For those of you who hear me say, “I don’t drink milk anymore because it causes pimples.” I want to explain why I’ve been telling this to people for the past several months.

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But first! An important disclaimer:

I am not a health professional of any sort, and have received no formal education in this field. I’m only sharing here what I’ve learned, and am learning, about what works for my own body, based on personal research and experimentation. Please remember that each body is different and what works for me may not work for you. Based on my own experiences, and those of others, I am confident in believing that the human body responds positively— enthusiastically!— to a good range of wholesome, natural foods (combined of course with proper exercise, rest, and a healthy spirit).

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Here’s my story. Most of you who know me well, know that I love milk. I love dairy in general. Anything cream, cheese, butter. Yum! So the whole “milk causes pimples” thing has been difficult for me to swallow. But, I love my skin (and my health) more, so I decided to try it. I stopped drinking fresh cow’s milk. After several months of not getting big and frequent pimples, and noticing that I do get a zit every time I eat or drink cow dairy products, I had to admit defeat. :C I did not want to believe it, but that’s what happened. So now I mostly avoid dairy. Sometimes it’s just really hard to pass up that ice cream or pizza, and I get a pimple the next day.

I must qualify that when I say “milk” and “dairy” here, I am referring in particular to processed (pasteurized and homogenized) milk products harvested from unhealthy unhappy cows (GMO corn-fed cows who are pumped full of antibiotics and RBGH). Let’s go through this one by one:

Antibiotics— Cows raised in “factory farms” are kept in dirty, crowded conditions, and they are not fed proper cow food (GMO corn is not proper cow food, they should be eating nice green grass). These cows would simply die if they weren’t injected full of antibiotics. The antibiotics keep them alive enough to keep producing milk, but not much else. Of course, this stuff gets into the cow’s milk. You know why doctors are supposed to be careful in prescribing antibiotics to humans, right? Antibiotics kill most, but not all, disease-causing organisms. The pathogens that survive become stronger and immune to those antibiotics. So stronger and stronger antibiotics are used to kill these; while stronger and stronger pathogens develop. Many farm workers, the people who are most highly exposed to these antibiotics, have already become so allergic to them that if ever they get sick in a way that needs antibiotics, they can’t be treated anymore. When you drink that milk, you expose yourself to that risk as well.

RBGH— Recombined Bovine Growth Hormone. Basically makes the cow’s udders bigger in order for them to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk. In fact, their udders grow so big that they often drag on the ground, and are constantly full of wounds, pus, bacteria, dirt, all of which goes into the milk of course! Synthetic hormones are generally risky… we just don’t really understand hormones very well yet. But we do know that a hormone-type chemical can cause big changes even in just tiny tiny doses. This totally makes sense to me - no wonder milk causes my pimples! It’s a hormone thing! Now, pimples are one thing— at least they’re external— but hormones are deeply involved in the way our bodies work; especially the reproductive system. I’ve read articles claiming that milk— processed milk from unnaturally-raised cows— has been linked to breast cancer and other problems related to the reproductive system. Again, makes sense to me after researching on RBGH.

GMO corn as cow feed— Cows are supposed to eat grass. That’s their natural food. The reason why factory farms feed them GMO corn is… kind of a long story… but basically, it’s cheap, easy, and it fattens them up real quick. But it’s no good for cows at all. It’s like fast food for humans… cheap, easy, fattens you up quick. (By the way, fast food for humans IS mostly made of GMO corn too!) It’s terrible for the health. The cows, who are already suffering from dirty and crowded conditions, are subjected to yet another factor that makes the overuse of antibiotics necessary just to keep them alive. And of course, garbage in, garbage out. The cow’s body can make milk out of that bad food, but it’s definitely bad milk.

Pasteurization and homogenization— If the cows were happy and healthy, they would produce clean and healthy milk that can be taken raw and would not need any processing for consumption. That raw milk would be a living, wonderful, healthy liquid full of good microorganisms and nutritional value! As it is, though, the milk from those unhappy unhealthy cows is just so sick and dirty and gross that you really have to process the crap out of it just to get it passable for human consumption. Any real nutritional value it could’ve had, is processed out as well of course.

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Don’t just take my word for it! I’ve just summarized for you the results of my personal research to explain those things above. I totally encourage you to do your own research, and to try and see if it works for you too. It is time-consuming to read up on all this, but do remember that you only get one body— you can’t replace it with a new one ever! So take good care of it and make informed decisions, because being healthy means being able to continue doing the activities you love. It’s not just for yourself. If you take good care of yourself, you’ll be able to better care for those you love, as well as set a good example. If you are a woman who plans to have children, then start being healthy as early as you can… your future baby’s health depends on your womb’s health which depends on your overall health. So I hope later you’ll check out the list I made at the bottom, giving you links and recommendations to further reading. :)

So does this mean goodbye to creamy and cheesy things forever? Nope, thank goodness there are other types of milk products available. I am talking about milk products that are non-processed (or are at least less processed), and come from happy healthy animals that are grass-fed and not injected with synthetic hormones or antibiotics. Due to the estrogen issue of soy products, I don’t want to recommend soy milk (or any unfermented soy product for that matter— breast cancer issues again— but that’s a whole other essay!) as an alternative milk. I would recommend milk products coming from goats, water buffalos (kalabaw), and almond nuts. If you can find a source for milk from happy healthy cows, that’s good too. Personally, I’ve mostly switched to kalabaw dairy because it’s so creamy, so yummy, and available so near me. Kesong puti yumyum! Goat milk’s a little harder to come by; almond milk even harder, and so expensive, but I must say it’s really yummy.

Where to get these wonderful kalabaw milk products?
I’ve made a Google Map of my sources in Metro Manila.
This Google Map is also my ongoing project for mapping sources of eco-friendly and organic goods.
If you have more sources, please do let me know about them and let’s share this info! :)
P.S. Arce Dairy ice cream (I swear I am not their official endorser I just really love their queso ice cream :P) is made from carabao milk, yay! Extra-creamy guilt-free goodness. Just check the ingredients label to make sure it really says “water buffalo” or “carabao” milk because I think some of their flavors are made from cow milk.

Where to get calcium if I choose not to drink any sort of milk at all?
I don’t really know much about this but try: malunggay (moringa), papaya, sesame seeds.

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Sources & Recommended Reading

Is Soda Pop or Milk Healthier?
A very comprehensive explanation of the true health value of real milk vs. that stuff that’s sold to us in cartons in supermarkets. (If you’ll be drinking that stuff, you might as well be drinking soda.)

“The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan (Book)
What should I have for dinner? Where does my food come from? Who makes it, and how? What’s in it? Is it good for me?
And why does it require scientists, investigative journalists, and healthcare professionals to answer such basic questions?
This is an excellent book for exploring food, and humankind’s relationship with food. A wealth of info for the majority of us living in utter disconnect with the sources of our food— we don’t anymore see where it comes from and how it gets to us, and what things happen along the way. I learned a lot about the GMO corn and soy industry and “factory farms” here.
* Also see documentary film, “Food, Inc.” narrated by this same author.

The Meatrix
“What is the meatrix? It is the story we tell ourselves about where our meat and animal products come from… a fantasy”
Fun short animated cartoon films summarizing life on the factory farm, and why this is bad for both animals and humans. Those pictures of clean farms with happy cows, on the packaging of meat and milk products? An illusion. Take the red pill and discover the truth. :)

Milk: Healthy or Not?
I think the comments here are more interesting than the post itself. :)

http://www.drlam.com/opinion/soyandestrogen.asp
http://www.naturalnews.com/022630_soy_food_products.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/026294_Silk_soy_milk.html
http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/everyone/question/soy.jsp
Basically, this is why I stopped drinking soy milk and eating tofu. I’ll have to write another piece on it, but here are a couple of links to start with.

http://www.agribusinessweek.com/carabaos-milk-the-most-complete-food/
I haven’t really find much on carabao’s milk :) help me out if you know more.

http://www.suite101.com/content/alternative-calcium-sources-a15861
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/milk-alternatives-easy-greening.html#
Alternative sources of calcium. Help me out if you know more :)