| Hearing lots of controversial information on raw | | | | statistically much more likely to contract E coli |
| milk? Don't believe everything you read. Educate | | | | from your local produce department than from |
| yourself on the benefits of this natural and | | | | that farmer's cow. |
| delicious alternative to store-bought pasteurized | | | | The source of the majority of our commercial |
| and homogenized milk. Once you are enlightened, | | | | milk is the modern Holstein dairy cow which has |
| you will never look at milk the same way again. | | | | been bred specifically for quantity in order to |
| ARTICLE BODY | | | | produce large amounts of milk far beyond what a |
| Raw milk straight from the cow or goat is chock | | | | cow was ever meant to produce. Since she is fed |
| full of the benefits of wonderfully healthy bacteria, | | | | so much grain (remember this is unhealthy for a |
| vitamins, and enzymes that you simply will not | | | | cow), she requires antibiotics to keep her healthy. |
| get from store-bought milk. | | | | Growth hormones also end up in that milk you're |
| Milk you find on your supermarket shelf is flawed | | | | pouring over your breakfast cereal every |
| for many reasons. One reason is the big | | | | morning. |
| commercial dairies do not feed their cows grass | | | | The most healthy and best-tasting raw milk will |
| and hay which is what they are supposed to eat, | | | | come from the "old" breeds of dairy cows such |
| but rather their cows exist in small feedlots being | | | | as the Jersey, Guernsey, Ayrshire, or Brown |
| fed large amounts of grain which is actually not | | | | Swiss, or the older lines of Holstein which were |
| something a cow was meant to eat. | | | | not bred to produce obscene amounts of milk. |
| As a result, these cows must be fed antibiotics | | | | The average butterfat of these old breeds of |
| which in turn are going into your milk. Bleach is | | | | cows back at the turn of the century was 4%. |
| also often added to make sure your carton of | | | | Today's butterfat normally comprises less than |
| milk is as white as can be. Scary, isn't it? | | | | 3%. There is also the misleading notion that skim |
| But even if this were not the case, commercially | | | | and low-fat milk is good for you. Full-fat milk is |
| available milk is pasteurized (heated) and | | | | awesomely healthy as the butterfat contains the |
| homogenized (process that breaks down | | | | vitamins A and D which are needed for the |
| butterfat), and you can be sure that all those | | | | absorption of calcium, and is also rich in the short- |
| beneficial enzymes and healthy bacteria are long | | | | and medium-chain fatty acids that protect us |
| gone by the time it reaches the grocery shelf. | | | | against disease. You get no health benefit at all |
| What you have left is simply dead liquid which can | | | | from drinking low-fat or no-fat milk, and you |
| possibly cause more harm than good due to the | | | | might as well just have a glass of water instead. |
| growth hormones and antibiotics (among other | | | | That would actually be far more healthy. |
| things) given to the unhealthy commercial-dairy | | | | Many are jumping on the raw milk bandwagon, |
| cow. | | | | and many more will climb on board in the coming |
| Many people will argue that drinking milk straight | | | | years as people educate themselves about what |
| from the cow is not healthy, and that | | | | is actually going into our food through the |
| pasteurization is necessary to kill off things like E | | | | commercial processes. |
| coli. The fact is that milk collected hygienically | | | | If you have a small dairy farm near you, drop by |
| from a healthy grass-fed cow on a small | | | | and sample some real milk and see what you |
| family-owned farm is very healthy, and the | | | | have been missing. |
| benefits far outweigh the risks. You'd be | | | | |