Monday, November 19, 2007

Raw Milk



By Maria September 21st, 2007
For the past 18 months, we have been exclusively drinking local organic raw milk. While my husband gew up milking his family cow and drank fresh raw milk daily as a young teenager, I had only ever had the plastic-jug-pasturized and homoginized stuff sold under the lable “Vitamin D Milk.”


Since making the switch to organic raw milk, it has been incredible to see the health benefits firsthand. My husband and I both feel healthier than before, without sugar cravings and the like. We have not been sick with the flu since we started drinking raw milk; previously, we came down with it every Christmas. My two preschoolers, who were toddlers when we began our raw milk adventure as a family, stopped getting colds and the sniffles, and runny noses ceased. Both began to put on a little healthy chubbiness that had always eluded them. My youngest son, conceived after I started drinking at least a quart of raw milk a day, weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz at his full-term birth. Now 6 months old, he is in the 75th percentile for weight. He weighs more than my daughter did at a 12 months–quite healthy and happy.


Those who drink raw milk or have learned about the benefits of raw milk through Sally Fallon or the Real Milk campaign will be especially frustrated to hear about places where real milk sales are not only illegal, but are compared to selling drugs. The following article Raw Milk: Illegal in North Carolina, USA notes: “And why is it legal to sell uncooked meat, raw seafood, alcohol, tobacco and firearms—but unprocessed milk is more difficult to obtain than marijuana?”


Very interesting question, indeed.

2 comments:

Yvonne said...

I'm so glad to find your blog on raw milk! My husband and I have been drinking raw milk since November 2006. I just birthed my first baby 6 weeks ago and he was 9lbs 1 oz - bigger than my mom's first baby (only was the 6th baby in the 9 lb range), so I've wondered if it's because I've been drinking the raw whole milk. Looks like if your youngest was that big then it probably was due to the raw milk. My 11 month old niece came down with RSV this last week, and I'm still crossing my fingers to make it through the next year without any of that. My husband and I have been a lot healthier since we made the switch, so I just hope it's passing through my system to our son as well! Because if our son stays as healthy as he is, then maybe my siblings will see that I'm not so weird to be drinking raw milk.

Maria said...

Thanks for the comment! I definitely think raw milk has contributed greatly to my children's health ... and the size of my youngest (9 lbs. 2 oz.) My first two weighed 7 lbs and 5 lbs 15 oz respectively. Congrats on your big, healthy baby -- 9 lbs 1 oz is big for a first!