Common Sense and milk

As stated before, We are what we eat. It makes sense that that would be true for any animal. A healthy cow will provide healthy milk. There are many concerns for me concerning milk. The first being what makes a healthy cow. according to organic livestock production manuals and workbooks a healthy cow requires space to graze, clean water, a waste managed space and organic feed. The feed not only has to be organic but not be fine particles or the beast will bloat. Feeds can be grain, grass, cull vegetables and forage etc. The exception is that the cow not be fed overly grown woody food because it doesn't have high levels of nutrition and of course it has to be organic. This is of course a generalization, I am not a cattle farmer.

Having said all of that, how do we know about the milk we buy at the store? We call the company. As it turns out, our house drinks Coop milk which is supplied (I Think by Saskatchewan dairy producers) and one lives down the road. I think I will ask them some questions and see what I can find out. In the mean time I have found the sources listed below if anyone is concerned with what I am discovering. It turns out that the milk we drink is primarily marketed to stay on the shelf longer. Not be nutritious or taste good. No surprise there. Most food is becoming like this. The processing of the milk after it leaves the farms seems to be the biggest concern to me but I'll see what our neighbour says.

Sources:
ww1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex6769
http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF//livestockworkbook.pdf
http://eap.mcgill.ca/MagRack/RH/RH_E_97_05.htm

Milk?

I have always felt that milk was an essential component of ones diet. I have done some investigation into the quality of milk. albeit that I did the research online but I am still really confused.

I believe that there must be an issue with milk to some degree because of the increasing cases of lactose intolerance. I would be one of these cases so I can't dodge that one. But milk is in so many recipes too.

I'm still going to continue to look into this and see what the conditions of milk are in Sask. but I haven't any answers now.

I also wanted to draw some attention to a blog that I have seen today....
www.ecofamilylife.blogspot.com. Not only is the author taking steps to be healthier but is taking steps to become gluten free. Not easy.

Food Quality

It doesn't take much to understand that you are what you eat. just like so many things, the better the ingredients the better the final product. So, why then is it so difficult for me and likely many others to figure out what to eat. It isn't rocket science but it is harder than it sounds.

Vegetables are the key. At least that is what the live right now advertisements are saying. I get that but food choice is part of it to. Garden carrots even taste better than store bought carrots but they are hard to come by in the middle of winter. Organic is a good idea too but at what expense and then there is the selection available when one lives farther and farther away from a major center like we do.

It's a lot to take in when you're just starting to make lifestyle changes for health. How much of a change is necessary and how little is not enough. I think that every little change for the better is enough. As long as you keep making more and more small changes.

Starting with sugar elimination was a little too much to start with. Sugar is in everything. Almost everything really does have some form of Sugar in it in one form or another. I'm still going to make as much of an effort about the sugar as I can reasonably do for the time being like not drink pop and not buy anything more that is obviously high in sugar. Sugar is one of the hidden ingredients in foods that make it stay tasty for weeks when it would otherwise go bad. This household will have a difficult time letting go of BBQ sauce.

One of the my other biggest concerns is milk. What is the truth about milk. I'm going to look into this next and get back. Cheese is another large consumable that we need to look into. I don't know if this house can give up cheese if it needs to.