BryantheRyan.com Challenging conventional wisdom about nutrition, fitness and overall health

The Milk Myth

credit: kevinspencer

Cow's milk has been touted as being a great source of calcium and vitamin D, which are vital for healthy bones. However, the propaganda promoting milk and strong bones has become so ingrained in our culture that we believe if we do not drink milk, then our bones will deteriorate into nothing and we will turn into a massive heap of blood, muscle and guts.

The propaganda that we are feed, on a daily basis, covers up the truths behind what milk really is and has vastly exaggerated the benefits that are associated with dairy consumption.

We do not need to drink milk or eat any dairy products. We can obtain all of the so called benefits of drinking milk from countless other sources. Plus, the idea of drinking another animals lactating fluid is repulsive.

The Problem

Did you know that 60% of the world's population is lactose-intolerant? And that the majority of those people live in non-industrialized countries? Or that all human beings, when first born, are intolerant to cow's milk? or any other mammal's milk for that matter.

Webster defines milk as "a white fluid that is rich in fat and protein, secreted by female mammals for the nourishment of their young." The key word being YOUNG. When mammals are first born we are dependent on the nutrients that our mothers milk provides, without them we would die.

However, once the time passes when mother's milk is required for life, mammals no longer need it.

We never see a grown cow suckling on the tits of a mother cat.

Human beings are the only mammals on planet earth that drink the lactating milk of other animals.

I find it funny that the drinking of other mammals milk is culturally accepted, yet the drinking of our own species milk past the age of 2 or 3 is shunned upon, even th0ugh it is quite possibly the most nutritious substance known to man.

"New" Milk Production

In our modern societies battle to rid the world of all fat and cholesterol known to man, we have created what could be the most despicable creation in human history.  Skim Milk.

The shit is gross. Having drunken it for twenty years of my life I only knew it as "better" for me than whole milk, yet had the consistency and taste of water. Since taking milk out of my diet I have slowly grown a repulsive appetite for skim milk.

The process in-which skim milk (and 1 or 2% milk as well) goes through is utterly (lol) moronic. We take the fat out of the milk, heat it to super high temperatures (called pasteurization, I used to think this meant that the cows were raised in a pasture) and then bottled and served to you with a happy cow sticker on the jug.

Our current societies war on fat has resulted in our milk products containing zero fat or cholesterol. The result of such a switch is the increase of sugar levels in these products.

When fat is taken out of products, the result is bland nothingness. Much like what fat free ranch dressing and fat free cheese taste like. To make up for the cardboard taste of fat free foods, sugar is added to make them more appetizing.

Next time you buy milk look at the sugar and carbohydrate levels of whole and skim milk, they are drastically different.

Calcium!

The cats meow of milk consumption. When all is said and done, we have to drink milk because we need calcium and milk has it! I'm sorry to burst the strong bones and calcium bubble, but as shocking as it may seem, calcium is not found only in milk.

Calcium is a mineral found in soil. When plants grow (grass, alfalfa and what ever is in a cow pasture) they absorb nutrients in the soil as they grow. Calcium is one of these nutrients and is therefore found in the plants that cows eat. Cows eat the plants. The calcium and other nutrients that were found in the plant material wind up in cows meat and if they are pregnant, in their utters via lactating glands found in the body.

The calcium found in dairy products actually comes from plants in the ground.

How do you think cows and all other mammals are able to maintain bone strength without drinking another species milk?

Calcium or Exercise?

A study was done on groups of women (over the age of 50) in the US that tested calcium supplement,  exercise and bone health. The women were split into 5 groups. One group did nothing, they did not exercise or take a calcium supplement. Another group took a calcium supplement and did not exercise, the other took a calcium supplement and exercised, the other exercised and did not take a supplement.

The results were profound. The groups of women with the strongest bones after 6 months were the groups that exercised. And further, the group that took no supplements but exercised had equal bone strength as the group who took the supplement and exercised.

This clearly shows the exercise can drastically improve bone health without the aide of dietary calcium.

What about vitamin D?
Milk contains some vitamin D, but almost all milk for sale in a grocery store is fortified with it. Which simply means that they put the same vitamin D that is found in a multivitamin or supplement in milk. You can get these products for far cheaper than milk at Walgreens or any other pharmaceutical outlet without having to keep it refrigerated and worry over it spoiling.

Ryan, you are crazy, if milk is so bad then why are we told to drink it?
Remember my mantra: You are the only person who cares about your health, nobody else gives a shit. The nobody else in that statement includes your doctor, Oprah, The Doctors show before Oprah, your local news and anybody else other than me and your immediate family .

The milk industry is only after your money. They use the supposed health benefits of milk to market their product so that we, the consumers, will buy it. In all honesty, the milk industry has done a phenomenal job in doing this. They have weaseled their way into the government recommended Food Pyramid and have now become a staple in our nations school lunch programs and our household refrigerators.

Yes milk contains calcium and calcium is a nutrient found in bones. Which is why milk is promoted as being the key to strong bones.  In fact dark vegetables, meat and eggs also contain calcium at levels that are comparable, if not higher, to dairy products.

Final Thoughts

If what I have said above is not convincing enough for you to drop milk from your diet, then consider this:

For all you mothers out there, you know what it is like being pregnant. It freaking sucks (I do not know from personal experience, just observing). Imagine being pregnant every day of your life. When you have an infant, it is immediately taken away from you so that it can be butchered and sold as veil (calf meat).  You then have your tits sucked on by a huge metal machine every morning and night for the rest of your life*. Welcome to the life of a modern day dairy cow.

* Until you can no longer produce milk. Then you will be purchased by McDonald's and turned into burger meat.

Milk less since 2009 and still alive and kicking,

-Ryan