mothers, or are slaughtered soon after birth for the rennet in their stomachs (an ingredient of most commercial cheeses). They are often kept in tiny crates or tethered in stalls for the first few months of their lives, only to grow up to become "milk machines" like their mothers.
For the Environment:
Cow's
milk is an inefficient food source. Cows, like humans, expend the
majority of their food intake simply leading their lives. It takes a
great deal of grain and other foodstuffs cycled through cows to produce
a small amount of milk. And not only is milk a waste of energy and
water, the production of milk is also a disastrous source of water
pollution. A dairy cow produces 120 pounds of waste every day -- equal
to that of two dozen people, but with no toilets, sewers, or treatment
plants.
In Lancaster County, Pa., manure from dairy cows
is destroying the Chesapeake Bay, and in California, which produces
one-fifth of the country's total supply of milk, the manure from dairy
farms has poisoned vast expanses of underground water, rivers, and
streams. In the Central Valley of California, the cows produce as much
excrement as a city of 21 million people, and even a smallish farm of
200 cows will produce as much nitrogen as in the sewage from a
community of 5,000 to 10,000 people, according to a U.S. Senate report
on animal waste.
AND FOR YOUR HEALTH!:
Dairy
products are a health hazard. They contain no fiber or complex
carbohydrates and are laden with saturated fat and cholesterol. They
are contaminated with cow's blood and pus and are frequently
contaminated with pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Dairy products
are linked to allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease, cancer,
and other diseases.
The
late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care,
spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it can cause
anemia, allergies, and insulin-dependent diabetes and in the long term,
will set kids up for obesity and heart disease, America's number one
cause of death.
And dairy products may actually cause
osteoporosis, not prevent it, since their high-protein content leaches
calcium from the body. Population studies, backed up by a
groundbreaking Harvard study of more than 75,000 nurses, suggest that
drinking milk can actually cause osteoporosis.
Comments:
But it goes so darn well with cookies!!!!
:)
You don't have to drink milk ever again Katie.. I'll take your share! :)
I drink milk now, but for the longest I didn't for these reasons. I've lost my resolve! ::sniff:: It's hard to afford the substitutes these days. I eat a lot of pasta and veggie dishes, not so much dairy anymore. Yay me! (every little bit counts!)
Every little bit really DOES count! And I hear ya on the prices...my husband I drink soy milk, and we can get it pretty cheap by purchasing it by the case. However my little guy drinks hemp milk and yeah, the expense there, despite the fact that it's worth it, isn't pretty.
Rice milk isn't badly priced... it's a great alternative and is really delicious.
Shut up.
(i.e. this sucks and I wanted to remain ignorant and enjoy my milk, how dare you)
We're in the process of trying to find a replacement. Soy is okay, but not for my kiddos often or me with PCOS. The chocolate rice milk (Rice Dream) tasted like bile... was it the brand? The chocolate? We're trying oat and almond milk too.
Hemp milk is the cream of the crop (no pun intended). It's the most nutritionally beneficial, has no drawbacks like soy does and can be consumed by most people who are allergic to practically everything. Unfortunately...not cheap. :(
I'll vote yours up if you vote mine!
Not to mention they are fed grain, which makes the cows horribly sick, needing more antibotics.
Yum... Cow antibotics. How tasty.
I take Vitimin D pills, which have pretty much cured any type of exhaustion I feel through the day which Milk has never offered me. But then again, I didn't know what hormones and medications were in them up until a few years ago.
Poor cows. Such a waste.
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Katie- will you quit pulling opinions out of your caboose? JK couldn't resist.
This was a portion of lecture I received at Kat's environmental specialist. Thanks for the post.
- ..Sarah..
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