Most of What You Think You Know About Milk Is Probably Dairy Industry Lies

[flvegan]

March 19, 2014 |
Got milk allergy? Many people including Native Americans and people of Asian, African and South American descent are lactose intolerant and can’t and don't drink milk. That is the way nature made them over epochs and no one ever died of a dairy deficiency.

But there is money in dairy. That is why American fast food companies try to bring the love of dairy to cultures where it traditionally hasn't existed. And that is why the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board in the US disseminate "educational" materials that address "misconceptions about lactose intolerance" according to research in Born With a Junk Food Deficiency, How Flaks, Quacks, and Hacks Pimp the Public Health. The marketing groups bragged to Congress that they regularly assure people in such ethnic groups that their lactose intolerance "should not be a barrier to including milk in the diet,” in an ongoing effort to help US dairy farmers. Ka-ching.

More: http://www.alternet.org/most-what-you-think-you-know-about-milk-probably-dairy-industry-lies

I saw the latest, laughable attempt by BigDairy last weekend with a new "Milk Life" campaign. If milk is so good, why change your tactics?

Milk, some of the worst shit you can put in your body.

[mucifer]

1. We Jews have a high occurrence of lacto intolerance, too.

BTW I always thought they should change the commercial for Jello brand gelatin and call it what it is Jello brand pigs hooves.

I wonder how much of the dairy industry is freaking out about all the soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, hemp milk coconut milk and who knows what else there is that doesn't cause the belly aches of milk.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

10. Are there any of them that actually taste good?

I tried several of those 'other' milks, and they tasted horrible. Not drinking cow milk, ok, but I haven't had cereal in years, simply because I haven't yet tried a milk alternative that didn't taste like crap.

[mucifer]

11. I grew up with skim milk and vanilla rice milk is pretty good to me.

If I grew up on whole milk I might think differently.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

12. I was a skimmer too.

I'll give it a try. I just hate spending $5 or whatever to buy a carton, take one taste, then pour the rest down the drain. I wish they'd sell single pints of these various milks, so you didn't end up wasting so much if you don't like them.

[mucifer]

13. Some recipes work specifically with only one of the milks. If you throw them

in a smoothy with fruits, greens and chia seeds, you don't even taste the fake milk. To me cereals hide them pretty good.

BTW I'm a BSN, too.

[ginnyinWI]

18. Almond milk

Probably the closest to the taste of dairy milk. And try more than one brand: I like Almond Breeze.

[MoonchildCA]

21. I second the almond milk.

I buy the original unsweetened. I use to get vanilla unsweetened, and did have a slight "taste" to it. But I bought the original by accident once, and found I liked it better. On a bowl of Trader Joe's Maple Pecan Granola, it's delicious. You can't tell the difference.

And if you want a cream substitute, blend raw cashews with a little veggie broth and add it to soups and such. It also makes great gravies and cream sauces. When I make cashew gravy or veggie a la king, no one believes they're not dairy.

[Codeine]

25. Try almond milk.

My stepkids didn't skip a beat when I switched them over to almond milk; tastes fine and has a good consistency/mouthfeel.

[Squinch]

27. I wanted to get off milk as part of an effort to stay off cholesterol drugs. I tried store-bought

almond milk and didn't like it, but then I tried home made almond milk and LOVED it. So now it's all I really want to use for coffee and cocoa, many recipes, etc. Problem is it is kind of a pain in the neck to make, but it freezes well, so I take one afternoon a month and make a month's worth of it. And my cholesterol came down the extra 20 points I needed it to.

[LeftyMom]

2. I think you know this but for those who don't:

I was going to the doctor for severe digestive issues from early infancy. I was put on medication that had to be given to me mixed in whatever I would take, several tablespoons of foul liquid a day. The doctor told my mother to mix it into whatever sweet drink I would take, and that it would ruin my teeth but they'd have to deal with that later. I wasn't thriving otherwise, there really wasn't an option. Sure enough, some of my baby teeth were pulled and the rest were capped until they fell out. It was painful and embarrassing and it cost about as much as a new car did at the time.

Fortunately as an older child my symptoms improved somewhat, but I wasn't an especially healthy kid and I continued to have a lot of digestive trouble. I also gained skin, respiratory and sinus trouble, and went on more medications. Nobody connected them or pointed out that there might be some underlying cause. Things happen, you know?

Anyhow, that's how things went until I grew up and had my kid. As an infant he was diagnosed with a dairy allergy because of some reflux and it hit me: That's what's wrong with me too! So I cut the dairy out of my diet (I had to anyhow because I was nursing the kid, and he was allergic,) and there had been a lot because that's what I was being told to increase while I was pregnant/lactating.

And guess what? I didn't need my inhaler anymore. My digestion improved. My skin improved. My anemia went away. Soon enough I wasn't on ANY medication, for the first time since my first week of life.

Of the dozens of professionals who had treated me, none had ever suggested that my digestion had something to do with what I was eating.

[ZombieHorde]

3. I've been thinking about going vegan again.

Pizza and ice cream are so hard for me to give up, but I know they're shit. I can't even fuck as well after eating a bunch of pizza, but I love it soooo much. I go through soda phases too, which is incredibly unhealthy. Sigh. I feel like I need to go vegan again, even if it's just for a year or five.

[mucifer]

15. Just eating less dairy is helpful. Remember pizza can be made without cheese

Trader Joes has lots of great ice creams made from coconut milk and they have a roasted vegetable cheeseless pizza. But, I gotta say I live in chicago and there are tons of vegan choices around here.

There are many helpful vegan websites with great ideas for cooking and just for moral support, too.

Best wishes!

BTW if you have a really good blender putting frozen bananas in it with a tiny bit of water gives the texture of soft serve ice cream but it does taste just like a banana because that is all it is.

[ginnyinWI]

16. You know what I use instead of cheese on pizza?

Don't laugh: it's sauerkraut! Think about it: part of the taste of cheese is the fermentation, the "bite" it has and which is something we crave nutritionally. I put drained sauerkraut over the usual veggies on our pizza and it's good! It even looks a bit like cheese, but that's beside the point.

I also use it in sandwiches, paninis, or anything that needs a cheesy taste.

(three years plant-based now and I feel really great!)

[ZombieHorde]

22. That is really interesting. nt

[Codeine]

26. Try Daiya brand vegan mozzarella when you get a pizza craving.

It's not perfect, but it's damned close.

[Warpy]

4. I've been lactose intolerant since I was five

Milk is horrible shit. If I need it in baking, I use instant soymilk.

When I get constipated, I'll eat a nice dish of ice cream. I also like yogurt. Cheese doesn't bother me.

But milk? Eeewwwww.

[2naSalit]

5. Milk is

for baby cows, not humans. If adult humans needed milk, we'd be breast feeding all our lives. Cow's milk is for strong bone generation (cows start walking and running right after birth) and does nothing to promote healthy brain development (which is what humans need to do for at least the first seven months).

Many lactose intolerant folks can have fermented milk products, but it is not a necessary part f the human diet, that's just hogwash.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. Aahhh, Alternet again...

taking a small point and making it huge, with few facts to make its case.

Of course there is a lot of lactose intolerance, which can be easily dealt with with lactose-free dairy, or no dairy at all if you have that problem.

For the rest of us, though, our ancestors have been drinking milk in various forms for eons and there's no medical reason to stop. Even for the lactose intolerant, there's plenty of lactose free dairy out there. And low-fat, too.

Are dairy cows mistreated? Sure, like most animals in modern agriculture, but that's a separate issue.

Drug companies foisting another questionable cure upon us? No doubt, but still a separate issue.

The writer didn't bother about the problems with impurities, but if we're still worried about that strontium-90 that might be left out there, there's always organic milk.

Myself, I shall now make a large jug of hot chocolate, microwaved milk being a large part of it, to get me through the night. And, after a lifetime of milk-drinking, I am now looking forward to entering my 70's with milkshakes as a remaining pleasure.

[PADemD]

7. I love milk.

Always drank a lot of it, with no problems, until the dairy industry started adding Carrageenan to ice cream, creamers, and some milk products. Carrageenan gives me acid reflux.

[HeiressofBickworth]

8. I gave up milk years ago when I discovered

that even with government regulations, there is a certain amount of puss (as from an infection in the udder) allowed in milk. Yes, it gets pasteurized and all that, but the very idea of puss in milk just turns my stomach. So, that's on my growing list of foods too contaminated to consume.

[MADem]

9. I like to cook with milk. I use organic milk and it's great.

I think trying to tell everyone that "Milk SUCKS" is just foolishness. Some people like it, others don't. And people can be allergic to ... ANYTHING.

Just because a lot of northern Europeans are gluten intolerant doesn't mean everyone should eliminate gluten. Just because some people are allergic to tomatoes, eggplant and other nightshade vegetables doesn't mean that everyone has to give them up.

Alternet has a habit of shopping Doom and Gloom crap--it gets a bit stale. The sky is NOT falling.

Taste, and try.

If you don't like, don't buy.

It's really very simple.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

14. Erich looks up at the group name again to check...

Why yes, yes, this is a vegan and animal rights group...

To use your own logic, if you don't like it, no need to read it or post comments?

It's really very simple.

[MADem]

20. Well, I do apologize, I honestly didn't realize I was in a protected group when I wrote that.

Would you like me to delete it, or will my apology suffice?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

24. Nah

I don't even know how 'protected' things are. I just thought maybe you might want to take into account just where the thread to which you were replying started. I imagine there are vegetarians hanging around who do still like milk.

[ginnyinWI]

17. I just got a soy milk maker for my birthday

Instead of paying $3.00 + for a half gallon, I can make the same amount for 64 cents. It's really easy too. You do have to add back some flavorings like salt, sugar and vanilla, but you can control the amounts.

As far as getting used to the taste, try going without cow milk for three weeks and you will lose your taste for that instead! To me now, after three years, it tastes really slimey--like mucus--and maybe because that's what's in it.

[byronius]

19. I think milk is one of those 'base' habits, hard to break, but truly worth it.

It's actually a bizarre practice, to consume the pus-filled fluid intended for another creature's baby.

I had a low-level milk allergy for years, quite clearly -- leaving it behind did amazing things for my health.

[RebelOne]

23. I don't care what anyone else thinks,

but to me there is nothing better than ice cream made with the real thing. I have tried soy ice cream and it just can't compare with milk-based ice cream.