Why Raw Milk?

Raw milk is real milk.

Pasteurization is a process of heating milk to a certain temperature to for a set amount of time to remove microorganisms that began in the late 1800’s. It was discovered in part by the French microbiologist Louis Pasteur. When the milk is heated, it kills everything living in the milk and doesn’t allow for the healing benefits of raw milk to be utilized.

Pasteurization began as a scare tactic for the public when the powers that be decided that the milk that humans had been consuming for generations was magically a risk to consume. By heating the milk, they sold the public with the peace of mind that they were being safer - all while undermining dairy farmers and forcing them to conform or get out of the business.

When researching things to share with you all about raw milk, I came across this noteworthy section of an article on the real milk is raw milk website:

“Dr. J.R. Crewe, founder of the Mayo Foundation, treated disease for eighteen years with an exclusive raw milk diet and found it to be the single most important factor in his treatments. The Milk Cure, also known as “immune milk therapy,” consists of sipping four to five quarts of raw milk throughout day for a period of two to four weeks, along with daily enemas and very hot baths to facilitate detoxification. Dr. Crewe reported favorable results for a wide range of illnesses including cancer, infection, nerve and brain disorders, weight loss, metabolic disorders, heart and blood diseases, kidney disease, digestive disease, allergies, skin problems, urinary tract problems, reproductive issues, cavities, periodontal disease and musculoskeletal conditions. In his 1923 book, Dr. Charles Sanford Porter MD confirmed the effectiveness of the raw milk diet with thousands of patients. He believed that raw milk’s curative powers lay in strengthening the quality of the blood.”

How incredible is that?

We know that real, nutrient dense foods have the ability to act as medicine in our bodies - and despite a very strong fight against raw milk, if you dig deep enough, you’ll find studies that prove the same to be true for it.

Our family chooses to drink raw milk because it is jam packed with essential vitamins like A, D and C, minerals in addition to vital nutrients that our bodies crave. It also contains glutathione which is a small powerhouse of a protein that is found in most of the cells in your body. Glutathione’s primary functions are supporting the immune system, removing toxins from your body, and antioxidant protection - all things that helped support my flare ups.

Raw dairy also contains important minerals, enzymes and beneficial bacteria that are killed during the pasteurization process. So why were we told for so many years that pasteurization was king?

The simple answer. Profit.

Raw milk is simply nowhere near as profitable of a market as pasteurized dairy is.

A campaign began for skim milk (what farmers know as the pig’s milk). Skim milk allowed people pushing profit margins to charge for not only the less nutrient dense pasteurized cream-less milk, but also the cream that they had just separated. Pretty smart from a business standpoint - but these decisions regressed the health of our society substantially.

The beautiful thing about raw milk is that it takes so many different forms - which makes incorporating it into your lifestyle so much easier than you’d think - especially if you’re someone who doesn’t like to “just drink milk”.

Some of my favorite ways to consume raw dairy is as butter, raw cheeses, whipped cream, ice cream (and ice cream milk), yogurt, creme brûlée, and Alfredo sauce.

Upon replacing pasteurized dairy items in our home with raw diary, my stomach microbiome got an immediate upgrade - and so did my family’s.

To learn more about raw milk, I encourage you to look into the real milk campaign and deep dive even further!