Friday, May 20, 2011

The Maker's Diet and Raw Milk

I never thought I would be one of those "healthy weird people" even 3 years ago. I still don't consider myself to be weird, but who thinks that they are weird, right? I always thought that life was too short to freak out over every chemical, preservative, etc. But a few years ago, when I couldn't get pregnant my whole thought process changed. I went through fertility treatments that were so hard on my body that I looked like I was 4 months pregnant! I fortunately was able to get pregnant, but once that happened I didn't want anything to hurt this precious life growing inside me. I had been through too much to lose him now. A friend of mine lent me a book about "the organic pregnancy". I wish I could remember the name of it but it has totally slipped my mind. It had all kinds of great information about cleaning products, and eating healthy. The changes gradually happened from then on. I'd always thought of myself as a healthy person with a strong immune system, but I found out real quick once I had my son that I wasn't as healthy as I thought I was. I desperately tried every prescription possible to get rid of an illness I was struggling with without any luck. That's when I turned to a book called "The Maker's Diet" by Jordan Rubin. What an eye opener! I never knew about soaking grains, drinking raw milk, and how important probiotics are. There is so much more than just that, but the idea of going back to what God had originally taught his people to eat made perfect sense to me. He is the all-knowing God of the universe, so why not turn to him for health?

I made simple changes at first, soaking grains, drinking raw milk, and taking probiotics. The results were amazing! What all the prescriptions couldn't do for me, diet did.  I haven't stepped into the realm of lactofermentation yet, but I'll get there.

I'll get into why soaking grains is important later, but I'm sure some of you are wondering what "raw milk" is. Raw milk, is milk that has not been pasteurized. It is full fat, cream top, full of beneficial bacteria and enzymes. In fact most people with milk intolerance can drink raw milk with no problems because the enzymes that help you digest milk are not destroyed in the pasteurization process.  I was scared to try it at first because I thought it was going to be thick and strong tasting. I was very surprised! I could hardly tell much of a difference between the raw milk and the 2% I was used to drinking. The one problem I had was trying to find raw milk for a good price. Paying $7.25 per half gallon was just not an option for me! I made a few phone calls and was able to find someone locally that was willing to sell it to me for "animal use only" for MUCH cheaper, let's say 4x less than what I could buy it at the store for. The only reason it's labeled as animal use, is because there are certain regulations that prevent dairies from selling unpasteurized milk. Yes, I have to drive 25 minutes each way to get it about once a week, but it is well worth the time and extra effort. I have never had cleaner, more fresh milk than I do. In fact, my 16 month old refuses to drink anything but raw milk. Once you try the real stuff, the milk at the store actually tastes old and kind of gross! A great website to check out is www.realmilk.com. They even have resources on where to find it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on raw milk, and what healthy changes you've made recently.

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