Tuesday 25 September 2012

Did You Know? : Milk

you are not my mother - img via
I remember the days when I was little and we had milk in our cereal every morning and a glass of milk with every dinner. These days I reach for the Almond Milk. Oh how times have changed.
Over the last couple of years I've learnt more and more about milk and how it actually isn't that great for our bodies. Just recently though I discovered my last tad of knowledge about the side effects of milk that sent me into the "Absolutely No Milk" category.

Did you know?

  • We are the only mammal that drinks milk from a different mammal? We are naturally only supposed to drink our own milk. Milk from a cow is meant to make a calf grow 8 times it's birth weight by it's 1st birthday. Calves grow to be 1000-2000lb animals! Babies also require milk from their mothers to grow quickly in the first few years of life but don't require cow's milk to continue growing afterwards.

  • You don't require milk to get your calcium intake for the day. You can actually receive more calcium from other sources. Sesame seeds contain 90mg per tablespoon, 1 cup of broccoli contains 178mg and 1/2 cup of Tofu contains 258mg. The average daily dose recommended is between 700-1000mg. It's also not bad to take a calcium supplement if you are lacking calcium. People don't realize that we consume a lot of our calcium through our food we eat.

  • It has been found that the majority of the world population is lactose intolerant (lactose is found in cows milk). Being lactose intolerant causes upset stomachs, digestive problems and unnecessary bloating. So why do we want those symtoms?


Now here's the fact that pushed me over:

  • A majority of cows are milked while they are pregnant. This meaning that we take in a very large amount of hormones from the cow. These hormones can't be filtered out and have a great effect on our bodies. In studies this has shown to increase the risk of cancers, especially breast cancer.

img via
If you are still needing that "milk" in your cereal or coffee why not switch to Almond Milk? One cup of Silk Almond milk (unsweetened) contains 45% of your daily recommend intake of calcium.

Do you drink milk? Have you ever thought about switching over to Almond or Soy milk?

-Michelle

P.S. -This was in no way endorsed by Silk or any other Soy Milk or Almond Milk Company. This is solely based on my personal studies and findings.

7 comments:

  1. Great post. I'm a full vegan anyway, so all dairy is of course out of my life already, but I've read so much about it contributing to cancers, I just don't understand why people keep drinking it. I also find it very strange to drink the milk meant for a different mammal. When people give me trouble for my vegan choices, I don't have to look far to slam questions back at them, which they never quite know what to say to.

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  2. I just switched the rest of the kids to almond milk but unfortunately I cannot make the switch because I'm allergic to almonds. Have you come across any other type of milk that you like? I took a look at rice milk but its very high in calories. Also the Silk brand of almond milk is the only brand I can't find that doesn't containe carrageenan

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  3. Hi Sarah, Congrats on being a vegan! It's quite the task to be a vegan in a world which is just learning about natural nutrition. It's amazing how the government and advertising agencies have guided us in one way in regards to milk. It's amazing the basic info about milk that people have never been offered till now.

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  4. Comment from Tina : "I just switched the rest of the kids to almond milk but unfortunately I
    cannot make the switch because I'm allergic to almonds. Have you come
    across any other type of milk that you like? I took a look at rice milk
    but its very high in calories. Also the Silk brand of almond milk is
    the only brand I can't find that doesn't containe carrageenan"

    My answer: I would suggest rice milk but try watering it down a bit to reduce the calories. There is also hemp milk and coconut milk you could try. Here is a site that lists all the Organic Food with and without Carrageenan : http://www.cornucopia.org/2012/05/shopping-guide-to-avoiding-organic-foods-with-carrageenan/

    Hope this helps :)

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  5. I always hated drinking milk because it made me sick to my stomach so I started drinking Almond Breeze recently. They have the unsweetened version but the Almond Coconut version is so so good in smoothies!

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  6. Hi Corinne,
    Oh yum! I'll have to give that a try when I run out of my almond milk for smoothies! Thanks for the tip :)

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  7. hi Michelle, thanks so much for visiting me lades! Alex from to Vogue or Bust is a great friend so i was stoked she's how you found me. plus, best ever!!!! you're from Vancouver too. that's awesome!!


    your space is filled with insight and really yummy looking, healthy meals. i've been less about lactose recently also, almond milk is uber delish anyways! the thing i've noticed is how quickly young girls "develop" in the chest area, if you know what i mean. not like when i was young, the more hormones pushed around is what i believe are causing our bodies to change too. it's crazy the stuff we ingest and think nothing of it. this post makes me more conscious and that's a really good way to be. happy weekend!


    http://www.heartedgirl.com/

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