Got Milk?

We’ve all seen the highly successful “Got Milk” campaign.  The ads depict famous celebrities with milk mustaches which serve as a reminder for us all to drink our milk in order to get our calcium for strong bones.  As we know, this campaign is an advertisement, so when we look at the motivations underlying the ads, we have to ask ourselves about what is or isn’t true about the ads’ claims? 

I don’t know about you, but I grew up drinking milk at dinner, using milk in my cereal, and eating ice cream for dessert.  I also remember the awful day when my family switched from 2% milk to skim milk.  Ugh.  This was when fat was depicted as the bad guy and skim milk was the superstar.  I would venture to say that everyone in my family loves ice cream more than any other dessert.  So, all of those years that we were consuming the average consumer’s milk, were we really making our bones stronger?

Research

Dr. Annemarie Colbin is a well respected source when it comes to holistic nutrition.  As a guest speaker at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, she spoke about food and our bones.  Dr. Colbin ascertains that while we have been given the mass media message to consume dairy to strengthen our bones, there are studies suggesting otherwise.  The famous Nurses Study at Harvard University, which followed 78,000 nurses over the course of 12 years, found that those nurses who drank two or more glasses of commercial milk per day had twice the risk of hip fracture than those who drank one glass per week or less.  Curious, no?

Dr. Linda Bacon, renowned author of the book, Health at Every Size also cautions us in her book about consuming too much milk and discusses the misconception about drinking as much milk as is commonly recommended.

“But where will I get my calcium?!”

Vegetables, vegetables, vegetables is the answer. Did you know that calcium is present in vegetables, especially greens?  Did you also know that cows are meant to eat grass (that contains calcium) but commercial cows, who supply the majority of dairy in this country, are fed soy meal, cottonseed meal or other commercial feeds, bakery waste, chicken manure citrus peel cake, and are mostly full of pesticides? Yuck! That’s not where you should be getting your calcium from, in part because the calcium isn’t present the way it should be.

Acid Forming Foods that Cause Bone Breakdown

Here is a list of foods that can be partially responsible for the bone breakdown that a high volume of milk consumption is meant to combat.  Seems to me that minimizing these foods also minimizes the need to over-consume milk:

White bread
Pasta
White rice
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Dessert
Coffee

Diet for Strong Bones

If you want strong bones but not all that milk, try eating these foods:

Leafy greens and other vegetables
Beans and quality animal food
Whole grains supply magnesium – magnesium puts calcium in the bones.
Nuts and seeds for trace minerals
Good quality fats – olive oil, organic butter, sesame oil
Edible bones – Bones of sardines, salmon, chicken wings and chicken bones, fish bones.
*Cook with fish stock

The Role of Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential for promoting calcium absorption and is scarcely found in foods (although there is some in shiitake mushrooms and parsley).  The natural source of Vitamin D is the sun.  There is an epidemic of Vitamin D deficiency in America - we are taught to be terrified of the sun, many of us do not have the required time to absorb the proper amount of Vitamin D, or many of us do not live in places that are sunny most of the year.  Vitamin D tests are easily administered by doctors and can tell you whether you need a Vitamin D supplement or not.  If you do opt to get more Vitamin D from the sun, just don’t get burnt.  Some people can only tolerate 10 minutes of sun before getting burned – know your limit.  The average person can take 40 minutes per day with 40% of their body exposed in order to get proper amounts of Vitamin D.

What about Calcium Pills?

Dr. Colbin goes on to explain that the most important way to keep bones from breaking is to build up the collagen.  Bones are made of approximately 65% calcium-phosphate, 46% calcium (overlaps with calcium-phosphate percentage), and 35% collagen (a protein). Bones with too much calcium will become more brittle. The body can’t absorb calcium by itself, and pills taken alone will deposit anywhere in the body, including muscles, and may miss the bones altogether.

The Case for Real Milk

Protein, vitamins and healthy bacteria are present in real milk and can be nutritious for those who can digest it.  Advocates for “real milk,” or raw milk, contend that pasteurization kills the milk’s enzymes, diminishes vitamin contents, modifies the proteins, kills vitamins C, B12 and B6, destroys beneficial bacteria, and promotes pathogens that are associated with a multitude of illnesses including allergies, tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer.

Pasteurization was made mandatory in the 1920s because “slop milk” or “swill milk” was being made from very unhealthy and dirty animals.  Pasteurization became the norm, and the law was never revisited despite the fact that conditions have changed drastically.  Clean, raw milk from certified healthy cows is available in several states and can be bought directly from the farm or, in California, it can be bought in stores like Whole Foods, among others (though Whole Foods is very expensive so be wise about how you spend your hard-earned dollars).

As I mentioned earlier, many commercial cows are fed soy meal, cottonseed meal or other commercial feeds, bakery waste, chicken manure citrus peel cake, and all are full of pesticides. These cows never see grass, are kept in confinement, and become sick. The sick cows are then injected with antibiotics to combat the sickness - which we then ingest. 

What to Do

If you choose to consume dairy for its health benefits, choose raw dairy products first. If raw diary is not available, choose organic and free of rBST hormones but be wary of the source. Do the cows graze on pasture?  Are they kept in confinement?  If you choose not to consume dairy, opt for alternatives like coconut milk and almond milk that can be used in cereals or made into “ice cream.”

Ice Cream and Ice Dream

Raw Milk Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
1 cup raw milk
2 cups raw cream
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Add to ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions.

Ice Dream Vanilla Recipe (from The Ice Dream Cookbook by Chef Rachel Albert-Matesz)
1/3 cup cool water
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin or 3/4 teaspoon agar agar power (note: I have done this recipe without the thickener and it works just fine - it just won’t freeze as well for future use)
1/4 cup agave nectar; additional 1 to 2 tablespoons as needed
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon stevia powder or 1/2 to 1 tsp. clear stevia extract
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
3 1/2 cups (two 14 ounce cans) coconut milk (or 1 1/2 cups coconut meat and 1 1/2 cups coconut water)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions: Add 1/3 cup water to small saucepan. Sprinkle in agar agar. Let stand for 2 minutes. Warm over medium low without stirring until powder has dissolved.  Scrape mixture into blender and process until smooth.  Add agave, stevia and sea salt.  Blend. Add coconut ilk and vanilla and blend until smooth.  Add additional sweetener if needed.  Blend, taste, repeat.  *At this point you can refrigerate until use (preferred) or just use right away. Pour into ice cream maker and follow the machine’s instructions.

How does your body react to dairy? If the answer is poorly (i.e. lactose intolerant) what alternatives have you tried? Share your milk and dairy experiences and knowledge with us by leaving comments below.

Enjoy this week’s other great healthy tips and blogs.

 

 

 

Catherine, a Holistic Health Counselor, trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in association with Columbia University and is a certified Nutrition Educator from Bauman College. She works on health goals in areas such as natural weight equilibrium, food cravings, sleep, energy and digestion.

If you are interested in personalized nutrition consultations for vibrant health, Catherine offers a free initial health history session for both local and distant clients - her furthest client, so far, lives in Spain! Please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Also, check out her other blog.