Milk and GMO Soy Milk Does Not Do a Body Good

Jamie Oliver has just convinced the LAUSD to stop serving flavored cow's milk to children at school. The board made this radical move because Oliver pointed out that flavored milk has as much sugar as soda. Considering how much power the dairy industry has on the American conscience, this is a shocker, indeed. However, since ruling milk out altogether doesn't seem to be an option, they want to serve soy milk instead. But the soy industry is one awful game right now, and a horizontal switch from milk to soy milk may not necessarily be better; there's a good chance these kids will now be drinking GMO, non-organic soy milk.This would not be a good move, so I must ask, if children aren't going to be drinking flavored milk, then why do we need them to drink flavored soy milk? Why drink milk, soy or otherwise, at all? Is it because of the fear of our children not getting enough calcium? That must be it. It's the ol' Calcium Fear Factor, if you don't get enough, your bones will break. Of course, this has been dis-proven, time and again. Just like consuming too much protein is a real danger, so is consuming too much calcium.

So what are the options?

• Cow's milk, non-organic and organic--pasteurized, (horrible for you, many are allergic to lactose, casein is addictive, runny noses, calcium-overdose, osteoporosis, etc.)
• Cow's milk--raw (can't get this in Newfoundland, health properties are debatable, apparently raw milk has properties to deal with the casein, but so what? Why do I need to drink raw milk, because it fights the casein that is present in all cow's milk to begin with? It doesn't make sense.)
• Soy milk--GMO, non-organic (simply a nightmare, don't fall into this trap of thinking you're healthier because now you drink soy milk--the jury is still out, but from what I know, too much soy is not good for you, either! If you are using soy, make sure it's non-GMO!!!)
• Soy milk--non-GMO, organic (only way to go, but just use it for baking and cooking, don't drink it by the glass; if you're kids insist, let them have a small glass a day. Limit it to one only.)
• Almond milk, Rice Milk, etc. (great option, but if you're drinking it, check the added sugar--I use this in my granola)

Vitamin D? You get it from the sun. In Newfoundland, there's not much of that, but whatev. I'm not too worried. Soy milk, almond milk--they are often fortified with Vit D and calcium, though again, we don't need that much calcium. If you want strong bones then exercise. Being active is how you stay strong, not by drinking milk.

I cannot overemphasize enough that it is not a good idea to replace soy milk with milk, letting your kids drink three or four glasses of soy milk a day--BAD IDEA. Use it in baking, cooking, fine. A glass of day, no problem. But we shouldn't simply substitute soy milk for milk, drinking it all day long and putting it in everything we eat. This isn't how we ate as early humans. Our bodies are just not made for it. 

If you are going to drink soy milk or use it in cooking like we do, make sure it is non-GMO. I cannot stress that enough either. The U.S. Soy industry is wicked and out of control like a bad case of Queen Anne's Lace overrunning your lawn (like ours.) GMO corn and soy is in everything, an environmental nightmare, and soy lecithin, the toxic sludge that's produced from processed soy is also in everything, from granola bars to ice cream. Yes, it's toxic, soy lecithin is a carcinogen, stay away from it. And good luck finding a processed food on the grocery store shelves that doesn't have it. It's practically impossible. So if this is true, then it stands to reason that commercially processed soy is a no-no. Stay away from it as much as you can. 

We were simply not meant to drink milk. When we were gathering in the jungles of the Amazon, as some tribes still do, we didn't lie down under a wild cow's udder and help ourselves to a glass of milk (or soy milk.) Nor did we have ice cream for dessert. We didn't have cheese with our "burgers." Our bodies are simply not made to consume cow's milk or cheese, obviously made from cow's milk. We are the ones who are getting osteoporosis as a result, the countries who do not drink milk have far less cases of osteoporosis, so let's do the math. Yes, we should champion the LAUSD's move away from cow's milk, but let's take it a step further and just stop serving milk to our kids. Cut it out altogether, milk should not be in the discussion at all. We have no need for it. We must replace this old outdated notion that we should be drinking milk or that milk is good for you. There is simply no need to drink it. The only reason we do drink it is because we think we are getting a good source of calcium. This is bunk.We are actually giving ourselves osteoporosis.

To recap: if you're going to drink milk, drink almond or rice milk, and use non-GMO soy milk in cooking and baking. Don't drink milk at all. If you eat cheese and yogurt, fine, but go easy. Raw cheese is the best (they have it at Costco) but once you cut cheese out of your food, you'll see that you don't crave it anymore because you've cut out the addictive property of casein from your diet. Any recipe that requires milk can be substituted with an alternative milk, and this is your best option.

Finally, the dairy industry is a god-awful nightmare. Check out the book Whitewash by Joseph Keon to get a taste, a foul one at that. This book actually has a forward written by John Robbins, who was going to be the heir to Baskin Robbins. He refused to take over, refused all those riches. Why? Because he couldn't support it. Central Dairies? Scotsburn? It's Canadian, after all, so that's fine, right? No. If you're going to buy milk here, go organic, but don't forget, even the organic milk is pasteurized, and that's the main problem there. You just don't need it and are better off without it.

And let's remember, if you're anything like me, you probably drank milk as a kid. You were told, "Milk it does a body good." And if you're anything like me, you also believed it. After all, they knew what they were talking about, didn't they? Of course they did. of course they did. of course. That's why we drink milk. It's good for us. And now they're going to tell us a different story. Soy milk is good for us. Here we go again...

Eat B(right),
Veggie Daddy