Food tips and guide

Monday is my milk day. I'm not talking about running up to the local store to buy a gallon of pastuerized, homogenized, low fat milk to pour over my cereal in the morning. I pack up my 1 gallon glass jars and make a trip each week to a local dairy farm for fresh unpastuerized, non-homogenized and "full of good fats", raw milk. I have been doing this each week for about 5 years now and I must say, at no one time have I ever had a negative reaction from drinking raw milk.

I know what you are thinking..."Really, how safe is raw milk?" Personally, I feel that raw milk is safer and much healthier to drink than the pasteurized and homogenized milk that is found on most grocery stores shelves. Although, please keep in mind, I choose to purchase my milk from principled organic farmers that fullfill a certain criteria that I will share with you in a couple of paragraphs.

I know what else you might be thinking..."what about those deadly outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli?" Yes, there are the occaisional headlines that seem to tactically appear on the evening news portraying raw milk as this dirty villain out to destroy you. Yet, what I have found couldn't be further from the truth.

First, let me say this; Milk in its raw state contains a wealth of natural enzymes, minerals and beneficial bacteria along with important proteins, carbohydrates and fats. When you buy milk from the grocery store shelf, typically, the milk has gone through an elaborate form of filtration and processing (pastuerization and homogenization). The resulting high temperatures from these processes kill essential nutrients and quickly destroy the health properties associated with raw milk. In other words, the milk is nutritionally deficient.

You have to ask yourself, "Does cooking your milk really do a body good?"

After researching a lot of information on raw milk, I've concluded that one way to ensure that I am getting quality milk is to know my farmer So, that's what I have done! It's not uncommon for me to spend a couple of hours at the farm talking with and observing my new farmer friends. Through this experience, I have gained tremendous insight, knowledge and respect for the small local dairy farmer community...believe me, much more than I would have gotten from any government health official or corporate croney. I figure, the chances of an outbreak are much less and the nutritional benefits I get from drinking raw milk much greater when the milk is coming from healthy animals that are carefully raised and handled and mainly fed an organic grass diet.

So here is that short list of the criteria that I use when seeking out a farmer who offers raw milk:

* Cleanliness - is the equipment clean and kept clean? Does the farmer take extra steps to make sure things are kept clean?

* What are the cows being fed? I prefer the cow to have a diet of mainly organic grasses. Some farmers may incorporate small amounts of grain during the winter months when the cows may have limited time in the pasture. Absolutely no GMO's!

* The size of the herd - I prefer the small farmer. For 2-3 workers a herd of 35-40 dairy cows is manageable. Beyond this, the potential to be mismanaged is greater. I feel, large corporate dairies are just too big to maintain the kinds of healthy standards that I insist on.

* The average age of the cow ? healthy cows can be milked for 12-15 years on the average. On big corporate dairy farms the average dairy cow milks 3-4 years. Obviously something is wrong here.

* Bacteria count - the PI count (pre-incubated) seems to be important to the shelf life and taste of the milk. In the state of California, the PI count is required to be under 15,000 per ml in order to sell raw milk. My farmer prefers it to be under 5000 per ml.

* Growth hormones, antibiotics...does the farmer misuse unnecesary drugs on his dairy cows? Some farmers who use antibiotics on their cows will not allow the milk to be used until after some pre-determined time, when they've cleared the cow's system. Antibiotics shouldn't be used often anyway.

* Does the farmer drink the raw milk from his own dairy cows? You might be surprised. There are some farmers who buy their milk off the shelves. What a shame.

There is so much more information that I could share with you. Perhaps, another time. If you really want a good book to read that is full of valuable information, read, The Untold Story of Milk: Green Pastures, Contented Cows and Raw Dairy Products by Ron Schmid ND. It's one of my favorites. Also, you can go online to: Natural Healing Tools.com, realmilk.com or westonaprice.org for more information. Thanks for your interest.