Lori (Dallas) on 10/07/2021
I've been drinking raw milk since 2005. I had severe arthritis and nerve damage as a result of an accident. I am still having some issues with inflammation but my bone pain and nerve pain are gone. Raw milk has healing enzymes and healthy bacteria and after I started drinking it I didn't get sick. I also know of someone who drank raw milk after getting c-diff many times and the c-diff never came back.
Also, raw milk helps with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).
Gokhals (San Francisco, Ca, Usa) on 07/09/2013
Raw milk also cured my joint pains, digestive problems, bone spurs and a host of other health issues that I thought were part of life and growing older, and to be stoically borne. Prior to this, I had not drunk milk in 30 years as I was severely allergic to pasteurized milk.
Dee (The Hill Country, Tx, Usa) on 08/06/2012
Anthony (Philadelphia, Pa) on 06/06/2012
Kendra (Nyc, New York) on 03/17/2012
Matt (Millbrook, Ny) on 10/06/2010
Deirdre (Atlanta, GA) on 04/22/2010
My feedback -- WHOA! What a treat!! We have been using the raw milk to make homemade yogurt each week. Delicious, absolutely delicious. And the color of the egg yolks is a vibrant gold, much richer than the color of eggs bought at the store. They also taste delicious.. yummy yummy.
I recommend that people check out the Local Harvest website to see if there if there is an organic farm in their area. You may be surprised to learn how many there are now.. http://www.localharvest.org/organic-farms/
I was also surprised to learn how easy it is to make yogurt. You can even make it outside on a hot summer day if you don't have a yogurt maker. (I have tested the sun method twice, once in 80+ degree weather and yesterday in 70+ degree weather and both times worked as well as my yogurt maker). Here's a simple recipe for those interested...
You'll need a cooking thermometer to test the temperature.
1 quart milk
2 tablespoons yogurt with live cultures (I used either Greek yogurt or organic whole milk yogurt)
Heat milk until just below boiling (or 180f if you have a digital thermometer).
Remove from heat.
Cool the milk to 120f (takes about 20-30 minutes. Put pot into a bigger pot of cold water if you wish to speed up this process).
Add the existing yogurt with live cultures to a small amount of warmed milk in a bowl. Whisk until smooth and then transfer this to your pot of warm milk.
Pour milk into small glass containers (baby food containers, jam containers, even juice glasses work!)
If you are using the sun method, simply cover your glass containers with saran wrap and put outside in a warm, sunny spot for 7-8 hours. Otherwise, use your yogurt maker, following the manufacturer's instructions.
Finally, let the yogurt set in the fridge for 3 hours before eating. Important!
A friend of mine told me that the best yogurt cultures come from a particular Russian brand of yogurt sold only in Russian grocery stores. Well, I have yet to locate such a store in Atlanta and I need to hit my friend up for the exact name since she told me the secret yogurt recipe 2 years ago. Will update again with more info.
Tracey (Indianapolis, In) on 02/04/2010
Then when I was 10 or 11, a couple of things happened: I hit puberty, and we started getting raw milk from a farmer. My parents were still worried about my famine victim appearance, and admire the robust-looking kids of a professor friend who lived on a small farm. The friend told my dad that he had several cows, and all seven of his kids were drinking the milk. He was aware of the track record of raw milk in treating illnesses, and told my dad that a couple of my distant cousins in town were also drinking it. He didn't tell my dad about how it had been used in the past, though.
A couple of years later, everyone was marveling how I'd outgrown my allergies; even my allergist was amazed at my turnaround. I was gradually weaned off most of my medicines.
Then I went away to college, and my allergies returned within about 5 months, just a tad. Just enough to need a rescue inhaler and be on antihistamines that year. But they gradually worsened, until within 10 years I was on all kinds of experimental drugs, and within 12 years I was as bad as I'd ever been. I almost died when my son was 11 months old from a food reaction, only the second I'd ever had. Mine were all molds and pollens and danders.
About 2 years after that, we moved and I made new friends. One of them told me about someone who was going to have raw milk, and I was excited because it just represented health to me. I couldn't have the extensive garden and orchard my parents had had to plant when I was a child, but I could at least give my kids raw milk.
And within 6 months, I was wondering why there was no ragweed season. Within 12 months I'd let most of my allergy medicines run out without refilling them. And within 14 months, I'd been challenged by spending the night in a room with 5 of my top allergies, only to awaken with clear sinuses and lungs, still alive, even though I had no medicines with me.
I then found out that there had been a particularly severe ragweed season that year, and I hadn't even realized it. I realized the only thing that had changed for me during that time was adding raw milk to my diet. So I did some research and found out about the natural steroids in the cream that are destroyed by heat, and how substances in the milk heal small leaks in the intestines that may contribute to allergies.
At the same time, I noticed my 12-month-old daughter's eczema had vanished. I'd thought it wasn't active during the summer; then realized it hadn't reappeared during the winter. She now has lovely skin at age 10. And no cavities ever, because she's had pasteurized milk only a handful of times in her life.
That's the biggest thing I've noticed from drinking it, and it's such a huge thing in my life. The two times that I've had trouble getting raw milk for several months since then, at the end of that time period I would sometimes react to my strongest allergens again, just a little; and my daughter would sometimes have slight flair-ups of eczema. We do our utmost to make sure we can have raw milk!
Earth Clinic (USA) on 11/04/2009
http://www.basilandspice.com/nutrition/raw-milk-revolution-codex-alimentarius-dec-31-2009.html
Dr. Parag (Grand Rapids, MI) on 06/15/2008
Thank you!
Marian (Central Lk) on 09/10/2006
Meg (Lomé, Togo) on 10/03/2007
Caroline (Roseburg, Oregon) on 10/25/2007
Annie (Oklahoma, Oklahoma) on 11/12/2007
Mel (Los Angeles, CA) on 11/22/2007
Not ALL cows carry the bovine leukemia virus, and there are MUCH fewer documented cases of bacterial infections, and otherwise, due to consumption of raw dairy, than there are documented cases of ailments and illnesses affiliated with pasteurized dairy. Further, Louis Pasteur developed this process for beer and wine to give it longer shelf-life. Commercial industries adapted it and a homogenization process to dairy. The first poster (Marian) is exactly right -- pasteurizing kills all of the good enzymes necessary for proper digestion, as well as any potentially harmful bacteria (not all bacteria is bad). People that are lactose intolerant, can often drink raw milk. Other syndromes that are triggered by dairy (I have one) are not exacerbated by raw dairy (I speak from first-hand experience, as well as corroborated research findings).
Another rather disgusting side-effect of pasteurized dairy: since the extreme heating process does such a good job of killing (pasteurizing is flash-heating to lethal temperatures, for those who don't know) many of these producers keep less than sanitary conditions and use milk that would otherwise be considered diseased. I, for one, do not relish consuming a cupful of dead harmful bacteria, any more than I would the living variety. Raw, organic dairy farms, who grass-feed their free-range cows, rather than grain-feeding (a source of many bovine ailments) confined animals, are also usually highly meticulous about the conditions of their dairy facilities. Here in CA, (as well as in NM, CT and 2 or 3 other states) it's legal to sell through Whole Foods, so it's quite regulated (and expensive!! @ $16/gal.) and many dairy farms permit tours of their facilities.
Other states have more restrictive laws concerning the sale of raw dairy to the consumer, so finding a source is usually a little more creative and independent process. There are websites available to help with the search for a quality provider. Weston Price, a leading health and nutrition expert has a great website with info about the health, legal and economic issues surrounding raw milk: http://www.realmilk.com , as well as an additional wealth of information on nutrition and other raw foods.
In addition to my own personal experience, and a ton of educated research (I am a scientific researcher by trade, and gather my information from qualified sources), my family is Amish. My direct lineage has not been in the community for 3 generations now, but cousins and older family members still are, and I grew up thinking it was quite normal to have the family car parked next to the horses and buggies at the local market. All foods among my family are organic, direct from the farm products. As of yet, since the late 1700s, when we settled here, I've never heard any tales of rampant bacterial infections running through the community. We have very little disease or other illness. My great-grandmother lived to 102 in her own house, unassisted, and likely had the health to live much longer, if she'd had the will. Her husband was 90. Her daughter is now 96 and going strong. Any relative in my family who dies before the age of 90 is considered too young.
So, from first-hand personal experience, plus documented knowledge of hundreds of years throughout generations of my family and their community, as well as extensive educated research on the matter -- I urge anyone with an open mind enough to circumvent the anti-nature propaganda of the commercial food industry to research the facts and seriously consider replacing the over-processed dairy in their diet with the real stuff.
Peace & Health!
Wendy (Houston, TX) on 12/19/2007
Wendy (Everton, Arkansas) on 01/02/2008
April (Fort St. John, Canada) on 01/07/2008
John (Slana, Alaska) on 01/08/2008
Sam (Waterville, USA) on 01/12/2008
