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It's coming...
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Food Report Card
| By Adam Reid
Not all foods are (created) equal. While a particular food can be nourishing,
the same food having been modified can be toxic to the human body. Unfortunately, it's often hard to discern
exactly what is and isn't good for you - thanks mainly to the link between
corporations and politicians which won't become clear without delving beyond
mainstream media. And even then, there
are a lot of dots to connect.
As an occasional feature here in this newsletter, we'll take
a look at certain foods and their variations, rating them from worst to
best. First up is Milk.
Milk comes in two forms, pasteurized and
unpasteurized. Under the first heading,
there are several subcategories (organic, ultra-pasteurized). But the most important distinction is whether
or not pasteurization has occurred. Why
is this important? Well, let's first take a step back and briefly look at
things from a historical perspective.
Only raw/unpasteurized milk was consumed by humans up until
the early 20th century. Pasteurization was invented in 1864, but was not without its detractors
- including several well respected scientists who simply did not have the
political connections that Louis Pasteur held. These detractors felt that the problem was not germs/bacteria, but the
total health of the organism in question, e.g., the sum of the parts that make
up the whole. This is the correct view,
as it is known that we coexist with bacteria without problem. (Case in point: you have more salmonella in
your hair than you'll ever encounter in your food. No matter how much you shampoo it's not going
anywhere.) It is only when our health is
compromised (i.e., a virus) that bacteria go to work. And even then, bacteria are simply the body's
janitorial staff, removing the viruses so that the body can go back to working
on all cylinders.
Now moving back to milk: Pasteurization was instituted in the 1920s to combat TB, infant
diarrhea, undulant fever and other diseases caused by poor animal nutrition and
dirty production methods. During these times it wasn't uncommon for
a whiskey distillery and a dairy farm to share the same property - and to keep
overhead down, it also wasn't uncommon to feed the dairy cows the leftover
waste from whiskey production. That just
sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? Cows need grass to survive - anything else and their health is
compromised as too much strain will be placed on the organism to optimize their
food for fuel; this is similar to how humans need animal fats to survive.
So, the 'milk problem' as it was called at the time, was
blamed for dozens of health maladies. It turns out that even these grotesque conditions probably did no harm whatsoever to the milk supply due to the ability of the 'good' bacteria in raw milk to counterbalance any 'bad' bacteria. And
thanks to a few well connected individuals who managed to push pasteurization through
on the federal level, the supply of 'real' milk as our relatives knew it was
essentially ended - or at least certainly curtailed to an extensive
degree.
There is much more to this story, all of which is available
through internet searches or within books. But the focus on this article is to issue a report card on the types of
milk, so that's what we'll do.
Pasteurized Milk:
Unless you live in a select few states that allow for the
sale of raw milk in stores (the number of which are dwindling thanks to
lobbyists for the dairy industry), the milk you've been purchasing at your
local supermarket is unfit for human consumption. That description is not hyperbole. Pasteurization destroys enzymes,
diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins
C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated
with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in
children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Calves fed
pasteurized milk do poorly and many die before maturity, and other animals
encounter the same fate.
Final Grade - F
Raw Milk:
What's the easiest way to explain raw milk and qualify it's grade? Just take everything written
above about pasteurized milk and reverse it. It is fit for human
consumption. It is loaded with healthy nutrients, is associated with no allergies or illnesses, etc. There's even a ton of gut healthy and just plain 'healthy' bacteria present. In fact, researchers working with Organic Pastures dairy in California placed E. coli and salmonella into raw milk and discovered that these 'dangers' disappeared within 24 hours - completely negated by the milk's naturally occurring bacteria.
Raw milk, because it contains lactase that hasn't been
killed by excessive heating (pasteurization) is consumable by 'lactose
intolerant' individuals, proving that the problem isn't dairy, but what has
been done to the dairy that is available. It contains REAL vitamins and minerals, not the synthetics added by 'big
dairy', and enough fat is present to actually absorb and utilize said micronutrients. Note to those drinking skim milk: skim milk, not whole milk, is fed to cows to fatten them up. It's pure sugar. Say hello to obesity and diabetes.
Before modern medicine became an 'industry', raw milk was
used to cure just about every known illness. It is possible to survive on milk alone - and in some instances this is
exactly what patients in hospitals did. However,
the use of raw milk and nutrition in general to treat disease is too simple (i.e., not lucrative enough)
for a multi-billion dollar industry such as healthcare. Additionally, there has been a paradigm
shift: it's not longer the goal of those in medicine to prevent disease, but
instead they attempt to fix with chemicals - and perhaps allow the diseases
to occur in the first place to ensure the need for said chemicals.
Final Grade - A
Again, much more information is available for those truly
looking to improve the health of themselves and their families. Interestingly, if you do some research you'll notice that detractors of unpasteurized dairy all pronounce the same rhetoric about bacteria in an attempt to plant fear into people. Craig and I get our milk from a Farm in Foxboro, MA and I may be testing out another farm in NH that offers raw cream as well. If anyone would ever like to get a sample of any of these products, let us know. The government wishes to make it hard for us to have access to these foods - because it's the government and they serve the exact opposite of their supposed purpose (e.g., protect individual rights) - but avenues exist that still allow us some freedom of choice.
I'll leave you with a few bullet points from
a very informative website, realmilk.com:
- The
source of most commercial milk is the modern Holstein, bred
to produce huge quantities of milk - three times as much as the
old-fashioned cow. She needs special feed and antibiotics to keep her
well. Her milk contains high levels of growth hormone from her pituitary
gland, even when she is spared the indignities of genetically engineered
Bovine Growth Hormone to push her to the udder limits of milk production.
- 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. Vital nutrients like vitamins
A and D, and Price's "Activator X" (a fat-soluble
catalyst that promotes optimum mineral assimilation, now believed to be
vitamin K2) are greatest in milk from cows eating green
grass, especially rapidly growing green grass in the spring and fall.
Vitamins A and D are greatly diminished, and Activator X disappears, when
milk cows are fed commercial feed. Soy meal has the wrong protein profile
for the dairy cow, resulting in a short burst of high milk production
followed by premature death. Most milk (even most milk labeled
"organic") comes from dairy cows that are kept in confinement
their entire lives and never see green grass!
- Average butterfat content
from old-fashioned cows at the turn of the century was over 4% (or more
than 50% of calories). Today butterfat comprises less than 3% (or less
than 35% of calories). Worse, consumers have been duped into believing
that low-fat and skim milk products are good for them. Only by marketing
low-fat and skim milk as a health food can the modern dairy industry get
rid of its excess poor-quality, low-fat milk from modern high-production
herds. Butterfat contains vitamins A and D needed for assimilation of calcium
and protein in the water fraction of the milk. Without them protein and
calcium are more difficult to utilize and possibly toxic. Butterfat is
rich in short- and medium-chain fatty acids which protect against disease
and stimulate the immune system. It contains glyco-spingolipids which
prevent intestinal distress and conjugated linoleic acid which has
strong anticancer properties.
- Powdered
skim milk, a source of dangerous oxidized cholesterol and neurotoxic amino
acids, is added to 1% and 2% milk. Low-fat yogurts and sour creams contain
mucopolysaccharide slime to give them body. Pale butter from hay-fed cows
contains colorings to make it look like vitamin-rich butter from grass-fed
cows. Bioengineered enzymes are used in large-scale cheese production.
Many mass produced cheeses contain additives and colorings and imitation
cheese products contain vegetable oils.
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As always, we appreciate your referrals.
Sincerely,
Craig and Adam
Back2Health |
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