The Benefits of Raw Milk

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA which I would consider a medium sized city. I moved to the country around 15 years ago, about 90 minutes north of the city. When I moved up here I was super excited to take advantage of all that country life has to offer. We have tried our hands at everything from raising animals to growing our own food. One of the many benefits of living in the country is the access to farms. There are dairy farms, cattle farms, farms with orchards, farms that grow corn, grains, and vegetables, and so many other things.

A group of families and my family created a co-op where we take turns going to the local dairy farm and picking up milk for everyone. We all have glass bottles and crates and we have a central pickup and drop off location. Each week one of us picks up the bottles, drives to the farm, and then returns with beautiful, thick, rich, and creamy milk.

Many people are turned off by the idea of unpasteurized milk, after all there is a reason that pasteurization was invented and put into practice. Harmful bacteria in milk could make a person very sick and even cause death. This is why you have to be very careful about where you get your milk. You should talk to the farmers about their practices and testing procedures. I would also recommend going to the farm to make sure that it is clean and that they are following all of the necessary steps to keep the environment sanitary.

Drinking raw milk is the same as eating eggs that aren't fully cooked, rare steaks, or sushi. There are risks associated with these things. Always use your best judgement and as I mentioned, do your due diligence. You probably wouldn't order a rare burger in a restaurant if it was dirty or had bugs crawling on the counter, same with getting your milk from a farm if you didn't trust the owners or thought that it wasn't sanitary.

Now, on to the benefits!

#1 The taste. Do you see that picture below. My finger is pointing at the line where the cream comes down into the bottle. Do you see all that cream? That's the goodness right there. My favorite thing to do is make my morning coffee and scoop out some of that cream from the top to add to it. It is so good. Now, you don't want to be a total pig and take all the cream for yourself if you live with other people so most of the time you would give it a good shake before you pour. Raw milk is almost as rich as butter. When you take a sip it sticks to your lips. This is how you get a real milk mustache. Now if it's butter that you are after, the cream is where it's at. You can take the cream, put it in a mason jar, and hand it to your kid to shake for about 5-7 minutes and voilà, butter!

*For better instructions on making butter, click here

#2 Raw milk is rich in beneficial bacteria. These bacteria are really important to your health, without them you could not live. Beneficial bacteria stimulate and train your immune system to function correctly. You also want more of the beneficial bacteria in your gut than the bad bacteria. That way, if they have a fight, the good guys will outnumber the bad guys!

#2 Raw milk is rich in food enzymes such as lactase, lipase and phosphatase . These enzymes help your body to digest milk and metabolize the nutrients. Enzymes like phosphatase help the body to better absorb milk’s calcium while enzymes like amylase and lactase help you digest the sugars present in milk. The enzyme lactase also helps people that are lactose intolerant or sensitive to lactose digest the milk. So this is why people are intolerant of store bought milk, because they don't have the enzymes to help them digest it.

#3 Raw milk is rich in natural vitamins. The butterfat in raw milk is rich in vitamin A, vitamin K and vitamin E, C and B-complex vitamins. Many vitamins, like food enzymes (above), are delicate and are destroyed by the pasteurization process.

#4 Raw butterfat is rich in Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). Meat and milk from grass-fed animals is rich in this fatty compound. What the heck is it? CLA is a powerful fatty acid that has tons of health benefits and has been known to fight cancer (particularly breast, intestinal and bone cancers), hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. [Read more here] (http://www.mercola.com/beef/cla.htm) When you are sourcing your raw milk, make sure you are sourcing from grass fed cows.

Anyone else have thoughts or experience with this liquid gold?