Natural Healing Milk Substitutes

Milk and associated dairy products (like cheese) are widely promoted as good sources of protein and calcium. In fact, every one - 8 oz. glass of generic cow’s milk has 300 mg of calcium and 7 grams of protein.

This is why growing up, most people are taught milk products are an essential part of your diet – so you can have healthy bones.

However, in recent years, there have also been developments in the way milk is produced. To get more milk, farmers in cooperation with the chemical industry have introduced many practices that are not healthy.

For example, a mere fifty years ago cows produced 2000 pounds of milk per year. Today, some cows are capable of producing 50,000 pounds!

How’s this possible? The answer is that cows are given harmful drugs, antibiotics, growth hormones, and are force fed just to name a few techniques to beef up the bottom line.

If you’re interested in more information about milk, a very easy and interesting read is the "Famous" milk letter by Dr. Kradjian at: http://www.notmilk.com/kradjian.html

Inside, the author Dr. Kradjian, reviews more than 500 scientific articles related to milk and concludes to himself, "How would I summarize the articles? They were only slightly less than horrifying."

Of course, after reading this letter, you may be quite surprised if cows’ milk happens to be your favorite beverage every day. Any transition to a healthier substitute maybe difficult since you find dairy products in many processed food that are offered.

For some of you, the findings in these research studies may raise your curiosity. But deep down you’re telling yourself, "I could never give up my 3 glasses of milk every day, pizzas with lots of cheese, or smooth and delicious ice-cream or milkshakes on hot summer days." It’s hard to argue with a delicious taste we have gotten used to that can make us feel better.

The choice is always yours to what extent you want to make plant-based substitutions for meat and dairy products in your diet. I personally choose not to stress over such choices, especially when I travel or have to eat out. But, you can be consciously more aware of what you are willing to contribute to creating your own healthy lifestyle.

Of course, you’re probably wondering how you get enough calcium? Well, what surprised me after looking into this topic is that there are countless other ways to easily get MORE calcium from other foods.

These include, soymilk with calcium, tahini (ground sesame seeds) and other plant based milks, green leafy vegetables, broccoli, collards, kale, any kind of leafy greens and stems, parsley, seaweed, nuts and especially sesame seeds (300mg of calcium per ounce of seeds), soybeans, all other beans and peas, sprouts and wheat grains.

Simply put, the idea that you must drink milk for calcium is a myth.

Even more, it’s not natural. A shocking fact is that more than 70 % of humans in this world do not drink milk. Why? Many get sick from drinking varying amounts of milk because they lack enzymes to digest the lactose or milk sugar for instance. You probably have heard about lactose intolerance.

This then leads to the question, how can you make great tasting foods without cow’s milk? After all, it’s in practically everything we cook.

Well, here’s some good news, there are plenty of healthy alternatives.

For milk, these include:

1. Almond Milk – You can make homemade milk from nuts, such as almonds. Even more, it’s easy and takes minutes to make.

2. Soy Milk – Many people who try soy milk for the first time don’t like the taste because it’s simply different than what your taste buds are used to. However, no matter what, you can add it to your cooking and there’s no way anybody can tell the difference.

You can make your own from soyflour or purchase soymilk from almost any regular grocery store. Personally, my favorite is organic unsweetened "Silk Soy Milk". It contains more protein and calcium than almost any generic cows’ milk based on equal amounts. It’s naturally low fat and the fats it does have are good Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats.

It has almost no sugar, tons of vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber. Because it comes from plants (soybeans), it has antioxidants, a protective force against cancer.

3. Tahini Milk - You can get tahini paste (ground sesame seeds) at any health-food or whole-foods store. It’s easy and takes minutes to make.

Additionally, what if you believe you really can’t or don’t want to reduce your consumption of cow’s milk? Then, you can buy USDA certified organic. This option helps you avoid milk with man-made problems. And, relating to this, you can use alternative milks in your cooking when they fit, instead of just using cows’ milk all of the time.

Now, what about cheese? It often seems like nobody can live without it.

A good solution to this problem is to use substitutes, such as:

1. Rice cheese or soy cheese – You can find these in health food stores.

2. Goat or Feta cheeses are found in Mediterranean diets. These taste great to sprinkle a little on salads or pasta dishes. Look for low fat varieties.

3. Lecithin – These are yellow granules that you can buy at your local health food store. This is a good solution to replace all or part of fatty cheeses in your homemade pizza for example. Then you use just a small amount of shredded low fat cheese to top your vegetable pizza.

You can also try new spices and herbs to flavor your food instead of relying mostly on the taste of cheese. Try eating food from India, Mediterranean dishes with little or no cheese, and other healthy dishes from around the world flavored in new and exciting ways.

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