In last week's blog, we talked about whether or not you should cook with raw milk and concluded that cooked raw grass fed milk is still healthy and digestible compared to pasteurized milk from the store.
But let's not ignore the numerous health benefits of leaving it raw!
Raw milk is the original superfood.
Raw milk is designed to be the perfect first food consumed by babies. Both human infants and newborn calves wait weeks, maybe over a month, to eat anything besides mother's milk. During this time the raw milk supplies everything they need to grow and to develop a robust immune system. Raw milk contains:
Every enzyme needed to digest itself. Raw milk contains at least 60 enzymes, including proteases, peptidases (for digesting proteins), lipases (for digesting fats), and bacteria that make lactase (for digesting lactose).
Every protein. Raw milk contains all 22 amino acids, including the 8 essential ones.
Natural sugar. Milk sugar is called lactose. The friendly bacteria native to raw milk produce lactase to help you break it down. The more often you consume raw milk, the better populations of lactic bacteria will colonize your gut. Eating fermented dairy foods such as yogurt and kefir boost lactic bacteria populations even more. To someone who consumes very little sugar, a glass of fresh milk tastes deliciously sweet.
Every fat that you need. Milk from grass fed cows has 3-5 times as much CLA as grain fed cows. CLA fights cancer, reduces food intake, increases fat burning, stimulates fat break down, and inhibits fat production. (CLA supplements are created by chemically altering vegetable oils--they are not from ruminants like cows and goats, which are the natural source.) Raw milk is also high in omega-3 fatty acids. The fats in raw milk support optimal brain function and healthy skin and hair.
Every mineral that you need. Milk contains large amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iodine, zinc and sulfur, and also 22 trace minerals. Unlike synthetic mineral sources, the minerals in raw milk are 100% bio-available.
Every vitamin that you need. Raw milk contains high amounts of vitamins A, D, C, and K, without being "fortified" by synthetic sources.
In contrast, pasteurized milk is dead milk. The high heat treatment kills friendly bacteria and renders most of the enzymes dysfunctional. It changes the shape of the proteins which makes them harder to digest. Many of the minerals and vitamins are rendered bio-unavailable. Typical pasteurized milk has also been homogenized, which alters the structure of the fat globules.
Raw milk is incredibly complex and has been designed for its many components to work synergistically together, creating a whole food that is completely nourishing. If you try to take synthetic supplements to make up for the various components found in raw milk, they will not work together in the same orchestrated way and you will only get a fraction of the benefit. In some cases, synthetics supplements (even those added to foods by the industry) are toxic.
Since raw milk is SO good for you, don't you want it for more than just pouring on your cereal? Here is a great way to enjoy milk in all of its natural goodness, plus the benefits of chia seeds and raw honey!
Raw Chocolate Chia Pudding
This makes a pint of pudding. The photos show a quart jar of it.
1 heaping tablespoon of raw honey
1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder
Squirt of vanilla extract
1/2 cup chia seeds
1 1/2 cups grass fed raw milk
1/8 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
Put honey, cocoa, vanilla, and a splash of milk in a pint container. Stir a little, but you don't have to fully remove lumps yet.
Add chia seeds and just enough milk to moisten. Stir to get out lumps.
Fill the rest of the way with milk and stir.
The chia seeds take time to absorb liquid. You need to stir them periodically to make sure they don't form a dense layer. So 10 minutes later, give it a stir, and stir again in 15 minutes or so. After 30 to 45 minutes, the liquid should be fully absorbed and it will be ready to enjoy.
If you forget to keep it stirred and the seeds form a dense layer, a quick blast in the food processor will take care of it for you.
Stay tuned for next week's blog, the final in this 3 part series, Raw Milk: to Cook or Not to Cook, about traditional yogurt which is made by cooking.
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