Milk....does a body good?

I do not do any dairy, with the exception of organic butter occasionally and occasional organic cheese. I use almond milk for smoothies and tea, coffee. I LOVE cheese but the hormones they feed the cows so they produce milk emulate pregnancy so it can't be good. So for me, dairy is a trea. And I just got a Harry & David gift box of Royal Riveria Pears and 5 kinds of Oregon blue cheeses. I am eating every bite.

What about almond milk? Is it Dairy?

My nutritionist is concerned about cow dairy being molecularly difficult for the body to assimilate, and according to her, puts the body in an inflammatory state when it has to do so (stimulates mucous, for starters).  She said goat milk is better, as it's easier to digest and more like human milk.  However, she did say that milk in general is potentially estrogenic, regardless of whether it's organic or not.

I've been a long term veg, always heavy on the dairy.  Always organic.  Could be all anecdotal, but I've chosen to cut most dairy out.  I can't live without cream in my coffee, and organic cheese as a flavoring in salad, but other than that, trying to limit it.

A lot of naturopaths and nutritionists suggest dairy is not the best way to get calcium.  Green leafys are supposed to be good.  I'm not an expert, but I have heard this over and again, so it's worth doing a little more research if it's an issue of concern.

I'm with you on the pizza habit, Althea. We usedto eat it every Friday night!  I dont drink milk but I do still use organic butter, heavy whipping cream (an occasional treat) and cheese with my salads. I also agree that the best way to get your calcium is greens.  I have cut out all grains (pasta, breads, etc) so when I have "cheated" and indulged in pizza, I regret it the next morning....I wake up puffy, stuffed up and feeling a bit groggy.  Since I eat dairy with no ill effects, I have to blame it on the yeast and flour in the pizza crust.

Most dairy, and pretty much ALL dairy you would find in a grocery store (including organic), is junk.

Most of it is from corn-fed cows (horrible -- cows are NOT meant to consume corn as their primary diet) and from factory farms, and almost as bad, most dairy in the grocery store is ultra-pasteurized which renders it a dead product. They have to add back in synthetic versions of the nutrients ultra-pasteurization destroys as well as additives to make it palatable.

If you consume dairy, find a local farm where they raise grass-fed dairy cows. Make sure that any supplemental feed is organic but that their primary diet is grass during the times of the year that grass grows in your area. Buy raw (unpasteurized) milk straight from the farm, and use that to make your own yogurt etc. Some grocery stores and definitely places like Whole Foods carry grass-fed butter (Kerrygold is one good brand; Organic Valley also has a grass-fed butter which specifically states "Pasture Butter" - don't get the regular Organic Valley kind).

Grass-fed dairy actually has some good cancer-fighting nutrients, but those get destroyed when it's pasteurized. If you can find a local grass-fed dairy farm, I would say enjoy that dairy in reasonable amounts.

BTW - I had wondered why my mother, who eats horribly, never exercises, consumes all the chemical junk that causes cancer, etc., doesn't have any sign of breast cancer. Last time they were here, she was reminding me about her childhood home where they had a dairy cow. She said they drank raw milk from Daisy all throughout her childhood and teenaged years. When she was saying this, it clicked that maybe that grass-fed dairy with all its CLA's etc. helped protect her from breast cancer. I, on the other hand, grew up on pasteurized, factory-farmed dairy. Of course, it's an unprovable theory, but it's an interesting thought.

If you do switch to fake milk, I suggest making it yourself (e.g. from raw organic almonds). I'm a little scared of what process store-bought almond milk has to go through for it to stay consistent-textured and mold-free for so long.

5 acres is plenty for a dairy cow! I know of people who have "backyard cows" even in the suburbs. There are dwarf cows that aren't much bigger than a dog! Another option is a dairy goat. Goats are smaller and some think the milk is healthier for humans (it's more similar to human breast milk and has even more good cancer-fighting nutrients). I intend to have a dairy goat someday, as well as a few hens for eggs!

I gave up all animal products when I got my path. results back - and my onco. was fully supporting and said it was a great idea.  I was highly, highly ER+/PR+.  I love love love cheese, milk, ice cream, you name it.  It's normally not that big of a deal leaving all of it off, but here during the holidays I have fallen off the wagon big time.  I have been doing egg nog, cakes, candies, ham, you name it.  I feel like such a traitor!!!!  But it sure was fun.    I am getting back into my regular routine and am already feeling better.

If you want to learn more about dairy and the dairy industry, there's a good book called "This Crazy Vegan Life" by Christina Pirello that I really enjoyed.  It also has some good recipes in it.

I would love to find a veggy cookbook that is not so difficult - it seems that there are two categories of vegan cookbooks....1) extremely complex and 2) so easy that the food is extremely boring.

edited to say that I am also extremely careful with all soy products and only have them about once a week - they can mimic estrogen in the body.  I do almond milk and actually really like it now.

CrunchyPoodle's got great points here.  I note that even at Whole Foods,you can't buy grass-fed egg or dairy products.  Agreed as well on the boxed alternatives.  Eating "low to the ground" is increasingly difficult, and I'm afraid is going to require some pretty radical changes in our country.  Not sure that's going to happen, the independent farming world is nearly gone...

One thing I'd like to put out is the issue of protein.  I ramped mine up to 60 grams per my doctor's request through treatment. It made an unbelievable difference.  In fact, I feel 100x better than when I was on my low-protein vegetarian diet.  If anyone has thoughts about how to get high protein on vegan diets, please share.  I found the hemp protein disappointing:  four huge scoops = 11 grams.  That's less than 1/2 of a piece of small meat.  Not to mention gritty, gross, and expensive.  I worked really hard to shove tons of veg protein into my diet, and sadly, I only ended up with 40 grams.

I'd also like to add that despite a nearly vegan diet for more than 20 years, I still got an ER+ cancer.

MHP70 and Member, you may want to weigh in on the veganism thread that was started here a few days ago. I was a vegan for a couple of years before my diagnosis, but that's nothing compared to 20+ years.

For a person who has not been a vegan before their cancer dx, I can see how it would be tempting to think of veganism as the magic bullet, the ideal anti-cancer diet, when actually it's getting away from all industrial foods and getting back to a traditional (traditionally-grown) diet that will get us back to "traditional" rare cancer incidence.

MHP, you're so right, of course, about animal-based foods being much more protein-rich (and also with a more complete and bioavailable form of protein). Since animal products are so nutrient-dense, it doesn't take much to get what you need... but the key is getting at least a little (enough to give you the protein and anti-cancer nutrients you need).

So What does Milk Contain?



Ninety percent of the dioxins entering the human body come from dairy products and meat, according to the World Health Organization.



As if milk weren't bad enough already, the chemical giant, Monsanto Company, and the FDA have made it far worse. In 1994 the FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST), a genetically engineered hormone from Monsanto that increases milk production in cows by 10-25 per cent. Milk from cows treated with rbST contains elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), one of the most powerful growth factors ever identified. IGF-I occurs naturally in both cows and humans and, in a fluke of nature, is identical between these two species. While IGF-I doesn't cause cancer, it definitely stimulates its growth. Recent studies have found a seven-fold increase in the risk of breast cancer in women with the highest IGF-I levels, and a four-fold increase in prostate cancer in men with the highest levels. Not only does rbST elevate your exposure to these growth factors, it also increases infections of the cow's udders. Therefore, cows treated with rbST are given more antibiotics, so higher traces of these drugs, as well as pus and bacteria from infected udders, are found in their milk.



I'd say it was high time we were all weaned from cow's milk!



'I sometimes challenge milk drinkers by asking them if they would like a glass of milk containing 1,000 PUS CELLS. The average 12 ounce glass of milk in America contains 112,899,408 PUSCELLS.' Robert Cohen (Author of Milk:The Deadly Poison)

http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Health/dr_gina_shaw--dairy.htm

havehope...Good to know that organic dairy and Euro cheese do not have rbst or rbgh.



I agree with your doc. It is my gut opinion that stress is one of the biggies in the big C.

I don't think stress causes cancer, but it does make our body toxic or acidic, giving cancer the

perfect environment to grow.

However, I do strongly feel that milk products gives fungi/yeast the environment to proliferate.

When I have dairy when ill or fighting illness whatever I have worsens. The milk seems to encourage mucous.

havehope, I agree with you re: stress and balance... also, dairy has been consumed for thousands of years, yet the sharp spike in cancer has only happened in the last hundred years. Of course, rBST etc. are directly linked to that spike.

If you can find a good local source of raw, grass-fed dairy, and interview the farmer to make sure no such hormones/antibiotics/etc. are given to the cows, and consume that dairy in moderation, you'll benefit from the good anti-cancer and other nutrients in grass-fed dairy without the harmful junk (pus, antibiotics, hormones, etc.).