I am conscious that this post may not go down well with lots of people. But remember, you don’t have to agree with me.
I mentioned before that I follow a nutritionist called Patrick Holford. And what Patrick says about milk (and dairy in general) makes sense to me.
Cow’s milk is for baby cows. We are mammals, and just like the baby elephant doesn’t move from Mommy’s milk to cow’s milk, my children don’t either.
It’s no wonder that there are so many people worldwide with lactose intolerance and with respiratory problems. The medical profession, governments, schools, all recommend that children drink milk. They even supply it to schools.
And why do they do that? Because the children need calcium (adults too). Forget about the fact that most brands of milk don’t add vitamin D to the milk, making it that to absorb the calcium the body actually has to use Vitamin D from the bones (and thus weakening them). Forget about the fact that the human body has great difficulty in breaking down the protein in cow’s milk (thus the high levels of lactose intolerance).
So my kids moved from breast milk to water. And a bit of soya milk with their porridge at breakfast. There are alternatives to soya of course – almond milk, rice milk. Even goat’s milk is better than cow’s milk – because the composition of that milk is closer to human’s milk.
Anyway, my stance is that once a baby is weaned off Mommy’s milk, they don’t need milk anymore.
So what about other dairy products? Yogurt, cheese, ice-cream… Well, my kids can eat only Live bio-yogurt. The live bacteria in the yogurt helps the body break down the protein. And I give them cheddar cheese too, although in moderation. The proteins in cheese are somewhat processed so it’s actually easier for the body to break it down than drinking milk. And of course, ice-cream is allowed on weekends… as a treat.
“But what about calcium?”, you may be asking. Well, there are many other sources of calcium in fruit and vegetables that are much more easily absorbed by the body.
I hope one day, people’s health will be more important than economic interests. The dairy industry is one of the main industries in the world. And if it was widely known and publicised that dairy is bad for you, the industry would suffer, and the super economic powers couldn’t cope with that… Maybe if they just had warnings like in cigarette boxes… at least that would be a good start. In any case, if you’re interested, do your own research. The internet is full of information on why milk is bad for you!