My clients drink little or no milk. We are the only mammals that drink another mammal’s milk. Once weaned, all other mammals refrain from drinking milk. Cow’s milk is really not for humans (hence all that lactose intolerance – or is it all the chemicals that are now put into milk that make it a totally different substance than what we drank in years gone by?) – it is for baby cows… calves! Calves start their lives somewhere around 120 lbs – and they have to stand up as soon as they are born. When they do, they drink their mother’s milk and begin to follow her around the barnyard, drinking her milk, which produces strong, dense bones quite quickly. When we drink cow’s milk, our bodies think we are growing a baby calf who will have to stand up right away and follow us around. And so, it grows a baby with much denser bones than babies need to have…. cow bones.
It’s okay to have a little milk in your healthy cereal in the morning, and a little cheese or yogurt each day if your body is able to handle it without producing cramps, extra mucous, breathing difficulties…. but my mothers get their calcium from other sources, including nuts and green leafies and peaches. And they don’t substitute soy – I am one of the people who is convinced that soy – which is in almost everything these days – messes with our hormones.
And let’s face it, no one needs their hormones messed with on a regular – or even semi-regular basis.