We are all very big milk drinkers in our house (4 – 5 gallons a week)…and to be honest I don’t think we could live without it! The good news is after switching to a more optimal milk source and type of milk we certainly do not have to give it up. I used to buy the standard store-brand skim (for the adults) and 2% (for the kids) from our local supermarket. I even switched to the organic variety earlier this year. Organic is certainly better than conventional, but I felt there were still some additional factors that continued to be overlooked.
My biggest concern about the milk we were drinking was if it came from cows that were being fed grass. I did a post awhile back entitled “You are what you eat eats too,” and this couldn’t be more true when it comes to milk. Cows are actually designed by evolution to eat grass, and a large majority of factory-farmed cows are instead taught to survive on corn (a super cheap grain). In some instances the corn makes the animals sick, which is part of the reason why they have to be administered so many antibiotics.
Now if you are buying organic milk you obviously know that the cows have not been given any antibiotics, but being organic doesn’t necessarily mean they have been fed grass (or anything green for that matter). For all I know they’ve just been fed organic corn. But, the point is that I really didn’t know what the cows were eating when I would pick up a jug from the supermarket. Even as I proofread this article now I have to admit it sounds a little over the top to care so much about what the cows eat before I would even drink their milk, but it really is important. The health of the cow greatly affects the health of their milk (as well as their meat products), and I am obviously on a mission to provide the absolute best for my family.
So going back to a time when I didn’t know where our milk came from brings me to why I stopped buying our milk from the grocery store all together. I recently switched to a delivery service (http://www.lakeviewfarmshomedelivery.com/) that provides milk from cows that are located not too far away in South Carolina. Not only can I call and ask them questions anytime (and you know I do!), but I could even go visit the farm myself if I thought it was necessary to do so. There is certainly a slight up-charge compared to a half-gallon of organic milk from the supermarket ($3.84 vs. $3.49), but they say their milk is two days from the cow. And it tastes so fresh I absolutely believe it. I think my children even noticed the difference because once we switched to the new milk I was having trouble keeping up with their consumption…it was like a broken record around here “more milk please!”
One other thing I learned more recently is that skim milk may not be the best choice for my husband and me (our girls drink 2%). This came as quite a shock, because I drink a lot of milk myself and have chosen skim for as long as I can remember. According to our milk delivery service, skim milk is everything leftover after the cream has been removed in a separator. And apparently the cream is what contains enzymes and fat-soluble vitamins. So just like the process that white flour goes through (since removing the bran and germ also removes all the good stuff from the flour) the milk is fortified with vitamins in an attempt to add back what has been lost. So once again I think the better choice is to just consume the good stuff the way nature has provided it to us and not opt for something that just emulates the good stuff.
We are joining our daughters and have switched to 2% in order to give us a good balance between the healthy cream and fat consumption. Michael Pollan even goes as far to say
To make dairy products low fat, it’s not enough to remove the fat. You then have to go to great lengths to preserve the body or creamy texture by working in all kinds of food additives. In the case of low-fat or skim milk, that usually means adding powdered milk. But powdered milk contains oxidized cholesterol, which scientists believe is much worse for your arteries than ordinary cholesterol, so food makers sometimes compensate by adding antioxidants, further complicating what had been a simple one-ingredient whole food.
This once again reminds me how happy I am to be buying our milk from a reliable and knowledgeable source, which allows me to continue our theme here of knowing exactly where our food comes from!
“Cows are actually designed by evolution to eat grass, and a large majority of factory-farmed cows are instead taught to survive on corn (a super cheap grain). In some instances the corn makes the animals sick, which is part of the reason why they have to be administered so many antibiotics.” While I appreciate your desire to help local farmers, I do not appreciate the defamation of dairy farmers across the country. Most dairy farms are family farms. While some may be large, even quite large, there is no such thing as a “factory farm”, and very few “corporate farms”. Because of the American “cheap food” policy, dairy farmers who desire to remain dairy farmers (and I promise they are not doing it for the money, but rather for the desire to dairy), have had to become very efficient milk producers. Because of this they feed corn, as part of a very carefully formulated ration. The cows do not survive on corn, but it is included in the diet to provide energy, as it is a high starch (carb)product. A proper dairy cow is like an elite athlete and must consume a proper amount of carbs to do what she does best–produce milk. The dairy cows must have a majority of their feed in roughage type products in order to work properly. Roughage type products are the grass brought to them, rather than the cows brought to the grass, for efficiency and feed control purposes. The same as I must buy blueberries, because we cannot grow blueberries here, the cows, to have the best feed, may have it brought from somewhere where it grows better. Aside from the bad apples, no dairy farmer would not feed their cows in a way that would harm them, if for no other reason than they couldn’t afford to lose them. In addition, dairy cows cannot be administered indiscriminately with antibiotics because you cannot sell the milk from those cows. Milk that you find in the grocery store is more sampled and monitored for all additives and problems than anything else you can buy. It is absolutely safe and as pure as any organic milk. If it makes you feel better to support local dairy farmers in that way, by spending more on organic milk, by all means, go for it! But don’t do it because of any health benefits. And buying any milk is supporting a dairy farmer who loves you, the consumer, wherever you are.
Excellent! I am printing this off! Shawna deBoer – you rock!
Your opinion, although entitled, is very biased…I am guessing you are from a dairy family. I will admit that there are many farmers that care to provide a quality product to the people who purchase it, however, many farmers – including family farms, provide what is paid for by large companies, such as Tyson…there are lots of resources that state that farmers do what will produce…bigger is better so more is the best attitude. I applaud your family (if dairy farmers) for providing a good quality product, but I am apprehensive to purchase from the supermarket because they are only in it for the money. Excellent sources to quick reference would be Forks Over Knives and Food, Inc.
Isn’t it true that the corn the cows get isn’t even fit for human consumption? I thought that the BT corn (or whatever that corn that is a registered pesticide is called) is what they feed livestock. It is genetically modified (if you’re not familiar with the how they make GMO’s, just check out http://www.nongmoproject.org or search the web– it’s creepy to say the least, I’ve actually done it in a lab) and the dairy cows very often get infections, especially in the udder. If people saw how much puss has to be filtered out of conventionally produced milk, they wouldn’t be so afraid of raw, grass-fed milk. Anyway, pasteurization was not the reason that illness and death from raw milk declined in the the 20th century, it was the outlawing of swill dairies and refrigeration. I love it when people try to tell me that “raw milk used to kill so many people, but now that they pasteurize it illnesses and deaths have almost gone to none”. If you use the USDA’s own statistics, a person is 35,000 times more likely to get sick (or die) from ANY other food than they are from raw milk. That does take into account the small percentage of Americans that drink raw milk. If you look, http://www.realmilk.com has way more scientific references about raw milk than even the CDC. Anyway, pasteurization is just a mask for a bad production model. A big part of that production model being grain and soy fed dairy cows (because it makes them produce a lot more milk).
As a small, sustainable, organic goat dairy, I have to agree with the first poster, Shawna. Dairy farmers DO see their animals as “athletes” as Shawna said; they carefully calculate what they will feed their animals do produce the most milk and the healthiest cow possible (on a budget). These farmers make almost no money. And, like Shawna said, they are eating grass-whether it’s hay or chopped up corn plants (corn is a grass, after all).
This is crucially important to me: ORGANIC DOES MEAN (at least partially) GRASS-FED. All organic livestock has at least some grazing/grass requirements to it, as far as I know. I am 100% sure this is the case for dairy animals. Here is a link from 2010, LA Times, that explains more: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/13/business/la-fi-dairy13-2010feb13
Everyone keeps saying “this is what makes cows sick!” but I don’t think anyone really understands what they’re saying. Ruminants (cows, deer, goats, sheep, etc.) have four stomachs. Their main stomach, the rumen, digests food via microbes. The rumen has a delicately balanced pH that is designed for grasses. Too much grain can upset this balance. Sometimes we’ll run into problems where our goats will either eat too much grain (i.e. steal the other goat’s grain) or eat moldy hay (because it’s been rained on while in the field) and their rumen pH will be upset, resulting in diarrhea. A conventional cow’s grain-heavy diet gives them softer poop than a hay-fed cow. But I should also say, we feed our animals grain because we cannot meet their needs without it. We like our animals to be comfortably plump, and just feeding grass hay and alfalfa doesn’t seem to be quite enough for them. It’s very hard to be 100% grass fed and a dairy, as lactation demands a lot of energy from the does.
Salem, as far as I know livestock grain can be consumed by humans, at least right out of the field. You might not be able to eat the additives they put in the grain (minerals, and sometimes medication) but right out of the field it’s just like other conventional corn. That’s not to say you should eat conventional corn, because I don’t think you should if you have the choice.
At the end of the day, it’s best to learn about your dairy. Dairy farmers are specialists, who in many cases have worked for decades or even generations in their field, and sometimes have gone to top universities to learn about animal production.
Please feel free to visit our website and send us a message to learn more about sustainability in dairy farming. Thanks, Lisa and all, for everything you do for this community! So many of us appreciate it!
The response above by Shawna DOES rock! It is nice to hear it directly from the farm rather than media hype. I have a new appreciation for dairy cows after taking a trip through the Midwest farmlands over the summer.
Can someone explain the hype about how dairy is bad for our mucous productions? I have lactose intolerance myself and understand that fairly well, but lots of people say not to put kids on cow milk, but instead coconut or almond (or soy). My son suffers lots of seasonal allergies and I wonder if there is any relation?
Lakeview Farms’ Web site (aside from having several typos) claims an “All Natural” diet, with no antibiotics, and the cows are allowed to roam “Free Range in Grass pastures.” This sounds a little bit like hiding the whole truth to me… are they feeding them some corn?
Hi Cathy. If you have any concerns, I would suggest calling them directly. The owner is Jim Price and he is very pleasant and extremely knowledgeable and would be happy to answer all of your questions. Jill
Hi! I was wondering if you could help me, my friends and I are starting your challenge today and trying it for 30 days. I am a huge milk drinker so it was going to be my go to drink however after reading this article I would really like to change my store bought milk ways. I am concerned though, can I really do it? I am lactose intolerant and allergic to almonds and other nuts so almond milk is out of the picture. I live in Toronto Ontario. I guess my question is what is a lactose intolerant girl to do to get better with my milk consumption??
I don’t know if rice milk has lactose, or any of the other irritants, but you could look into that… Have you tried goat’s milk? Some people with lactose intolerance aren’t bothered by goat’s milk.
Hope that helps.
Hi Catherine. You said you’re a huge milk drinker, but, are you lactose intolerant or someone in your family? What milk do you currently drink? Would you be able to do soy or are you allergic to that as well. Sorry I can’t give you a more definitive answer. Jill
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]
Hi! I’m very new to the non-processed food diet, but I’ve learned quit a lot in the last month. I live in CA, and after watching the movie http://www.geneticroulette.com, I was in shock over GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Large bio-tech corporations, Monsanto being the largest, have engineered corn to produce it’s own pesticide right within the corn. THIS is what is making cows sick. Yes, they should eat grass, what they were created to eat, but if they are to be fed corn, it MUST NOT be genetically modified. Also, the process of pasteurization actually creates toxins. This is a great info-graphic as to why RAW milk is actually the best option. (And whole fat milk at that!)
http://www.naturalnews.com/035130_raw_milk_infographic_pasteurized.html
So, my question to add to the mix is: raw v pasteurized? Ultimately the milk my family drinks should come from dairy cows that eat grass, have not been injected with hormones or anti-biotics, and their milk not be pasteurized or homogenized. Thoughts from 100days?
Hi Jill. You should find this post on raw milk interesting…http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/07/milk-101-whole-raw-organic-low-fat-etc/. Jill
We are big raw milk fans. We’ve done a ton of research to come to this conclusion but it’s often hard to convince others of our findings.
I agree with Jill. Milk was originally pasteurized because the government thought that the milk we were drinking was making us sick (although they had no proof to back this up). Pasteurization actually kills the bad bacteria AND the good bacteria that our bodies need for proper digestion. If anyone knows anything about antibiotics, you have to follow them up with a strong dose of Acidophilus to replenish the good bacteria in our stomachs. Otherwise, we suffer from hoards of allergies and other crazy stuff. So, pasteurized milk has none of the good bacteria that we need.
Also, homoganization was also another *bad* idea. Homoganization creates a more uniform looking milk (no cream on top) that is more appetizing and more *convenient*. What it actually does is make the fat molecules so small that our bodies can ingest them in larger doses, in essence, we get a “fat infusion” in our blood stream every time we drink it. NOT a good idea.
One other thing…..cow’s milk is known to be harder for the human stomach to digest. It is also a terrible source for Calcium. Studies have shown that the amount of calcium the body can pull from milk is negligible. There are other forms of milk that the human body can digest easier and that higher vitamin and calcium content.
Hello! Was wondering, do you know how to find raw milk delivery in my area (SoCal)?
Thanks!
Hi Cyndi. I don’t know, but, I’m wondering if it’s something you could search online. Jill
I find your comment “cows are designed by evolution to eat grass” quite hilarious actually. While I do believe that cows are designed to eat grass, it is the GREAT DESIGNER, GOD, who made them that way!
The whole theory of evolution, by its nature, depends on random selection and chance. The theory does not depend on any form of design, as design implies a designer, not random mutations.
That statement made me scratch my head, too. Evolution and design are two words that don’t go together!
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]
You mentioned you switched to 2% milk, but then you quote Michael Pollan as saying that “low-fat” and “skim” milk have powdered milk added back into them. So if you are drinking 2%, you are really no better off nutritionally than drinking skim. If you are trying to drink milk in it’s most pure form, why don’t you drink whole milk?
Hi Kristen. Yes, Lisa and her family drank 2% for a brief period but actually do drink whole now. You can read more about dairy here…http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/07/milk-101-whole-raw-organic-low-fat-etc/. Jill
[...] limited to water, milk, all natural juices, naturally sweetened coffee & tea, and, to help the adults keep their [...]
I would recommend looking into how processes like pasteurization and homogenization change the nutritional value of your milk.
I was shocked today when I went to the grocery store and saw that all the organic (supposed to be good for you) milk was also ultra-pasteurized. Which is ultra bad. Just a thought if you are really serious about cutting out processed foods. Raw or low temperature pasteurized, grass Fed is, in my opinion, the way to go.
Hi Haley,
Milk is often ultra-pasteurized because it has a longer shelf life. If your grocery store doesn’t sell a lot of organic items, it may be that they need something with a longer shelf life so they can supply you and a few others with organic milk! You should ask them if they can find a supplier that doesn’t ultra-pasteurize their milk. Even better, see if you can find (or have them get) low-temperature pasteurized milk. Low-temp milk is pasteurized at 145F for 30 minutes, High-temperature/Short time milk is pasteurized at 161F for 16 seconds, and UP milk is pasteurized at 280F for 2 seconds.
Or you could always get yourself a goat… but if you get one you have to get two…
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]
I’ve been on the paleo diet for a while now and I am kind of confused as to how milk is considered not processed? Or cheese? Both are processed which is why they are not on the paleo list. The paleo is basically the “caveman diet” which sounds exactly like what this is, other than there are still items on your list that are processed.
Hi Brandi. Humans have been consuming milk and milk products for thousands of years with minimal processing. As you read, the Leakes buy products as close to the farm as possible and consider milk and dairy to be a wholesome part their diet. Clearly, there are those (myself and my son due to allergy) who dairy does not work for and that is okay. It is certainly not a requirement. I think the beauty of this blog is that all different philosophies on food can find a home here. ~Amy
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]
[...] products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and [...]