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The Low-Down on Dairy: The Truth You and Your Family Must Know
As a kid, I remember being told, "Drink your milk so that you'll grow up to be big and strong." I also remember hating milk. I hated the taste and the way it got sweeter as it sat in the glass. And I especially hated the way it made me feel afterwards. Everytime, after a glass of the stuff, I was rushing off to the bathroom.
Finally, when I wasn't being forced to drink it, I stopped drinking glasses of it, but I still used it in cereal and in my coffee. Then when I was studying anthropology in college I read and article called “Drink Milk for Fitness”: The Cultural Politics of Human Biological Variation and Milk Consumption in the United States by Andrea S. Wiley. The following is the abstract for the article:
Cow's milk is accorded a high cultural value in the contemporary United States. Its white color, association with the maternal and the pastoral, and repeated mention in the Bible add positive symbolic weight to this major national agricultural commodity. Thus, it comes as no surprise that influential policy-making institutions in the United States recommend milk consumption for all U.S. groups. This is despite variation in adult populations' abilities to digest milk, which has been documented by biological anthropologists. This article assesses various U.S. “stories” about milk consumption and its relationship to biological variation against the biological anthropological explanation of variation in lactase activity/lactose tolerance. Many of these serve as normalizing discourses that ultimately pathologize biological difference and may undermine the dietary traditions of some ethnic groups. In particular, the close relationship between government and the dairy industry leads to policies that fail to seriously consider variation in digestive physiology among the diverse U.S. populations. (click here for source)
Reading this article blew my mind! I realized that what I had experienced with milk was not uncommon or unnatural. All animals are weened off their mother's milk early in life, and although humans have a considerably longer gestation period than most, we are no exception to this weening process. Past the age of 3 or 4, we do not need to drink milk anymore.
Lactose intolerance is a misnomer. It should be called "lactase impersistence," as Wiley points out in the article. The so-called disorder has nothing to do with an intolerance and instead refers to a natural part of our growth process. By the end of gestation, the body ceases to produce lactase, an enzyme needed to break down the sugar in milk called lactose. And we definitely do not need to drink milk from another animal. The nutritional profile of cow's milk is nothing like that of human breast milk, not to mention the fact that cows have a total of 4 stomachs with which they use to break down food. Our bodies are simply not equipped to break down the protein molecules in milk.
What concerns me most about milk is that it is something that we urge our children to drink. Milk is one of the leading contributors to allergies, ear infection and asthma in our young ones. The coughing, the sneezing and the snottingness that we see in our children is most likely caused by milk consumption!
Are you confused about what I am saying, and not sure if it's true or not? Well, find out the truth for yourself. Below I have listed some sources for you and a video trailer for a documentary due out this fall that gives you the low-down on milk. Please find out the truth, if not for yourself, for our children! Discover your own trusted sources because not all sources can be trusted. There is a lot of money riding on the milk industry and their tactics are ruthless, intentionally confusing, leaving us not knowing what to believe and then bombarding us with advertising. The milk industry spends over $165 million dollars annually on advertising! Perhaps you recall the drink milk ads with the our most beloved celebrities posing with their milky mustaches. I assure you that these celebrities are not working pro bono.
Resources you can trust: http://www.mom-going-organic-sensibly.com/milk-nutrition-facts.html http://nomilk.com/ http://www.drbretthill.com/articles/eat/104-is-milk-good-for-us.html http://www.lactoseintolerant.org/ http://josquin.tripod.com/milk.htm http://www.rense.com/general26/truth.htm
Tags: advertising, asthma, calcium, cancer, diabetes, disease, documentary, drink, ear, facts, More…
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