Just a few thoughts before you pour your morning bowl of cereal...

Not your mother's milk

Did you know that no other species on Earth besides humans consumes milk into adulthood, let alone another species' milk? Kind of bizarre when you think about it, isn't it? Milk plays a crucial role in providing the young with nutrients and immune support, but each mammalian species' milk is accustomed to that specific animal and is not "designed" to be digested in the human body.

Got Milk?

Ah, the famous Got milk? campaigns promoting the consumption of cow's milk. Would these advertisements be as affective without the celebrity propaganda or milk mustaches? Debatable. They did, however, advertise Got milk? on posters in my old elementary school's cafeteria to encourage students to drink their carton of sugary chocolate milk with their lunch every day, and truthfully, that did work. If you promote the idea that you will be like "The Rock" Johnson or Taylor Swift if you drink milk, then they will be given the motivation to do so. The campaigns also utilize the slogan "Body by milk" as a way to advocate for the "health benefits" that are wreaked when consuming milk. Your infantile body was certainly "by milk," but I think your adult body could spare it and switch to something more healthier and more natural.

Calcium deficiency? Nope!

"Milk" has a tendency to equal "calcium" in some's minds, but other natural products are far superior in calcium content than milk is. Beans, oats, salmon, vegetables, nuts, and soy are all excellent source of calcium and can promote an overall healthy diet. A grande soy latte from Starbucks provides almost half of your daily daily calcium, so indulge and enjoy! Also, milk is promoted among people to promote strong bones, but that is not necessarily the case. The very little calcium that we retain in our bones from consuming cow's milk actually increases calcium loss, making for a very ironic situation. Why is this? Milk acidifies the body's pH, triggering a correction needing to be made within the body. Calcium, being an acid neutralizer, is then withdrawn from the bones (our body's biggest calcium storage center) in order to neutralize the acidity from the milk. Long story short, milk promotes weaker bones. Oh, the irony!

More people are lactose intolerant than you may think...

When someone is lactose intolerant, it means that their body does not produce enough lactase enzymes to break down lactose, a sugar that is found in milk and other dairy products. The activity of lactase in the intestine's wall lessens after a child no longer breastfeeds, because the body thinks, "Hey, no more breast milk? Then get rid of the lactase, we don't need that!" This genetically programmed occurrence within our bodies is perfectly normal, determining that we are technically supposed to be lactose intolerant. According to the National Digestive Diseases Information, over 30 percent of the entire world's population is lactose intolerant, while 75 percent of adults that have a decrease in lactase activity altogether. If other species' milk was so beneficial for our bodies, why are most of ours repenting it?

Dairy alternatives

More and more people are omitting dairy from their diets every day because it is so simple to do so! Next time you are at the grocery store, take a look at the abundance of different milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, etc. substitutes there are, and you will be amazed. I know that eliminating dairy from your diet altogether is difficult if you are not lactose intolerant, because I am undergoing the same situation. Although I have not yet given up dairy completely, I am taking the steps in educating myself on what is best for my body and how to properly nourish it. Even if you just make the small switch from cow's milk to a milk alternative, it'll make a wonderful difference in your diet. Also, if you have not yet heard, Ben & Jerry's recently released four indulgent ice cream flavors that are dairy-free! The cows (and your digestive system) will be happy about it, too.