Why we drink Raw milk (And you should too!)

http://www.examiner.com/article/happy-cows-an-illusion

When Ben and I got married, we had stopped drinking dairy milk. I had been vegetarian for awhile (and then when I got pregnant I craved meat, so that stopped), and would drink soy milk (which I shudder about now. Here's why). But we decided to get almond milk and we enjoyed drinking that with our cereal (but I didn't think it was a good substitute in coffee! Nothing like good old cream for that!). We continued drinking almond milk for that and it was okay in smoothies too. We even experimented with making almond milk at home. (This is something I could keep doing. Here's a good recipe!)
But I couldn't kick cheese. There was one Sunday that I was craving cheese (while pregnant with Naisa) and our grocery store was only open a limited amount of time, and I made Ben come with me to get two 8oz blocks of cheese. I think one was pepper jack and one was cheddar. It was so good. :)

But we knew that dairy milk wasn't the best, because the cows weren't happy. Towards the end of my pregnancy I started researching vaccines and came across this article on The Healthy Home Economist. (However, we made the decision about vaccination based on our own experience with our daughter at her two month appointment.) Then life happened, a baby came and a couple months later, i found myself staring at the same website, thinking about homemade formula, as we were supplementing a small amount of formula with the pumped milk I was getting. I didn't like all the ingredients in the organic formula we were getting. As I did my research, it started looking like raw milk was something that everyone should be drinking, as long as it came from a cow receiving grass and sunshine and no antibiotics. These are the cows that don't get sick. Raw milk is a whole food, with all it's fat as nature intended, not like the fat free or even "whole" milk at the store. Raw milk isn't homogenized or pasteurized, contains all it's original enzymes and beneficial bacteria to help the body digest it.

If you are lactose intolerant, you may be able to drink raw milk because it naturally contains that enzyme lactase, to digest the lactose in the milk. It was contains that enzyme required to properly process the calcium in milk. This was the kicker for me. I wanted a food I knew I would absorb calcium from. My husband had seen the documentary forks over knives and they talk about how drinking too much (pasteurized) milk can cause a person to experience osteoporosis. Dr. Mercola also talks about this on his website. And the reason why is because the enzyme in milk that is needed to absorb the calcium is destroyed in the pasteurization process--even for low temp pasteurizing.

We found a farm nearby that had a herd share we could purchase, but it took my husband a visit to his nutritionist to believe that raw milk was good for you. And then we got it to drink, and to make Naisa's formula. Now it is a staple in our home and Naisa (mostly) and I drink it everyday. My husband can have some sometimes, but he still gets a little sensitive to it. (I think he should probably go on the GAPS diet. but that's another story).

But Grace, it's not safe! There could be listeria or e coli in there! First of all, that's not really an issue. Second of all, my friends, this is why you go to the farm you are purchasing from before you sign on and see the milking process, the storage units, the sanitation process. Ask what the cows are fed, how illnesses are treated. We did this, developed a wonderful relationship with our farmer, and learned a lot in the process. (And learned to make raw butter. :))

That, in a nutshell, is why we drink raw milk. For more information, and to find locations where you can purchase raw milk or herdshares, please view realmilk.com