Yes Dairy, I have to make my affair public! Over the years you have been the substance in my cereals, the tall glass of milk for my oreos, essentially, you were the peanut butter to my jelly (or milk to my cookie).
No one in this glass-o-milk drinkin' country would ever think to discard you and replace with another.
-tear-
But I couldn't resist!
Who is it you ask? Who have I replaced my beverage of choice with?
Well, it's vanilla flavored.
-gasp-!
No, not Soy Milk! I don't like the aftertaste!
It's..
It's...
ALMOND MILK!
-faint-
Okay real story:
When I wrote that '10 things' tag, it brought back all the benefits of Vegeterianism, so although I love my goat meat too much, I thought about the pros/cons of milk.
I mean really, why do you think children only have to be breastfeed until 2? Because after then we really do not need milk, plain and simple. Do any of us see a goat drinking cows milk? Or a goat drinking any goat milk after their a kid? Nope.
And whatever 'health' benefits you get from milk don't seem to be much.
Look at the 'Got Milk' campaign, it claims that milk gives you PLENTY of calcium. As in a whole days worth. The recommended daily allowance of calcium is approximately 800-1000 mg, although 1200 mg is ideal, according to the most recent update by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Calcium comprises a crucial aspect of human health. Not only is calcium needed for muscle contraction, but calcium lends to our bone structure, bone recovery (re-calcification), and bone health as well. In short, we need calcium to live. And a bunch of other vitamins and minerals but we're discussing milk here.
According to the "Not Milk" campaign, milk contains less calcium per given amount than other foods. Meaning, we could get better souces somewhere else than terrorize a poor cow by impregnating it time and time again just so you could get your grubby paws on a glass of milk. So this end of milk consuming is a health and animal rights issue with me. But I'm not saying all dairy farmers treat their cows bad, some do and either way the milk isn't helping me a bit.
I just think drinking cow's milk isn't natural for human beings. Which is why a good portion of humans are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance can result from two things: either through a natural enzyme deficiency, which prevents the body from digesting milk sugars, or through an allergy to milk itself. Thankfully I'm not lactose intolerant (because even if I give up milk, I'd still be eating other dairy products) but now plenty of people who are.
Hormones in my milk is another issue. (However if you buy organic than that's much better) Many dairy producers use rBGH as a way to increase milk production in their cows, resulting in up to 20% more production. However, the hormone causes udder inflammation in cows, which can lead to the contamination of the milk from secreted pus common in udder inflammation. Also, antibiotics used to treat inflammation have been discovered in trace amounts in the milk. Such contamination leads many people to wonder whether milk is safe for daily human consumption.
Overall, I'm not here to convert you to 'leave milk'-ism but just to share something new and tasty that I've tried out and enjoy :D Milk does do a lot of good and has some negative effects, (and is totally not necessary for a proper diet when there are other fruits and vegetables with much more calcium, but hey that's just my opinion)so thanks for reading this rather long post/rant! Have a nice day :D
Your Almondmilkdrinking Sister,
