Growing up. I held certain truths to be self-evident; after all they had been ingrained deeply from early on. These “truths” were often hard to shake.
Take milk, for example: as a child and later as a teenager, I drank milk and lots of it. Milk is healthy: to be drunk at almost every meal! Should I crave a snack, the cookie or other sweet would more than likely be accompanied with a glass of milk. After all, a snack without a glass of milk is not a snack at all!
I was but nineteen years old when I left my parents’ home and uprooted to Israel. I moved to a kibbutz. At that time, the only milk to be had was taken directly from the dairy: unpasteurized and unhomogenized! Yuck, not for me! From that moment on, my consumption of milk plummeted!
Several years passed and I was a mother. I knew (certain truths are self-evident, right?) that it was of the utmost importance that my children should drink milk and drink milk they did! Milk is healthy, period! I made sure that my children would grow to be “big and strong”: they drank milk and lots of it! Of late, this “truth” is no longer self-evident.
It would appear that what is healthy for calves is not beneficial in the least for us!
Epidemiological studies, such as the joint study done by American and Chinese scientists in China (the book, The China Study, is highly, highly recommended reading), show that, paradoxically, in those regions with the highest consumption of dairy products there have been found the highest rates of fractures and osteoporosis ¹.
Milk is acidic on the PH scale. Ironically, the body releases calcium from its bones in an effort to neutralize this acidity ²!
Yet newer research is providing disturbing evidence that the introduction of dairy to infants may very well increase the likelihood of the development of Type 1 Diabetes later down the line³.
The last thing that I want to do is get on my soapbox and preach! I loathe extremism in all of its forms and directions. I would, however, like to suggest that not everything we “know” to be true is actually that. Things that once were true have been discovered to be erroneous. Not every truth which we “inherited” from our parents is so. I would venture to propose that we be open to ideas that seem to be untruths and at times illusory. Let us be wise enough to ask the right questions. Who is the source of this information? Is he accredited? Who or what is behind him? Does he have a specific agenda?
The next time that someone asks you to “Milk Your Diet” ask yourself just what is that person trying to sell you?!
Milk?!
Today there are many, many alternatives. May I suggest trying your hand at making Hazelnut Milk? It is really delicious! Nut milk can be easily made in your own home and can be made from almost any kind of nut. It is easy! Here is how:
Soak nuts in warm water overnight
Rinse the nuts in fresh water
For each cup of nuts add three cups of water and blend
Strain the blended nuts in a fine strainer (they can be dried and used for baking) and separate the milk from the pulverized nuts
Return the strained “milk” to the blender and add:
A pinch of salt
One soaked date
½ teaspoon of vanilla
A pinch of nutmeg
Blend and Enjoy! (Will last refrigerated for about three days)
¹http://www.pcrm.org/good-medicine/2005/spring/new-pcrm-study-shatters-milk-myth-childrens-bone
