MILK.... do we need it?

We all come into this world drinking milk.... all mammals do. Yet, we are the ONLY mammals who take milk from another mother (cows/goats) and drink it after we have weaned from our own mother. Since when has a cows teat been a desirably thing to suckle on? If milk in it's natural form (coming from a cows utters) isn't something that we would look on and start salivating from or run to when hungry, then it is most definitely not a liquid that we should be putting through processing and then using it for human consumption.

Watch this video about milk:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBBFTpTMUbc&feature=fvw

Cows milk is perfectly designed for baby cows but for us humans, it is NOT well digested. It comes with a list of cons and we have lived for so long on it that we consider these things to come from other sources, or to just be part of life. Did you know that milk is greatly associated with:

Acne

Allergies

Asthma
Eczema

Migraines
Chronic Ear-infections
Auto immune illnesses

Heart Disease
Cancer
Arthritis

.... and these are just to name a few. Milk also is highly mucous forming and contributes the the runny-noses we see everywhere. From babies, who are on formula, to adults who think blowing their nose daily is normal. I haven't had milk or milk-products (from a cow) for so long that I have forgotten what it is like to blow my nose regularly. In fact, I just don't have to blow it anymore!

Still want more facts? Well........ 60% of Cows have the leukemia virus. Cows are injected with powerful growth hormones, which get into the milk, and we are drinking those hormones. The mother cows are hooked up to machines and made to produce far more milk than is natural for them to feed their young with. In nature a cow will produce 5 litres of milk per day, enslaved and farmed they are MADE to produce between 20 litres - 44 litres! These cows are losing calcium from their bones and getting weaker and weaker. It pains them to be hooked up to machines constantly, their utters get sore and bleed. This can lead to infections (which is common) and puss. It has been said that there is a little bit of puss and blood in every milk product. Cows milk also has Fat and Cholesterol in it which is not healthy for us at all. So why is Dairy being promoted as a health food? It isn't one!!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDBlpHhhcdQ&feature=related

"Milk: The deadly Poison" also puts things into perspective:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYpafipJyDE


Another thing we should discuss is Casein. This is something that is found in human and cows milk, although the amounts is entirely different. Casein accounts for 80% of the protein found in Cows Milk. Casein is also Glue. It is what we use to stick labels to beer bottles and glue legs onto chairs. And when we drink liquid Protein (a.k.a. "milk") we are putting glue into our bodies. Human milk is much higher in Whey protein and much lower in Casein. Cows milk has about 300 x the amount of casein than human milk has. It is meant to grow huge bovine bones and raise a calf (which weighs 80-100 lbs at birth), to a weight of over 500 lbs in 6-10 months. Casein is more difficult to digest than Whey for humans and therefor may cause internal gastrointestinal bleeding, which can lead to iron deficiency.

So why are Adults drinking milk? No other mammal takes milk from another mother after they wean from breastmilk..... we shouldn't either. Just as a baby calf weans and starts to graze on grass (which full grown cow thrive on), so we too can receive adequate calcium, minerals, protein and much more from greens. And if you want your calcium to go where it's needed in your body we must look to bio available sources .... plant sources. The protein in Cows Milk inhibits the absorption of calcium in the body making dairy a very poor choice of food for calcium.

All dairy products are also highly acid-forming. This puts a strain on our bodies and keeps us from achieving good immunity and proper mineral stores. When our blood is acidic the body compensates and does everything it can do to maintain a balance again. The body does this buy taking minerals (which are highly alkaline) and drawing them out of the body, bones, teeth, ect. to get the body's natural pH at a proper level. Dairy products should not be eaten!

To better health!

Kristi

What's so great about Raw?

Raw food, by definition is - un-cooked, un-processed, and should be organic. Raw foodist sometimes consume meat, and dairy in raw-forms, though I do not promote this type of eating. When I eat Raw food, it is Raw Vegan food. I do not promote eating animal flesh or animal by-products, though my family does eat Raw Honey, we do not drink any animal milk. Raw foodist get calories from fruits, veggies, nut's, seeds, sprouted grains, and Raw treats (honey, cacao, dried fruits, ect.).

Here's a great trailer for a movie about Raw-Food if you want to know a little more about it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3xOU2tLl7g

When first on Raw, you have to eat often, sometimes snack more throughout the day. We ate 6 meals/day for the first two months on Raw Food. Then, slowly our stomachs shrank down in size. Really, our bodies aren't designed to take in large hunks of animal flesh and massive amounts of cooked grains, and our body adjusts to a natural way of eating, once on Raw Food. You may wonder "Where do you get your calories?", and the truth is that nuts, seeds, avocado's, fruit all are calorie dense foods. Vegetables are not high in calories, but they are high in protein so all are important to include in the RawFood diet. You can calculate what you eat in foods at http://www.fitday.com/ . This site gave me a great idea of how many calories I was consuming and helped me to make sure I was in taking enough for a breastfeeding mother.

Raw food can bring you to a new level of health, it can heal your ailments and diseases and bring vitality to your life like you never knew. What is it about Raw Food that does this???

For starters, when food is un-heated and un-processed it retains it's valuable nutrition and does not lose up to 85% (which cooking does to food). When you un-heat your food you assure the most power-packed foods full of phyto-nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and enzymes. These things are packed into fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds to keep us healthy and well. To prevent diseases (like cancer) and keep us away from the Doctor. When we cook foods, we are eating so little nutrients that we over-eat and we fill our bellies up just to have a satiated feeling, yet we fail to provide our body the proper nourishment in the process. That is why I eat so much less now, and yet I can maintain my weight and not feel hunger. My food is PACKED with nutrition and supports all my organs. My body is getting fed proper vitamins and minerals and i don't need to worry about deficiencies.

Enzymes
These components found in foods help to digest and break down the foods we eat. According to Dr. Gabriel Cousens, M.D., "Enzymes can even help repair our DNA and RNA." One enzyme called Lipase, is a fat-burner inside the body and found in Raw foods. Enzymes are destroyed when heated above 118 degrees. When you cook your food you are destroying the Enzymes, which would help your digestion -- causing your body to do a lot more work to break down the foods -- AND you are destroying more than 3/4 of the nutrients.

And that is what most of us feed our body and live on!

Proteins
Most people worry about protein consumption when they hear about a raw-vegan diet. They are usually rest-assured when they realise that nuts/seeds are consumed. But did you know that nuts/seeds are actually a 'fatty' food, and not an ideal protein source. Did you know that Vegetables have WAY higher protein levels than nuts? I didn't either... until now!

Where do I get my protein? The same food source that Cows get theirs. From green foods! I also get protein and amino acids (building blocks of protein) from fruits and other veggies. Plant-based proteins are easy for our bodies to digest and absorb, and are very high quality protein sources. Some of the largest mammals on the planet get all their protein needs met from plants and greens, and none of them are wasting away and becoming paper thin. Gorillas eat almost entirely a diet made of leafy greens. They are strong, vibrant, tough animals! I won't list all the other animals that eat plant-based diets..... cause I'm sure you can already picture dozens of them that are larger and stronger than Gorillas. Greens also have the highest percentage of minerals per calorie than ANY OTHER FOOD. Eat those greens!

Fats
Raw food contains many good fats. Walnuts, flax-seeds, Avocado, Coconut and Coconut-oil, hemp, ect. All nuts contain fats and too much fat (even of good fats) are not a good thing. To eat the most natural way possible is to remember that in nature we wouldn't consume large handfuls of nuts at one time. It would take many minutes to crack open just one nut and eat it.... so nuts and fats are best consumed in moderation. There is also the acid/alkaline balance to keep in mind. Nuts are acid-forming, which is another reason to make sure your diet consist of MOSTLY alkaline foods, and place the acid-forming foods in a smaller category.

To your health,
Kristi

About me...

My name is Kristi Noelle. I am a 27 year old mother of two and wife to one. I have a daughter age 2 and a son age 7 months. I have always been interested in natural health and wellness. My parents raised me on whole foods, having little-to-no processed foods in our home. We never had pop in the house and eating out was a rarity. Growing up I already felt that we were the odd family out when it came to eating. And, of course my parents loaded us up on vitamins and we drank our 2-3 glasses of milk per day. Milk, a term in itself that i consider hilarious. I would now call it Cows breast milk, or baby calf food.... but growing up, it was considered the health drink of choice. Strong bones and strong teeth were only going to be yours if you drank 'milk', and of course flouride watre was always a benefit.... (more about that in a future post also). As a child i was always served a 'balanced meal' of meat, a grain, vegetables and dairy. Now, i'm a food-combiner, which restricts mixing many of the different food groups together, however the benefits to your digestion and health are remarkable. I will post about food combining in the next week. Looking back at my life I realise that most of the food we ate was cooked. We had cooked cereal (which I thought was so healthy), porridge or whole-grain cereal for breakfast. We'd snack on apples for a snack or have banana with our breakfast but I don't think I ever really ate more than 2 fruit/day. Veggies were always with the dinner meal and always cooked. Looking back I am grateful for my parents feeding me whole-grain foods and doing what they knew to be best for my health. Though I see food entirely differently now I do attribute a large part of my love for fruits/veggies to how I was raised. My body naturally craves healthy treats instead of candy/pop and junkfood since fruit was our typical dessert growing up. Thank you Mom and Dad for instilling those healthy desires in me.

Having taken it up a notch and choosing the raw-food lifestyle for me I realise just how different it is from eating what I always considered to be a healthy Standard American Diet. I remember the first lunch I served to my Mom after making the switch and she looked at my plate and the food I served my daughter and said "is that all she gets?" Despite the portions on our plate looking smaller and not being sourced from 3-4 different food groups, my daughter loves the food i feed her, she eats very well and is not very picky, AND she has maintained her chubby-toddler look and has gained 3 lbs in the past 4 months. Our family Doctor isn't concerned in the least and he is always happy to see the healthy snacks I bring with us to the Doctor's office.

I am experiencing health benefits beyond what I thought I would on my diet. I have seen positive changes in my daughters behavior and learning. A girl who I once contemplated in my head to possibly have autism has started to make increasingly more eye contact, smiles more often and has shown the ability to listen to instruction. I think my daughter has done fantastically well on this diet and I recommend it to all parents of children who are delayed, may have behavioral issues or anxiety. My daughters anxiety has decreased by 50% in th past few months. My own depression has completely gone away. My IBS is completely cured. I had insomnia since I can remember and I can fall asleep easily and quickly at night now. Did I mention that I am fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans after having two children??? I never without food from myself when i am hungry, I eat LOTS of food and the weight just melts off. I have energy... LOTS OF ENERGY, without caffeine and even when I get little sleep at night because of my nursing son. My views on eating are so different now. I used to have a totally different mental perspective on eating. Before, food was eaten for pleasure. We cook what tastes good, despite the additives and fillers that may be in the food. We eat what tastes good, despite the ramification it may have on our health. When we get sick or have IBS symptoms we go to the doctor and get either no-answers or a prescription to take home. I wish i had known the things i know now back then. Back then, when i could have stopped myself from taking pharmaceutical drugs and healed my body with proper nutrition. First healing the deficiencies in my body, then healing the digestive tract and in turn seeing my body respond to live-giving foods and become live-giving itself.

Raw food is a spiritual journey. When you begin it, you will see the truth in that yourself. When you respect and love yourself and your body enough to feed it life-giving foods, untainted by pesticides and herbicides..... un-processed, un-packaged, un-cooked (preserving all the nutrition and healing properties they have for us), you begin to have a lotus experienced. You begin to be enlightened by the process of growing, preparing and eating the food. Watching the transformation take place, where life gives life. And the transformation only continues the longer you stick to the lifestyle. First it is just the food you eat, then it is the products you use to clean yourself and your home. Now we are changing the way we dress and buy our clothes. I am determined to by 80% of my childrens clothes used. My husband and I are buying organic cotton, bamboo or hemp clothing now, though the process is slow to completely turnover our closets, it is coming along nicely. Second-hand and Thrfit stores have become my first choice in shopping when a need arises. I choose to go to ethnic type stores that sell clothing/products that are fair-trade from other countries. I spend less and less time in the malls and department stores as each month passes. I am truly transforming before my own eyes. A girl who once was make-up ridden, dressed to the hilt, full of accessories is becoming a minimalist. Is it hard to let go? NO. I feel joy with each step of the process. I love living this life in harmony with the earth and in respect for the resources that are on it. I urge you to do the same. The peace you feel inside you is worth every ounce of change that it takes.

-- Kristi