The Cow Conspiracy

Those who have known me since I was a child will find what I am about to write hard to believe.  As a kid, I was nicknamed "The Cow" because I was always the one caught drinking the last bit of milk.  While I maintained that in a family of seven, I just got the last dregs, or was "just finishing off the gallon", I was nonetheless accused of drinking all the milk, hence the name.

Reputation not withstanding, I have decided to cut cow's milk from my daily consumption.  Rest assured, I have not fallen and hit my head.  It's true.  Perhaps it was the cabin fever of too many sick kids for too long a time (at least one person was sick for a three week stretch this February) that gave me pause to think about this.  However, even though I didn't conduct any scientific, clinical trials, it occurred to me that this winter was particularly rough for my brood with ear infections, a near brush with pneumonia and a funky stomach bug that seemingly plagued the whole state of Maryland all at once.

Last year, my kids were hardly sick at all.  This year was tough and it was also the year my younger two went back on yogurt.  Last year, they all lost interest in it, so I stopped buying it.  This year, my younger two wanted it again, so we started again with a daily smoothie that they've had since they were weaned from breastmilk.  I would've considered it a coincidence.  But, then my childhood came back to me.  I suffered from chronic ear infections and asthma as a kid and was the only one in my family that did.  And last year, aside from a few small colds and fevers, my kids were healthy.

The common denominator in all this is milk consumption.  My oldest stopped drinking yogurt, and while he is the healthiest of the bunch and loves milk, he had less dairy than his younger siblings. 

Now, think about it.  What other species do you know of that drinks the milk from another species?  You got it - none of them.  Humans are the only species that process the milk of other animals for their own consumption.  If you think too much about it, it shoud start to creep you out.

Guess what else?  The largest consumer of antibiotics are.... livestock and poultry.  Ewwwwww.
In the food documentary, Forks Over Knives, they explained the impact of an animal based diet.  They also went on to explain that while cows eat grass by design, they are typically fed corn because it plumps them up and it's fairly cheap filler food.  When corn prices go up, cows have been fed any number of odd things, such as leftover chips, scraps and other things mixed into a slurry.
 
Cows have a hard time digesting that stuff, so they give them hormones and antibiotics as well.  Which is most assuredly being passed into the meat we eat and the milk we drink.  I'm officially freaked out now.

I noticed after I lost weight and had kids that my seasonal allergies abated and I can count the times I've used my inhaler on two hands in 8 years, with the exception of when I had bronchitis, an allergic trigger to pets or pneumonia, since then.  (And, yes, I've had bronchitis every time I had a very young baby, got a cold and was severely sleep deprived).  I was relatively healthy, so I've always thought it was some kind of motherhood immunity.  But, now I realized that I also cut down my milk consumption, simply because it was too calorie rich for my weight loss goals.

This is the cow conspiracy.  We've been lulled into thinking that ear infections, respiratory ailments and allergies are a rite of passage for youth.  Antibiotics are a necessary evil.  And, now, the first question you get asked when your kid gets sick is, "Did you get the flu shot?"  The medicalization of our health is now expected, reasonable and customary.  Really? This is how it's supposed to be?  Allergy rates for common foods (milk, peanuts, eggs) are skyrocketing.  Are you connecting the dots yet?

We are undergoing a massive autoimmune deficiency response to these foods.  Our bodies are rejecting these foods and rebelling.  Now, I'm not going to say I can totally go vegan or plant powered immediately.  There will be no dramatic dumping of all these terrible foods, at least not just yet.

But for now, I am cutting yogurt and cow's milk from our family's diet.  I have not had milk in two weeks and I don't miss it.  Almond milk is becoming more widely available and has a good taste and texture.  It's also loaded with protein, calcium, vitamin E and antioxidants.  It is more expensive, but I don't plan on chugging lots of the stuff, just a cup or two a day.  Even diluted with a bit of water, I could conceivably stretch it out and make it comparable cost wise to cow's milk.  But, for now, the health benefits of switching make it a worthy investment.

Maribel Ibrahim, The Frugal Writer, created www.StartSchoolLater.net and is the Director of Strategic Planning for Start School Later, Inc., a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that the health, safety and equity of children are protected when determining school start times.  Start School Later now has 11 local chapters, working in communities across the country to protect the sleep needs of public school students.   Follow Maribel on Twitter at @TheFrugalWriter or connect with her on LinkedIn.