Milk...The Other White Poison

It has been said that sugar is otherwise known as white poison. I find that phrase a bit harsh, mostly because when I think of poison I think of D-Con, or green faces with skulls and crossbones. Sugar is just too yummy to be considered a poison. I do concede however, that HFCS, or High Fructose Corn Syrup is in fact a chemical that your body should not have to process, and possibly a slow killing poison, and I have eliminated it from our family's diets whenever and wherever possible by buying organic.

Milk on the other hand; well, we've been taught for forever that babies need milk. People need milk. Everyone needs milk to be healthy. Mostly, the research I'm finding on this point says otherwise. Did you know the human species is the only animal to consume milk (from our own species or another's mammary secretions) after the age of 2? Of course, I can't dispute that there are some health benefits to milk, but, those benefits are also found in other places naturally and more abundantly. For instance, you can get calcium from most vegetables. You can also get calcium from soy, almond, rice and coconut 'milk'.

This has been such an interesting journey in our home, going milk free just for Jack. But from the information I've found, I may just have everyone go dairy free. So many people can't even process cow's milk because they lack certain enzymes in their bodies. In fact, entire populations of people can't, such as the Native Americans.

What is hard is to decipher for myself what is real and good information, and what is political propaganda. Of course the dairy farmers are going to push milk and milk products. That's their jobs. And of course the government is going to support that because farmers are a big lobbying group. It's all a dance of who's in bed with who and what is the best option here? The best website I've found so far regarding giving good information is here (and on the sidebar)
http://www.godairyfree.org/Table/Health-Info/Milk-Allergies/

Let me warn you though, if you decide to try dairy free living. It ain't cheap. Eating well ain't cheap. Wholesome, good, organic foods ain't even remotely cheap. Just as an example, I bought Jack some coconut milk yogurt. He LOVES it. It is $2 per container!!! The crappy stuff with fun colors and chemicals that isn't even really yogurt is like, $2 for a whole pack! The coconut milk I bought him is nearly $6 for a half gallon!!!

I think though, that in increments, it's been worth it so far. Not only is he not constantly trying to itch his throat and having a runny nose etcetera, but his overall behavior seems better somehow. He's still Jack. He will still argue that the sky isn't blue just to get his point across, but he seems less agitated and more able to regulate himself emotionally. I will never know if that's a maturity thing, or a milk thing, but I'm willing to experiment on the other two kiddos because it can only be a good thing, right? Maybe Nate won't need occupational therapy as long, or speech for that matter. Maybe Maddie will gain a little bit of weight. Who knows? The good news is I can always work a little more here and there to supplement our almost astronomical grocery bill.

I do have one caveat to this whole thing. I'm not going to be all "Heigh Ho Hitler" about it. If we want to order a pizza for dinner, we'll have a pizza for dinner. If we decide to go to Cheese Fest in Wisconsin, then we'll eat cheese samples. I'm just not going to be a huge milk pusher anymore.

We'll see what happens.