Tag Archives: #healthandwellness

A Secret to Healthy Eating: Cheating!!!

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I was asked by a few readers about how I am able to eat healthy all the time, and how I have such willpower to forgo sugar laden or fatty foods all the time, and I realized that if that is the way I have portrayed myself, I need to apologize! I am a regular person, and I have the same cravings as anyone else….probably the strongest cravings for skittles and chewy candy of anyone on the planet! Yet, I still do consider myself a healthy person, because while I do give in every now and again, the rest of my diet is really clean, organic, and I make pretty decent choices (lean proteins, veggies, fruits, and lots of whole grains .)

How do you stay healthy amid cravings?

It is so easy to be having a stressful day (or a hormonal day!) and have your body tell you “eat massive quantities of chocolate (or insert most intense craving here)” so you find that food, eat it, and your brian is happy for a millisecond, then you feel slow, sluggish, gross, and sometimes regret eating it. Whereas, if you reached over that candy bar and grabbed some nuts, or a yummy (healthy) salad, you eat your healthy option and you feel light, satiated, and stronger for skipping that craving! Why wouldn’t you skip that craving? I get it though.  I have hungry hungry hippo days where I feel like I want to consume everything in front of me….including people’s appendages, if they aren’t careful.  But on those days, I do what almost everyone who eats healthy or is trying to lose weight does: I have a cheat! Now, a cheat day is what can separate those happy with their waistlines from those who aren’t; a cheat day is not when you give into your cravings ALL day, it is merely when you give yourself a little treat, a serving sized treat, not a couple of king sized Snickers bars and an entire bag of potato chips!

Hot Chocolate All day today I honestly felt like I could kill for chocolate, and despite being offered (close enough to smell) my favorite chocolate chunk cookies, I held strong, I stuck to the lunch I brought to work, ate my healthy dinner, and after getting a little work done, my big treat was a cup of hot chocolate.  It satiated my chocolate craving, it was warm and cozy on a cold night, and it helped to alleviate my stress as I drank it while cuddling with my puppies, doing my nightly mental recap on the day. It was low-fat, and it satiated my craving, plus it was a special treat for accomplishing all I needed to do today, and I only ended up drinking half of it, because a whole cup is usually too much for me, so there is no guilt whatsoever! So, it is a cheat, but it is also a treat for sticking to my diet and a job well done; if you can’t pat yourself on the back, no one else will!

Also, if you are really super craving something, have a snack like an apple (full of fiber but sweet) or a handful of nuts (if you are a salt craver) and drink a glass of water and wait 20 minutes. Sometimes you can trick your body to hit those sweet/salty receptors and stave off that craving with a healthy snack…then it is merely dealing with the mental part of it, where you just want to nosh on your favorite snack! Plus, sometimes cravings mean that you are missing something from your diet, like when I am craving spinach, I clearly have not had my fill of green leafy veggies, so that craving I feel like I can go over the top with. That being said, If you don’t give yourself that cheat, then you will end up splurging later…like I tend to do with veggies that I am craving, but I keep it in check and stick to serving sizes with things that are not as good for me.

Plus, I get my daily exercise in, and when I step it up and have much harder workouts, I know I have a caloric deficit, so a “fun size” serving of skittles won’t knock me over the edge or ruin my diet for the day. On days that I don’t work out, you are hard pressed to find me giving myself a “cheat” simply because I haven’t burned off those extra calories.

And remember, that you can do whatever you want with your daily calories, if that means eating three candy bars, french fries, or healthy meals throughout the day, it is your choice how to live and eat. I understand the cravings, but I urge you to see try the other side of eating because at the end of the day you need to feel good about yourself and your choices; seeing food as fuel and taking emotion out of it gives you a whole new outlook and it feels great. Try healthy alternatives to fatty snacks (see a cup of hot cocoa, or baking sweet potato french “fries”) and ditch the guilt at the door.  And the best? Having a friend that also opts for a healthy lifestyle that will urge you to snack/eat healthier instead of telling you to go for it with the bad food…but who also knows you gotta give in sometimes (just in moderation!)

Be healthy, makes choices that make you feel good, and allow you to live your life positively.

Yours in Good Health

B

 

Can your kitchen be the source of disease?

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I am totally behind going “green” and making changes in my own house and at work to be more Eco-friendly.  I really do believe that it is important to live a lifestyle without wasting natural resources frivolously; it isn’t a way to show that you have money, to be wasteful with natural resources is just pointless, and truly lazy. There are tons of products on the market that have cleaning agents with less abrasive or fewer harsh chemical agents in them to clean your home, and in an effort to be green, people are using sponges and dish rags/towels in lieu of paper towels, or the equivalent, to clean up a pretty nasty mess, and opting to clean and reuse those sponges or towels. It’s great for the environment, but are we putting ourselves at risk for hidden viruses and bacteria in those reusable materials?


SpongesWhat can be lurking?

When cooking with meat and eggs, there are a risk for E. coli and salmonella that can hide out in crevices of wooden cutting boards, in the little holes in your sponges, and in the fabric of dish towels.  Between lots of moisture and food sources, it really makes for a perfect breeding spot for viruses and bacteria: dark, moisture filled places with bits of food for the bacteria to feed off of, is their own little heaven! With ideal breeding spaces, these bacterial can grow into the millions in 24 hours time, and the more bacteria present, the bigger the risk that you will get infected by them.  Just think that every time you swipe your sponge over your counter, you are leaving a trail of bacteria that you can’t see.  Yikes!

How do I prevent that?

Old school bleach, which I know is horrible ecologically speaking, is really fantastic at killing off those nasty bacteria, quickly and effectively! And many studies have shown that the “greener”the product, the less effective it is at killing off E. coli and salmonella. But there are some tricks you can use to help rid your kitchen of these nasty bugs:

– Use white vinegar (which smells horrid) on your counter tops and then follow with hot, soapy water to cut the smell and help wash away the bacteria. (bacteria are fickle and need the perfect temperature to grow, they don’t like places that are hot, so hot water can help to kill them off!)

– Make sure that your sponges are clean by changing them out weekly.

– You can extend the life of sponges by getting them moist and zapping them in the microwave for 2 minutes a day to kill off most creepy things living in there.

– Wash dish rags and towels frequently in hot water cycles, especially if they are used to clean up raw meat/egg spills (or wiping your hands after touching such items).

– You can also always add vinegar to the wash to help kill off bacteria

– If you use a dishwasher with some frequency, toss your sponge into the dishwasher every time you run it, and it will come out fresh and clean and bacteria free!

So, white vinegar can do a pretty good job on killing off that bacteria, and following it with the hot soapy water (using a sponge free of bacteria) can help to decrease your risk of infection and cut down on spreading those nasty little bacteria all over your clean kitchen surfaces. Bleach really is the best way to kill off the bacteria because you spray some from a bottle, a quick swipe of your sponge/rag and the bacteria are eradicated, but for those that are intensely eco-friendly, white vinegar, hot soapy water, bacteria-free cleaning tools, and elbow grease are your friends! Next time you grab your green cleaning product, read the label to see what the active ingredient is, you may be wasting your money, as white vinegar is under a dollar for a liter!

Yours in Good Health

B

Should I take Vitamins?

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I am asked frequently who should take vitamins, and by frequently, I mean on a daily basis.  And there are certain subsets of people who should take vitamins, and for others it’s a complete waste of money.  Many times people tend to take more vitamins and supplements than is really necessary.

Should I be taking vitamins daily?

Vitamins and other supplements can be really pricey, and not really worth the price tag. Most of the vitamins and supplements that you find are not FDA tested to ensure that the claims on the labels actually match what is inside of the product, even commercially sold vitamins, are not approved.  Most of the time, if you really need to be on a vitamin supplementation, your Healthcare Practitioner (HCP) will write you a prescription for it, then you know that the amount of supplement you need is what you are actually getting.

Truly the only people who should be taking vitamin supplementation are people who have a malabsorption disorders:

Chron’s disease, Irritable Bowel Disorder (IBD), Celiac Disease, lactose intolerance, severe food allergies, bariatric surgery (gastric bypass), pancreatic insufficiency, hypothyroidism, Addison’s disease, among other issues.

Also, if you are pregnant, you should be taking prenatal vitamins, folic acid, and iron supplementation to ensure that your fetus is getting adequate nutrition, and your HCP will order these for you so they are FDA approved supplements.

vitamin veggies
If you have a truly poor diet, where you really don’t eat fruits and vegetables,even in juice form, and eat fast food on the regular, then you should probably take vitamins, but if you eat a regular diet, get in fruits and vegetables, then you really don’t need to take any sort of supplementation. It’s just a waste of money. Most of the vitamins and nutrients that are found in supplements can be added to your diet through adding a few fruits and or veggies a day to your diet. I think of my morning smoothies as my vitamins: jam-packed with 4 different fruits, of various colors, which basically gets me all I need for the day (but good thing I add in other fruits and veggies during the day.)

I’m not saying you all have to be smoothie converts, but it actually ends up being cheaper for you to add some fruits and veggies to your diets, and ditch the pills!

Yours in Good Health

B

 

Go away Nemo: Blizzard Safety

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For all those, like me, who are affected by the blizzard, a few ways to keep yourself safe:

1. Please do not stray too far out in the blizzard alone, with poor visibility, it is easy to get lost especially in poor lighting.

2. The same goes for your animals, off leash, they can easily get lost with poor visibility, especially with poor lighting. My two dogs are so small they are below the snow line…making this blizzard a real treat for bathroom breaks!

keeping them on leash ensures their safety....

keeping them on leash ensures their safety….

3. When shoveling, take breaks: the exercise when shoveling is a lot more exertion than people think, and it is easy to strain muscles and/or exert yourself to the point of heart attack (we see a lot of cardiac arrests during snow storm shoveling).  So please take breaks, and ask for help, or if you have a plow, do a favor for someone who might not be able to shovel themselves out.

4. Be careful with snow blowers: they can get clogged up, sometimes requiring you to pull out rocks, branches, etc. but make sure that the motor is off, and even though it isn’t as exerting as shoveling, take breaks! Being exhausted and operating any sort of motorized equipment is as unsafe as being under the influence of alcohol, so please be safe and take breaks as you can.

5. If you have chronic medical conditions, or are unwell, have a plan to get to medical assistance if necessary, and emergency services are up and running with the help of the National Guard, but they need to be safe getting to you, so times may be slightly delayed, so keep that in mind.  If you have someone driving you to the hospital, give yourself time and drive safely to get there.

6. Please be mindful of driving bans, it’s for your own safety!

7. Use common sense, it seems fun to go out and do crazy things in the snow, but temperatures are cold, visibility is low, snow drifts are higher than expected, and transportation is really difficult right now. So, if you have to get your crazies out, bring a cell phone and a friend, and let people know what you are up to/when you are going. Especially if you have been drinking to pass the time (remember to eat and to hydrate well!)

8. And a general winter warning: Don’t go skating on ponds unless it is posted that it is safe to do so.  Many times ponds/lakes appear more frozen than they are!

9. To stay healthy? Remember you don’t need a gym to get exercise when you get stir crazy, you can always rock out with some yoga, jumping jacks, burpees, squats, etc. there’s way to keep moving even when confined to your home.

Otherwise, enjoy the snow, have fun, and hopefully we will all be able to escape our homes safely soon enough!  Remember: Helping someone out is a good feeling, so if you are fit and have the means (a plow/snow blower), help someone who might be completely snowed in and unable to get themselves out.

Yours in Good Health

B

Do you have Fordyce Spots?

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There are spots that occur on different places of the body, and cause a lot of stress when they are found under your belt.  I get a LOT of questions and pics sent to me with people very concerned that they have various Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), depending on what they have recently performed an internet search on. Some should cause some serious concern and some are benign.  Fordyce spots can occur inside your lips on your oral mucosa, or on the shaft of your penis, or on your labia.  I totally understand the freak out that it might be genital warts, or something else, so you should go get tested and assessed, but this is a little information to ease your worry before you get your results!

What are Fordyce Spots?

They are small, painless bumps that are 1cm to 3 cm in size and they can either be skin toned, white, or a little pink/red in color.  As I stated before, they are commonly found in on the inside of the lips, on the shaft of the penis or scrotum, and on the labia, and they are really a common occurrence, but occur more with age. Usually you only notice them when you see or feel them, but at times they can be a little itchy. They occur because the sebaceous glands, the oil glands associated with hair follicles normally that secrete sweat and oils, instead of being inside of the epidermal layer (deeper in the skin) are more superficial, and close to the outer layer of skin, making them very visible. These glands fill with oil, and there is no hair shaft for them to leave the skin, so they are basically little oil filled cysts. That’s it. They are not known to lead to a disease or are not a sign of cancer or any other virus/disease, but they just tend to be a visual disturbance for some people…and their partners.

fordyce 2fordyce 1

What can I do if I have them?

If you go to your Healthcare Provider (HCP), and get diagnosed with Fordyce Spots, they will give you some options for treatment, if it really is bugging you from a cosmetic standpoint, because they are not detrimental to your health in any way. And, they usually go away without treatment on their own. But healthy diets including Vitamin A, B, D, E, and K can usually help them from forming, and go away faster when you have them, so basically, if you get Fordyce spots, take a multivitamin daily and it can help to prevent them.  Good hygiene including exfoliation and moisturizer can help to decrease them from forming (so that your body doesn’t produce excess oil; this works on both the lips and the genitals), and there are some reports that people with either eat more garlic or take garlic supplements have a lower rate of the spots.  Your HCP may prescribe Trentinoin cream, which is a cream that can basically makes the cells replenish faster, so you ave never skin cells forming, which can prevent the skin from getting clogged up with oils. But, again, the only treatment you may need is time.

All of this being said, you do need to get checked out by your HCP if you do have any new skin issues, especially in your genitals, and you are sexually active, you really need to make sure that it is something benign and not Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) in the form of genital warts, herpes, or any other Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI). Get yourself checked out to be on the safe side, but also realize that every bump isn’t contagious or infectious!

Yours in Good Health

B

An alternative sweetener and a yummy fruit?

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This may sound a little too good to be true, and not everyone will be a fan, but there is a fruit that is grown locally in Peru that is full of nutrients, and can be eaten as a fruit, then when dried, used as a sweetener.

What is this fruit?

The fruit is called lucuma (or a lucma at times.)  It’s full name is the Pouteria lucuma, and is primarily grown in Peru and Chile as they need to grow in altitudes between 1,000-2,400 meters, and in warmer weather.  They can sometimes be called “eggfruits” because the flesh of the fruit is the consistency of a hard-boiled egg, but don’t let that turn you off from trying it, because the flavor has been described as everything from caramel to maple, sweet potato to pumpkin. I know, not what you normally expect from a fruit, and due to the consistency (I am a very tactile eater) I don’t want to jump right in with a spoon, but it is quite tasty added to smoothies, and in ice cream (on its own as a flavor or when mixed with vanilla.) Yum! And besides its unique flavor, it is full of vitamins and nutrients: calcium, Vitamin A (beta carotene), Vitamin B3, iron, and zinc. And as an added bonus?  It has fiber and antioxidants in it!

lucumaHow is it used as a sweetener?

When the flesh of the lucuma fruit is dried, then ground into a powder, it still contains all of those vitamins and nutrients, and because of the inherent fruit sweetness (fructose), it is still sweet when dried and ground.  It is a low glycemic index food, which means it adds the sweetness, but it does not have a huge impact on your bodies insulin levels (with a surge up then crash like sugar.) It is a different kind of sweet than straight sugar cane sugar, so it cane take some getting used to, but I quite enjoy the different flavor that it has, and if you are looking to cut out sugar from your diet but still have some sweet in your life, it is a great option!  And it is an option for diabetics too.  And you can use it in anything that you would normally sweeten: smoothies, ice cream, coffee/tea, and when baking!

These fruits can be hard to find outside of Peruvian/South American specialty stores, but if you are lucky enough to find one, give it a try.  And, you can find lucuma powder at any health food store and many organic stores.  Try it and let me know what you think!

Yours in Good Health

B

Go Red for Women in February!

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The American Heart Association, for the past nine years, has been promoting the GO Red for Women Campaign to make women aware of their risks for heart attacks (cardiac arrest).  I not only support this as a female Healthcare Practitioner (HCP) but also as some who works with cardiac arrest patients, the more people know their risks and how to stay healthy, the more empowered they are to actually BE healthy! Approximately 8.6 women die annually, worldwide, from heart attacks; that is a lot of women who may have not known the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and gone for help too late, or not at all. Show your support on Feb 1st 2013 by wearing red and spreading the knowledge to other women in your life about the signs of heart attacks in women (which can differ from men) as heart attack is the highest rate of death among women.  Knowledge is power and can save your life!

go-red-for-women-logo

 

What are signs and symptoms of heart attack (cardiac arrest) in women?

– Fullness or pressure in your chest (may come and go and feel like a gas bubble or indigestion)

– Nausea and/or vomiting

– Sweating

– Jaw pain: may resemble that of temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) pain

– Light-headedness, feeling of faintness

– Chest pain that may come and go, and not be extremely painful, but more annoying.

Most women do not get the typical left arm pain that radiates into their chests, as men typically do.  Women tend to come into the hospital later on in their heart attack than men because they just think they are feeling unwell with a cold/flu, very run down, but really they are in the early stages of their cardiac arrest…so there is more cardiac damage done by the time women come in for care.

What do I do if I think I’m having a heart attack?

–  Call 911 (or emergency services)

– If someone is with you, and you know where a local hospital is, have them take you, but only if they are able to drive safely (If they are super stressed and freaking out, it might be safer for you to sit tight and call for Emergency Services)

And I totally know that it is easier said than done, but try to stay calm, and relax as much as possible. There are many options for quick and efficient treatment, and people live full and healthy lives after having heart attacks.

What can I do to prevent heart attacks?

Eat a clean healthy diet, low in sodium and saturated fats, and get at least 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per day.  Keeping your heart in-shape is the best way to prevent a heart attack.  Also, talk to your HCP about your risks, and getting your blood pressure and labs checked at your annual exam can also help you to know your risk factors.  The American Heart Association also put together a little heart test, to test your knowledge. Know the symptoms and share with other women in your life to help save their life.

Spread the knowledge, it will save lives.

Yours in Good Health

B

You might want to pass on the Chapstick….

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It’s been one cold winter, no matter where you live. And when it’s cold, we tend to ramp up the heat, which sucks the moisture from our bodies.  Plus, it’s so cold, we tend to not to want to drink the same amounts of water that we do in the summer, or when it’s warmer out, so our lips tend to get drier than normal, as unlike the rest of your skin, your lips don’t produce oils that can keep them from drying out.  I know tons of people who automatically reach for their favorite lip balm, constantly, and still have dry lips….well there’s a reason for that!

Why do most lip balms dry out your lips?

The skin of your lips is very thin and sheds every 28 days, they don’t produce any oils, and they aren’t protected from UV exposure on their own due to lack of melanin, so they do tend to dry out really easily. This is one case where you really need to read ingredients because if they have menthol, camphor, phenol, or any form of alcohol (things that have alcohol in them end with the letters “-ol”), that means that they will give you that tingle, but the tingle is usually the alcohol drying on the top layer of the skin on your lips.  So, if feels like it is adding a layer of moisture, and that minty/alcohol tingle takes any moisture you just added away.  That’s truly a bummer because so many lip balms, chapsticks, etc. that you see in the local pharmacy are filled with drying agents. You almost become addicted, because you feel like you have dry lips, apply your favorite lip balm, and it dries them out more, leading to the need for more lip balm…and the cycle continues.

Even Hilda likes to use coco butter on her lips!

Even Hilda likes to use coco butter on her lips!

What does actually moisturize my lips?

Some people really do like that tingly feeling, so it can be hard to move to a product that doesn’t allow for that tingly sensation, but to truly get moist lips, you have to ditch that tingle, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But what you can use is petroleum jelly or Vaseline work great and are very cheap.  You can also use either cocoa butter or Shea butter sticks, which are a bit pricier, but more portable than Vaseline tubs.  And, if you don’t like those options, then search other lip balms that do not contain alcohols, but are oil/lipid based as that helps to add moisture to your lips…and keep them moisturized!

What else can I do?

– Keep your mouth covered by a scarf in really cold weather

– Drink your 8 glasses of water a day

– Wear an SPF when going outdoors to prevent UV damage

– Use a humidifier at home if you use heat, to help keep your lips full of moisture

– Don’t pick or pull at dry skin from your lips- it can make the situation worse.

– If your lips are very chapped all the time, you may want to see a Healthcare Practitioner (HCP) to see if maybe you have a vitamin deficiency, and not necessarily a dryness issue!

So ditch your products with the tingle, and get some real moisture for your lips. You’ll save money in the long run, and have better looking moist lips!

Yours in Good Health

B

Have an annoying bump in your mouth? It may be a mucocele!

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I bet many of you have had a mucocele and maybe didn’t know what it was, and by the time you think to figure out what it is, it’s gone! I tend to be a teeth grinder when I am stressed, much to the chagrin of my dentist, but every now and again, I will bite my inner lip, so I tend to be really sensitive to any sorts of bumps and lumps in my mouth because I usually just assumed I have done some damage during my midnight teeth mashing! Instead of the trauma caused by teeth grinding, you can get some small bumps on the tissues in your mouth that are little fluid filled bumps that may be a little painful, but more annoying than anything else, and that, my friend, is a mucocele!

What exactly is a mucocele?

Mucoceles are painless thin little cysts (fluid filled sacs which has clear fluid once popped but can look almost bluish inside your mouth) usually on the inside of the lips and/or cheeks, and are quite common. The can also occur on the roof of the mouth, the tongue, or on your gums. They can vary in size, and the larger they are, the more annoying they can be, but they usually do not cause any pain, but they can just be irritating depending where they are (especially if on the tongue).  They are thought to occur due to sucking the tissue from your lips/cheeks between the spaces of your teeth (it’s a working theory), so the size of the mucocele would depend on the size of the space between your teeth. Although, they are especially common around an sort of oral piercing sites, so I am not sure how that works with the teeth sucking theory!

credit: oralmaxillo-facialsurgery.blogspot.com

credit: oralmaxillo-facialsurgery.blogspot.com

How are they diagnosed and treated?

The good news is that Healthcare Practitioners (HCPs) can just visualize it to diagnose it, and once we diagnose it, I am sure you will recognize it in the future (to save yourself a co-pay and trip to the HCPs office!) That being said, sometimes they become large and will keep coming back, which would require them to be removed by an oral surgeon or a dentist (depending on size, placement, and their level of comfort). Often, smaller mucoceles will just rupture on their own, spontaneously, and then not come back. If they are big and causing a lot of irritation, an HCP may have to rupture it for you using a sterile needle (which sounds painful, but it’s not.) I do not suggest rupturing them with any sort of sharp object on your own, as you risk an infection….and oral infections are neither fun, nor easy to treat!

How can I prevent them?

There’s nothing you can do other than remove oral piercings that you may have that there are commonly mucoceles around, and trying not to suck on your teeth.  I am not sure if people really intend to suck on their teeth, I don’t think it’s a conscious thing….but if you do, try to stop!

The important things to know is that they are common, and if they become uncomfortable go to see your HCP to get them removed.  They are in no way detrimental to your health, but to make sure that if they do need to be ruptured or removed it is done under the care of an HCP to make sure it is as clean as possible and prevent the risk of infection. So, next time you might feel a little annoying bump in your mouth, you have a little more insight as to what it is!!

Yours in Good Health

B

 

The Benefits of Raw Milk

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People think I am bonkers for my obsession with raw milk and raw dairy products, and there is a lot of fear about drinking raw milk, and I think that is due to people not really understanding what it is and all of the benefits.  I will not lie and say that there are no risks, because there are, and some people with immunocompromised systems (due to illness, chronic disease, and/or medications) that should probably not drink raw milk, and those who are pregnant should always err on the safe side and only ingest pasteurized food.

What is Raw Milk?

Raw milk is milk that is not pasteurized. The pasteurization process that involves heating the milk to a temperature, for a length of time and then immediately cooling it; this diminished the amount of pathogens (viruses and bacteria) present, and makes it safer to consume, although there still are some present, and an expiration date.  Raw milk from cows that are fed a clean antibiotic and hormone free diet, is a completely balanced diet in itself, with proteins, probiotics, and other vitamins and minerals.  There are some true raw milk fanatics that solely live off of raw milk.  I am not that person, but it can be done!

Raw MilkWhat are the Benefits?

As I referenced before, Raw Milk has a lot of protein in it, in the form of amino acids (the building blocks of protein for our bodies.) There are 8 amino acids present in raw milk, some of which aid the body in absorbing and binding iron, others have anti-viral properties, and anti-microbial properties (some specifically to kill off bacteria that can cause cavities!) And, while it does have carbohydrates in the form of lactose present, many who are “lactose intolerant” are able to tolerate Raw Milk because it has the bacteria lactobacilli bacteria, which breaks down the lactose, so your body doesn’t have to!  It also has saturated fat in it, which I know is not usually thought of as good for you, but it helps to trigger the satiety response; you feel full faster and tend to eat less. It is also full of vitamins and minerals, including lots of calcium, to make for a healthy a vitamin packed snack. Also, because it isn’t pasteurized, it is full of probiotics (active bacteria that are beneficial to your health.) All the vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, probiotics, and cholesterol, this is a full day of good stuff in a glass!

What are the Risks?

Because Raw Milk is not pasteurized, there is a risk that some harmful bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria, or E. Coli can be present in the milk.  If they are present, then you are at risk for those infections, which can cause stomach cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and can require hospitalization for severe dehydration treatment.  This is why people who are immunocompromised from age, chronic disease, or medications AND pregnant women and young children should steer away from Raw Milk.  Really this is the biggest risk.  There have been numerous people who have gotten sick from Raw Milk in the past, and the risk is highest when the cows are not grass-fed and if they were fed foods with hormones and antibiotics. If they are not grass-fed, and free ranged, there is a risk that the cows can be infected from the food and exposure to the bacteria in feces.

Raw Milk production is very highly regulated, and it is illegal in some states, and very strict rules in others, so my personal opinion is that the risks from Raw Milk are very low, and I have been strictly drinking Raw Milk for 4 years, with no issues. It tastes fresh, delicious, and it adds a nutritional benefit to my morning smoothies, tea, etc. I am not the kind of person who used to sit down with a glass of milk normally, but I started once I began drinking Raw Milk. The pasteurization process with traditional milk found in stores, kills off  not only almost all of the probiotics, but a lot of the vitamins and minerals are lost, along with some of the amino acids. If you are interested in giving it a try, you can check out the regulations by state.  You will feel better, absorb more calcium, and look better too; the less processed foods you add to your diet the better!!

Yours in Good Health

B