I was raised on whole milk as a kid. My family had it delivered by a milkman. He would deliver glass bottles of milk weekly.

Remember feeling like a grownup getting it out from the milk box. There was a fat layer that would float on top of the milk container. I would do my own homogenization by shaking the bottle like crazy. My parents would say it was good for my growing bones so I drank it. If the milk wasn’t cold enough, it smelled like vomit. Don’t laugh! Once I got a whiff of it after sitting out for a bit, I wouldn’t touch that stuff. Until another fresh bottle was delivered, I secretly would throw it down the sink.

I remember the milkman, always smiling. He always wore white. Thought of him as the dairy angel, especially when he put chocolate milk in the box.

Times changed. We stopped getting milk brought to the home. My mom would purchase it at the grocery store, but the lower fat kind. It tasted a lot colder. In time, my family changed over to skim milk. It became so popular to buy low-fat or fat-free products.

Did you know that non-fat milk has the highest amounts of calcium compared to the fattier milks?

As the years progressed, I spent extra cash to buy organic non-fat milk. Why? Certified organic milk comes from cows that are NOT injected with hormones.

The FDA approved a chemical made by Monsanto called Posilac™. Monsanto started producing BGH (bovine growth hormone) in ’94. The cow gets injected with this hormone to increase milk production by about 15%. The NIH also conducted studies just like the FDA to prove its safety. Dairy manufacturers do not have to disclose on the product if the cow had been injected with hormones.

Personally, Renovating Your Mind doesn’t like the way that most industrial farms treat their animals. By injecting this hormone, cows experience a higher risk of swollen breasts called mastitis. Monsanto conducted these studies, reviewed by the FDA and determined that the drug was causing both inflammation and infection. Then cows are given antibiotics to treat the mastitis. When they are on antibiotic therapy, the milk is not supposed to be sold to consumers because it is contaminated with antibiotics.

Do you know that 80% of all antibiotics produced goes into our animals?

According to the law, dairy farmers are to segregate all cows on antibiotics. Remember, the cows must be milked regularly, whether sick or not. I am sure that segregation is not a perfect system to keep all milk antibiotic-free. Don’t forget about their waste products. All those antibiotics find their way into our water supply.

So one way or another, more needless antibiotics are getting into us via possibly milk but positively through the water systems. Also, the hormone has been linked to antibiotic resistance and increased cancer risk. All nations of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand have banned products whose cows have been injected with the hormone.

My next move was shifting to a dairy alternative that was free of contamination. First up was soy. Soybeans are soaked, blended up, boiled and the residue is filtered off to yield the milk. Never took a liking to soy. It didn’t mix well in my coffee. By itself, I couldn’t get used to the taste. Another thing, soy is in too many of our products all over the supermarket.

Looked at all the other non-dairy liquid products and choose almond milk. Enjoy it in my coffee. By itself, even unflavored,  it tasted excellent. Has only 30 calories, 450 mg of calcium, 100 IU vitamin D and 1 gram of protein per 8 oz. Its free of antibiotics and any other contaminants present in cow’s milk. Ingredients besides almonds are filtered water, salt, locust bean gum, sunflower lecithin, gellan gum and natural. All safe ingredients.

The only thing that comes up short in almond versus cow milk is the protein content. As adults, most of us consume more than enough protein through other sources daily.

There are also a variety of different flavored almond milks. They sometimes add a lot of sugar to some of these products. Look closely at the label, especially if you have diabetes.

Alternates to dairy continue to expand with milks from coconut, grains, hazelnut, hemp, oats, rice and sunflower seeds. So for those trying to avoid dairy products for any reason (like flatulence), milk alternates are a great choice.

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Categories: Food, Health, Nutrition, Science-Technology

Tags: almond milk, organic milk, soymilk