What is a Superfood?
I believe when your body can utilize every bit of a food and the food is in its natural state, you have a superfood! Superfoods are loaded with vitamins and minerals, have prebiotics and probiotics, are loaded with antioxidants, and have the enzymes to help the body assimilate all the above mentioned.
When I first heard the word, Superfood, immediately a thick green drink made of a concoction of powdered plants popped into my mind. (not the easiest thing to swallow!) but that is not the Superfood I want to talk about today. The one I have in mind isn’t plant based but animal based and it is as natural as one can get it! Raw grassfed cow’s milk!
I have a friend who is quite stout, not fat, just a good build. She has a very skinny little sister and one day in the course of our conversation we happened upon the subject of being overly skinny and her sister got mentioned. My friend looks me in the eye and says, “I used to be skinnier than that!”
“Really!” I said.
“Yes,” she replied, When I was 11 years old I was really skinny, tired all the time and my back hurt a lot. At that time I milked our family cow and almost every time when I strained the milk into gallon jars I had a pint left over. So, I decided, that is my milk and I would drink it throughout the day. Lo and behold, I started to put some weight on, and my back quit hurting, plus my energy level also came back up!”
You must bear in mind, my friend’s milk came from a grassfed cow and the milk was in its unaltered state, good old raw milk!
Today I am going to talk about all the beneficial goodies in raw milk but it will be in a negative way…sort of! I am going to cover what pasteurization does to milk.
We have been taught that pasteurization is beneficial, a method of protecting ourselves against infectious disease. but upon closer examination we see that its merits have been highly exaggerated. The modern milking machine and stainless steel tank, along with efficient packaging and distribution, make pasteurization totally unnecessary for the purpose of sanitation. And pasteurization is no guarantee of cleanliness. All outbreaks of salmonella from contaminated milk in recent decades have occurred in pasteurized milk. Raw milk actually contains lactic acid producing bacteria that protects against pathogens. (I love that!) Pasteurization destroys these helpful organisms, leaving the finished product devoid of any protective mechanism should undesirable bacteria contaminate the supply. Raw milk in time turns pleasantly sour, while pasteurized milk, lacking beneficial bacteria, will putrefy. (Have you ever smelled naturally fermented raw milk? Although sour, there is still a pleasant, soul stirring smell to it!)
Furthermore, heat alters the milk’s amino acids lysine and tyrosine, making the whole complex of proteins less available; it promotes rancidity of unsaturated fatty acids and destruction of vitamins. Vitamin C loss in pasteurization usually exceeds 50 percent; the loss of other vitamins can run as high as 80 percent. The anti-stiffness factor is totally destroyed; as is vitamin B-12 needed for healthy blood and properly functioning nervous system. Pasteurization reduces the availability of milk’s mineral components, such as calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and sulphur, as well as many trace minerals. It also puts an unnecessary strain on the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes, which may explain why milk consumption in civilized societies has been linked with diabetes.
Last but not least, pasteurization destroys all the enzymes in the milk— in fact the test for successful pasteurization is absence of enzymes. These enzymes are needed to enable the body to assimilate all body building factors, including calcium. That is why those who drink pasteurized milk may suffer from osteoporosis. Lipase in raw milk helps the body digest and utilize butterfat.
After all the good stuff has been killed off, chemicals may be added to suppress odor and restore taste. (Remember, milk has its own protective mechanism against bad bacteria to start with and a much better one!) Synthetic vitamin D-2 or D-3 is added— one has been linked to heart disease and the other is difficult to absorb. ( Again, milk in its natural state has its own vitamin D!) The final indignity done to our wonderful superfood is homogenization, which has also been linked to heart disease.
Modern pasteurized milk, devoid of its enzyme content, puts an enormous strain on the body’s digestive system. The results of drinking it are often summed up in problems such as allergies, chronic fatigue, and a host of degenerative disease.
The conclusion of the matter: if you are diagnosed with an illness that the doctor says comes from drinking milk, maybe you should check into where the milk is coming from and how it is handled before it ever reaches your table.
Blessings-Louise