Why You Should Buy Organic When Buying Milk
When you think of healthy food options, does dairy come to mind? Do you?believe that dairy needs to be a part of a healthy diet?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone, and it is not your fault. Via the use of mass marketing to ignorant, well-intentioned consumers, a lot if misinformation is spread.
The USDA spends $550 million a year to advertise Americans with Animal products. According to statistics, each marketing dollar boosts consumer spending by $8, for an extra $4.6 billion dollars a year. And if that was not bad enough, government subsidies for animal products total over $30 billion dollars more.
Sadly, fruits and vegetables receive peanuts compared to the dairy and meat industries.
For the sake of this article, I am going to focus on dairy, but this does not eliminate the issues regarding the way we consume meat and eggs in our country.
There is a strong monetary incentive for the dairy industry to market all the health benefits of dairy. And yes, dairy has potentially many good health benefits, such as calcium and protein. However, it is not what the dairy industry makes it out to be.
It is to no surprise that grass-fed milk?contains 2 to 5 times more omega 3 fatty acids (good) than its grain/corn-fed counterpart. I will not go into specific details, but grass-fed milk also contains substantially more?vitamins?and minerals as well.
If you ever had walked by one of these dairy farms, you will know what I am talking about. Healthy cows do not live in commercialized dairy farms. Sick cows, who live in their own feces, among thousands and thousands of other animals, who live in small areas, live here.
No grass. No place to move. There is a reason why cows are the biggest consumers of antibiotics, ahead of people. As a result, these antibiotics leak into the food supply, causing consumers to be immune to antibiotics when they need them most.
And these problems do not include the issue of all the hormones given to cows to make them grow faster and bigger. And not to mention, that approximately 30 to 50 million Americans are lactose intolerant?and are unable to digest milk.
I could go on, but if you are not allergic to dairy, and want to include dairy as a part of a really well-balanced whole food diet, please try and consume Organic, grass-fed milk. This will ensure that you are getting way more nutrition, without the hormones and antibiotics.
You will get a good amount of protein, vitamins, and calcium, without all the potential health risks.
One cup of 2% Organic dairy milk contains?122 calories, 8 g protein, 4.8 g fat (including 3 g saturated fat), 12 g carbohydrate, 1.3 mcg B12, 464 IU vitamin A, 100 IU vitamin D, 293 mg calcium. (although the vitamin D and vitamin A are added).
Yes, it costs extra money, but it is definitely worth it. And you will most likely save lots of money in the form of healthcare bills in the long run.
However, if you are allergic, not a problem at all. Dairy is not a necessary part of a diet. You can get all the vitamins and minerals you need from fruits, vegetables (specifically green leafy vegetables such ask kale and spinach), nuts, beans, and lean meat.
About Danny Maman My name is Danny Maman. I have a real passion for health and fitness and enjoy having a life that revolves around this. I have my bachelor's degree in exercise science with a minor in allied health. I am also a certified personal trainer with ACE and am a former college basketball player.