Milk...Does a body good?

I am not anti-milk at all. I grew-up clearing a gallon of Vitamin D milk a week with my Dad. I love milk. My kids love milk. You just have to understand it's place in your diet and your kids' diets. I'll simplify: Milk should be viewed as a meal, not a form of hydration or a form of dairy with a meal. Ideally, milk is the perfect snack. It's filling, it's full of vitamins and minerals and it does have it's health benefits.

However, know milk's affect on your body. It increases mucus production. It blocks iron absorption and other vital vitamins and minerals. It has been said to cause mild inflammation all throughout your body. It causes constipation. It is NOT hydrating.

Several years ago I congered up the courage to approach one of my good girlfriends to tell her that her son had an iron deficiency. She was stunned at my observation, not offended but just a little thrown off. She asked me how I knew. "I can tell by looking at him." That in addition to me knowing how much milk he drank a day. His skin was also very, very pale and pasty which is the first visible sign of an iron deficiency. I also told her that he was most certainly dehydrated since all he ever drank was milk. I then went on to explain to her that an iron deficiency causes stunting of growth and possibly speeds-up the lingering development of learning disabilities. Sure enough, after an appointment with their pediatrician, she called me in awe that I was right. He not only had an iron deficiency and had to get on iron supplements, but he was severely dehydrated.

For those of you that have the Caring for Your Child book from the American Pediatric Board, you will notice that they are not only very specific about the ounces your child should get, but in a sample diet for a two-year-old it has the two servings of milk as snacks- a morning snack and an afternoon snack. Though they do NOT do a good job of explaining why this is. I am convinced that though the American Pediatric Board is very well versed in how milk is completely over-rated in our children's diets, they won't come out and say it because of what that would do the economy. But that's just my own little conspiracy theory...

Research shows that "milk kids" tend to be "lower" on the growth curve. Is their a correlation? YES. If your kid isn't growing properly and you have any sort of a decent pediatrician, the first question they will ask you is how much milk your kid drinks a day. But sometimes, they don't ask until it's too late...

I also believe with every fiber of my being that the reason young ladies are going through puberty faster now is because they are not only fed improperly (growth hormones and other chemicals in our food) but they are given milk that is not organic. If you are going to spring for one organic item in your home, IT NEEDS TO BE MILK. And then meat but first milk!

Also, many of you were probably told not to take your pre-natal vitamin with milk. Or it might have even been specified on our pre-natal vitamin if they were prescription. The reason? Same explanation as above, it blocks nutrient absorption in the intestines especially iron. And there is a reason they test pregnant women for iron deficiencies (which I've had two of my three pregnancies though both of these kids were 10 pounds or more). I don't give my kids their multi-vitamin on cereal mornings. I wait until lunch or even dinner. Giving it with milk would be null and void. You should not take ANY vitamin with milk. I don't even give my kids any medications within a two-hour window of milk because I am not a "medicine mommy" and so if I do choose to give my kids meds, then there is a reason and I am not going to have it's absorption compromised!

The other night I made this fabulous baked penne pasta with meat sauce. It was incredible. My kids asked for milk with their dinner. NOPE, sorry. Why? Because I will not under any circumstance serve milk with red meat. We don't eat a lot of red meat in my house so when we do I want every single tiny bit of iron to be absorbed and serving red meat with milk is just out of the question. Now do I serve milk with cookies? Sure. Do I serve milk with cake or brownies? Sure. Because what the heck is in those items where I care if anything is blocked? NOTTA.

And I think it important to understand milk's role when it comes to congestion. Several weeks ago I had to once again mention to one of my girlfriends that the reason her kids' noses wouldn't ever dry-up and were constantly running was because she wasn't cutting-back on their milk intake. MILK CAUSES MUCUS PRODUCTION. If your kids are congested and you're giving them milk, guess what? Your just making it worse. And to give milk to a congested kid right before nap or bedtime? Well of course it's going to make their cough worse! You've got to give their bodies a chance to dry-up. Milk is not going to help aid this process. If you have an allergy kid, cut back on the milk or at least be more discerning about when you give it to them.

Research has been done on whether or not milk exacerbates ear infections, again looking at mucus production and then the fluid on the ears. Especially if milk is given right before bedtime and then your child lays flat and the fluid pools in their ears. This made so much sense to me that for my second child, who did have to get tubes, I completely altered her milk diet. I will do the same for my third.

And any dentist will tell you that they see a lot of cavities in "milk kids" because people don't realize the amount of sugar in milk. Kids have it right before bed or even worse, take it to bed with them, and then the sugar sits on their teeth all night. My dentist said you should brush no matter their age if you give milk at bed time or at the very least rinse their mouth with water after their bedtime milk.


In 1992 I broke my femur and my tibia literally in half snow skiing. I still to this day am convinced that the reason they healed so quickly was due to the amount of milk I consumed prior to my break. I wasn't, however, able to drink milk after my break because I became anemic because of blood loss and was put on iron supplements. It had one of those red stickers on the iron supplement bottle stating I couldn't drink milk with them. I didn't understand until years later why I wasn't able to drink milk while taking the iron. Now I know!

For those of you that are a little skeptical about all of the above statements, go drink a glass of milk and then tell me what your throat feels like and how many times you have to clear your throat. You know that nice, mucus-y feeling you've got? Same thing is going on in your stomach and your intestines.

I'm going to laugh when I get sued like Oprah...