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| The milkmaid. Johannes van der Meer, circa (1647-1675) |
This means no mac and cheese, no yogurt, no pizza, no cottage cheese, no lasagna, no ice cream, no cute little blocks of cheese dipped in mustard at the buffet, AND none of the protein and nutrients that come with it.
That is until last week.
While I've dabbled in dairy over the last year or so. I've sampled, with a mixture of hope and dread, goat and sheep milk products, with mixed results. I have stayed far away from cow's milk however.
After consuming 4 years worth of processed cheese and milk like products, I was so tired of faking. I also thought if I'm trying to eat whole foods, why am I allowing these weird chemical combinations in my body?
I started to research raw milk.
Friends and family said, "Isn't it dangerous?" "Why would you want to pay that much for milk?" "Just take Lactaid."
Ignoring their warnings, I bought a quart of raw milk from my local co-op. I figured there was something to the raw milk craze and even though most of the people around me said that it was dangerous, I guessed they were speaking more out of fear than fact. I drank it and had zero ill effects. I decided to order a gallon from a local dairy from grass fed organically raised cattle because it was less expensive than what I found in the store. Besides, with 6 people in the family, a quart of milk goes in half a morning.
Researching the benefits of raw dairy products I came across some some interesting information. A study reported by realmilk.com highlighted some interesting findings with raw milk when it was intentionally contaminated with salmonella...
"To study this issue further, Organic Pastures contracted with BSK labs in Fresno to perform multiple challenge and recovery tests on our raw milk and raw colostrum. When 7 logs (10 million counts) of pathogens were added to one-milliliter samples of organic raw milk they would not grow. In fact they died off. The salmonella was so badly out-competed that it could not be found less than 24 hours later."
After a week of raw milk every day, my celiac symptoms, the gastric pain, the irritable bowel, the colitis, whatever you want to call it...
ceased.
I've also noticed the eczema on my face and nape of my neck fizzled to a mild dryness. Coincidence? Considering that we ran out of raw milk and it, AND my gastric symptoms, are coming back, I don't think so.
I am amazed, ecstatic, excited and NOT scared! Raw milk here we come!
If you find hope, usefulness, insight or help in this information, please consider giving a gift! It helps me to be able to feed these 4 hungry kids! Thank you for your support. :)
