When talking about food, one of the most powerful myths in American society is that milk is good for you. We’ve been drinking it in increasing amounts and our waistlines are expanding every year. Even committed vegetarians hold on to milk as a sacred food because they believe they need it for calcium, protein, or vitamin D. Calcium and protein are both found in plentiful supply in fresh vegetables, and Vitamin D is easy to get from the sun! Your body creates all the vitamin D you need in a short time spent outdoors. A smattering of posts on cow’s milk from Dr. Fuhrman’s blog Disease Proof.

9 reasons why milk is bad for you

• Studies show milk is a hurtful food, and drinkers are more likely to have Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and ovarian cancer.
• “Low fat” or 2% milk actually contains 35% fat, much of it saturated!
• Low fat or non-fat milk may be linked with prostate cancer.
• Milk is bad for your bones. Countries with the highest rate of milk consumption have the greatest number of hip fractures.
• Studies link diseases to cow’s milk including: allergies, anal fissures,
  childhood-onset (Type 1) diabetes, chronic constipation, Crohn’s disease, ear infections, heart attacks, multiple sclerosis, and prostate cancer.
• Milk contains hormones believed to cause reproductive harm and cancer.
• Cows milk linked to diabetes by a recent Finish study.
• Milk has low calcium absorption rate and induces calcium excretion in the urine.
• Milk may even increase acne problems.

Photo by Judy Baxter

Related:

• The Skim Milk Lie
• Calcium Deficiency and the Diseases of Milk
• Who says Organic Milk is Safe?

ground beef and hot dogs are the most hurtful

If your appetite rules or you simply don’t believe meat is dangerous, the least you can do for yourself and your family is avoid ground meat products. Ground beef is not chunks of meat, because that would be far too expensive.  Ground chuck is the gathered up leavings from other slaughter houses. Imagine it… the stuff other slaughter houses can’t use because its gross and covered in feces, Cargill rounds up and turns into “Premium Black Angus patties.”

If people won’t eat it… sell it to fast food chains and have the government force it on our children:

Cargill’s final source was a supplier that turns fatty trimmings into what it calls “fine lean textured beef.” The company, Beef Products Inc., said it bought meat that averages between 50 percent and 70 percent fat, including “any small pieces of fat derived from the normal breakdown of the beef carcass.” It warms the trimmings, removes the fat in a centrifuge and treats the remaining product with ammonia to kill E. coli. With seven million pounds produced each week, the company’s product is widely used in hamburger meat sold by grocers and fast-food restaurants and served in the federal school lunch program.

Cargill’s slogan for selling this ground up soup: “nobody adds more value to ground beef than Cargill.” Funny that they can refer to ammonia and e-coli as “value.” My extended family probably think I’m crazy for being vegan, and bringing up food around committed meat eaters is always a difficult subject, but I’m going to make an effort to get them to avoid ground chuck.

Related:

• A Protein Quiz
• Michael Pollan
• Is Shrimp Healthy For You?