First, the milk.

I realize that the subject of this blog site is vegetarianism, but learning the truth about milk and dairy products is what opened my eyes to a healthier, veggie-based lifestyle. Thus, the milk blog:

I’m a trusting person. Gullible even, at times. I’ve gotten more careful about trusting people and things over the years, but overall, I just would like to believe that the people in this world generally have the best interest of others in mind. This is why when I read the following facts in the recently released book “Skinny Bitch” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, I pushed aside my ‘healthy’ yogurt snack and poured myself a glass of wine before reading further:

• The National Dairy Council has conducted studies proving that dairy consumption actually causes calcium loss.
• Yale University researchers found that the countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis were those in which people consumed the most meat, milk and other animal foods.
• Cow’s milk has traces of morphine and codeine. It’s cool though because they’re both naturally occurring substances in a cow’s body. It becomes kind of uncool when it enters a human body and releases casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion and releases opiates, creating a fiend-like need for more. Concentrations of these opiates are highest in cheese.
• In order to digest lactose, mammals require the enzyme lactase, an enzyme that humans stop producing after the toddler years. Without the enzyme, our bodies are left with portions of undigested lactose which encourages the growth of bacteria in our intestines, which can contribute to a greater risk of cancer because cancer cells thrive in acidic conditions.

Ew, ew and ew. These nuggets of information are disturbing. For a long time I heard bits and pieces about the existence of hormones and antibiotics in milk and other dairy products, but never thought twice. The USDA knows what they’re doing, I told myself. Milk had for so long been an innocent, healthy & nutritious drink and as a trusting person, I spent years thinking that popular campaigns like ‘Got Milk?’ were out there to promote health and nutrition of the masses.

It is fairly possible that this was partially the intent of campaign founders who didn’t know any better, however my newly educated self also knows that milk is a ‘cash cow’, and an item so ingrained in American society that we view it as a staple, an automatic addition to the weekly grocery list. To stop promoting it as a healthy part of a daily diet would be to the detriment of an entire industry.

So, what did I do? Not a daily milk drinker, my first move was to eliminate the daily cup of yogurt from my lunch box and replace it with a cup of soy milk, usually the chocolate kind. With ice cream as a formerly important part of my life, I’ve found a great alternative in fruit sorbet and soy ice cream. What next? Cut back on cheese. Rome wasn’t built in a day and I really do love a good hunk of cheese from time to time, but that doesn’t mean it should count as a major food group. Finally, I learned about alternative sources of calcium which include almonds, beans, broccoli, chick peas, fortified grains and sesame seeds.

So, it wasn’t cold turkey for me, but it was quite a start.