So I gave up milk.

I've always been a huge milk drinker. I guess I was raised on it, so didn't have much say in the matter. Unlike many friends I didn't stop drinking it as I grew up, and until three days ago it was my all-time most-consumed meal beverage. (Well, I guess it still is for the time being, though I won't be drinking any more.) I unfortunately have a very unhealthy all-American diet, so my affinity for milk seemed like one small bright spot.

I usually buy 2 gallons at a time. Maybe 10 years ago, when I was still living with my parents, my mom switched us to 1% fat milk. After some adjustment, I got used to the different taste. I still disliked skim, but eventually grew to like even that about a year ago. Anyway, three days ago I ran out of the last gallon of delicious skim milk, so it was almost time for a Ralph's run.

Before I went, for some reason I started surfing to sites about milk. I don't remember how I found it (my short-term memory sucks) but eventually I ended up at notmilk.com.

To put it simply, this guy, David Cohen, hates milk.

Though I dismissed him at first, for some reason I kept reading. I went to some other sites, such as milksucks.com (which I'd actually encountered before, but ignored since it was by PETA). I couldn't deny that there was a lot of evidence that milk was not the healthy beverage most of us believe it to be. It was the information about a hormone called IGF-I (insulin-like growth factor) that really disturbed me. This is a hormone that occurs in cows (and then, their milk) that are given Monsanto's bovine growth hormone to increase their milk output. Strangely, it is also found in the human body as a naturally-occuring growth hormone. Unfortunately, some researchers have linked it to prostate, breast, and other cancers.

Milk can be and is also contaminated with cow pus, feces, and an assortment of other chemicals. Of course, any and all dairy products will have such issues, since they all originate from cows and cow's milk.

And when you think about it, isn't it kind of gross that we're drinking the milk of another species? I'd have to say yes. As Cohen notes, no other animal in nature does this. Why do we? We find the thought of adults drinking human milk disgusting, but have no problem getting it from dirty bovines. Odd thinking, that.

Alright, so I'll kick my milk habit. But what to replace it with? Soy milk is the obvious answer. I read up on soy milk products and was impressed by soy's numerous virtues. After reading a bit of a warning about certain Soy drinks from Cohen I went to see what Ralph's had. The variety wasn't bad, but most had the carageenan ingredient that Cohen had warned about. I ended up getting Rice Dream Enriched (extra vitamins), 8th Continent Soy Vanilla and 8th Continent Soy Chocolate.

While I haven't opened the chocolate one yet, I more or less dislike Rice Dream and 8th Vanilla. They're reasonably gross. The former has some sort of rice aftertaste (surprise) and the latter is like sipping a mildly sweetened magnesium shake. I fear this will be a recurring pattern with other soy-based (or otherwise) milk-alternatives. I would like to enjoy some of the apparent health benefits of a milk to soy switch, but it will be hard if I can't stand the stuff I put my cereal in.

It turns out you can make your own soy drinks at home, and it's a lot cheaper than buying the commerical milk-alternative drinks. One product
made for this purpose is Cohen's SoyToy. It costs $150... quite steep for a product that's resultant beverages I'm not even sure I'll enjoy.

Anyway, that's where I am now... reluctantly sampling soy-based products and reading up on related nutrition topics. I also requested a free vegan starter's pack from PETA, offered at milksucks.com. (Hopefully that doesn't put me on their mailing lists now. :P) I really want to eat healthily, but it sure isn't easy.

interesting

...but you know, guys like...uh, n/m.

Yay, something else that causes cancer. Surprise, surprise.

BenT, I've always found many of the arguments for giving up cow's milk and switching to soy or a soy alternative to be good, for the most part. But that argument also has holes that can be shot in it.

Aside from the taste, generally I think MOST of the population would choose cow's milk over soy, there are so many other products out there many people enjoy: ice cream, cheese, chocolates, etc. that are made using milk, which means every product made using milk would also, technically, be bad for them, and they'd have to give it up or find some kind of soy-equivalent to buy. That's a hard pill for most people to swallow.

Secondly, it has been found in studies that many children whose parents are vegetarians and force that same kind of diet on them, have calcium deficiencies in them. Milk is the #1 source of calcium for kids, and there is no (or virtually no) calcium found in soy milk unless its put in as an additive. As a result, a lot of these kids develop brittle bones, have stunted growth spurts, etc.

So basically, drink cow's milk, and, yes, potentially drink a substance with cow's blood, piss, hormones, etc., I'm sure most of which are killed during pasteruization. Or don't drink cow's milk, and potentially deprive yourself (especially if your a kid) of necessary calcium and other nutrients.

In a way, its kind of a lose-lose situation. Personally I love milk and all dairy products in general way the hell too much to ever be able to give them up. People have been drinking or using milk products for centuries, and science has yet to come up with an exceptionally convincing reason to get us to stop doing just that. :)

now a days everything causes cancer. just add this to the long list.

If you're worried about calcium take calcium pills. You'll get more calcium out of them than out of milk anyway. I used to love milk when I was younger but I haven't drank any in about 7 years. If you like milk then why stop drinking it? It's definately not gonna kill you. I think there are many other things out there that will cause cancer before milk will.

Later all...

*sees Ethugg cross out BenT's name on his "people I really want to kill list"*

Milk is gross... no arguments here.

I'm lactose intolerant so my dairy intake comes from butter and the like, plus cow's milk tastes awful. Soy beverages are usually fortified with plenty of calcium, however you can just as easily get that from green veggies or supplements, and they won't make you fat. Carrageenan is derived from seaweed, it's a gum used in alot of food products like ice cream. There have been some studies where degraded carrageenan(molecular weight of 30,000 and lower), has caused ulcerations and cancer in animal test subjects. I wouldn't worry about it too much though.

Yay! BenT doesn't have to feel my wrath! Or at least, he's much farther down the list... ;)


I prefer Soy Dream Chocolate milk for, duh, drinking. I like Eden Soy Extra (Plain) for cereal, mash potato's, etc, but I have never found a tasty substitute for regular milk, for drinking. Silk is very popular I've found, but I just hated the taste. Try some Tofutti ice cream for a ice cream replacement, it's great. Cheese... well... there's no perfect dairy free cheeses, but I enjoy (again) Tofutti cheese slices melted on pizza, sanwiches etc, and there's this block cheese I forget the name of. It doesn't taste like cheese exactly, but I love it. I used to drink over a half gallon of milk a day, and giving up dairy was hard as hell. I waited quite a few years after giving up meat to give up dairy. The only thing I liked that I have yet to find a decent substitude for (besides regular milk) is eggs. There is no real replacment for eggs... that I know of. Maybe if I lived in CA I'd have more choices....