Milk is one of the most commonly consumed foods/beverages in the world. We’ve been told it “does our body good” and that we should drink it daily for growth and for healthy bones. But the truth is, the milk you find in grocery stores today is NOT the nutritional superstar it claims to be.
In fact, it’s not even close. The milk you buy in stores in pasteurized, homogenized and stripped of nutrition value like white bread – but worse.
^All those things listed in the white column above are GOOD guys! We want them!
Raw milk from a grass-fed cow, on the other hand, has all the beneficial bacteria and enzymes that aid digestion AND it actually contains omega-3 fatty acids and CLA – both fatty acids that improve health and body composition.
Aside from those measurable qualities, milk from grass-fed cattle is better quite simply because the animal is healthier. From the Weston A Price Foundation:
“Real feed for cows is green grass in Spring, Summer and Fall; stored dry hay, silage, hay and root vegetables in Winter. It is not soy meal, cottonseed meal or other commercial feeds, nor is it bakery waste, chicken manure or citrus peel cake, laced with pesticides.”
So if what you put into your body or your children’s bodies (it should be), look into switching your milk source. You’ll notice decreased inflammation, decreased digestive stress (raw milk contains the enzymes we need to digest lactose), increased energy, and improved health. I don’t have to tell you why those are GOOD things!
**Note** No need to fear the “I have to drink milk for calcium” trap. Calcium requirements are 1000mg-1200mg per day depending on age and gender, and those needs can be met through non-dairy sources like broccoli, spinach, kale, nuts, seeds, and protein powders (dairy-based whey and casein).
How To Get The Good Stuff
It is illegal to sell raw milk in most states. But if you own the cow, it is your milk and you are free to do with it as you please. So the solution…buy a cow!
This is actually easier than you might think. The raw and grass-fed movements are growing, and this means many proactive people are finding ways to make getting the good stuff easier. Enter the heard-share programs. Like a condo or vacation home time-time, you and a group of people share ownership in a cow. The cow lives at the farm where the farmer operates his/her grass-fed operation. There are weekly drop-offs and all you have to do is show up to get YOUR COW’S milk!
Each herd-share will have different rules and policies but typically you pay a boarding fee annually to cover the costs of raising the animal. You also cover the costs of transporting the milk, the glass bottles, coolers, etc. If you can partner with some friends or family the pick process becomes easier. Say 5 people decide to pair up and pick up the milk for each other, meaning each person only has to travel to the drop-off location once every 5 weeks. Not a bad deal…
Resources for more information: