10 REASONS TO STOP DRINKING MILK NOW

1. Pus 

Milk contains pus otherwise known as 'somatic cells' - the same cells you find in that giant yellow spot on your chin. Pus cells are made by the cow in response to an infection. Dairy cows regularly get mastitis, an udder infection (blood, pus, scabs etc.) due to being constantly hooked up to automatic milking machines.

Currently 750,000 somatic cells are allowed per ml of milk [1]. That means an 8oz cup could contain up to 180,000,000 pus cells! Thirsty?

2. Jared Leto's (Not) Doing It...

So I don't normally advocate celebrities as gurus of advice but when your a vegan and have to explain the reasons why on a daily basis, sometimes you could use a little backup now and again. Since we are a culture of celebrity I think the next time you get into an argument with a meat head this quote should come in handy...

Journalist asks why Jared doesn't eat dairy, he replies:
'Because it's disgusting, sucking on a cows boobies - I'm not into it'.
Journalist: 'What no more cheese?', 'No, no more cheese, no more pus for me'.

Well said Jared!

3. It's Cruel

The dairy industry is just an extension of the meat industry, since cows are bread for meat and used for milk until slaughter. Calves raised on dairy farms are taken away from their mothers at just one day old and fed by milk replacers so their mothers milk can be sold to humans. Around three quarters of a million unwanted dairy calves (not wanted for herd replacement or rearing for veal) are slaughtered each year as ‘waste-products’ of the dairy industry — usually at around 5 - 6 days old. Dairy calves are not valued as they don’t grow at the same rate as beef calves and their meat quality is considered sub-standard by the beef industry [4].

Male calves are usually sold for veal. The female calves will usually follow in their mother's footsteps and become a dairy cow, after being dehorned that is, with saws, sharp wires, hot irons, guillotine dehorners or caustic chemicals [7]. As you can imagine this is an excruciatingly painful procedure. According to Peta the female cows live an extremely short and stressful life of continuous pregnancy:

"Female cows are artificially inseminated shortly after their first birthdays. After giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated again, continuing the cycle. Some spend their entire lives standing on concrete floors; others are confined to massive, crowded lots, where they are forced to live amid their own waste. Cows have a natural lifespan of about 20 years and can produce milk for eight or nine years. However, the stress caused by the conditions on factory farms leads to disease, lameness, and reproductive problems that render cows worthless to the dairy industry by the time that they’re 4 or 5 years old, at which time they are sent to be slaughtered." [2]

4. Human Bodies Fight It

We are the only species that chooses to drink the milk of another species. Cows milk and the protein in it, is suited to the nutrition of calves, not fully grown human adults. Calves need it to grow and gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months. It isn't natural for us to drink it and so human bodies understandably reject cows milk:

"Most people begin to produce less lactase, the enzyme that helps with the digestion of milk, when they are as young as 2 years old. This reduction can lead to lactose intolerance. Millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, and an estimated 90 percent of Asian-Americans and 75 percent of Native- and African-Americans suffer from the condition, which can cause bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, headaches, rashes, and asthma. A U.K. study showed that people who suffered from irregular heartbeats, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and digestive problems “showed marked and often complete improvements in their health after cutting milk from their diets.”

5. It's Unhealthy

There are strong indications that consuming dairy can have some serious negative health effects. Due to its relatively high contents of saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol, dairy products contribute indirectly to obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions. More directly it may contribute to the risk of ovarian and prostate cancers, autoimmune diseases, ear infections and allergies in children. [4]

6. Growth Hormones

If you live in the US this one is mainly for you guys, although living in the UK and hearing that this is what the dairy industry uses would be enough for me to take a stand against milk altogether. The Bovine growth hormone is injected into cows so they can produce as much milk as possible and their udders are literally bursting at the seams (which causes those pus infections btw). A hormone you then consume through that milk, along with a cocktail of antibiotics and pesticides that's been fed to the cows as well - yummy!

Currently the use of the bovine injection (BST/BGH) is banned across Europe and the UK but who knows how long for. This also doesn't stop people consuming it through American food products or when they visit on vacation. The effect of this hormone on humans has not been thoroughly tested for long periods of time so who knows what impact this could have on our long term health (I could hazard a guess)...

7. Propaganda 

We have grown up with the comforting notion of a glass of milk providing us with all the calcium and protein we need for healthy strong teeth and bones. Remember the famous 'Got Milk' advertising campaign? Why would a big corp pump so many millions of dollars into advertising a product like milk and even using celebrities to promote drinking it - because they care about you? Wake up and smell the (soy) coffee! The dairy industry makes 11 billion dollars a year on milk alone and their primary motivation is profit, not your health. [6]

8. It Does Not Give You Strong Bones

Following on from the last point, contrary to popular belief milk will not give you strong bones. In fact it may even cause the very things we are trying to prevent by drinking it, such as fractures and osteoporosis. Studies have shown that women in America (a country that consumes the most dairy in the world) also have the highest osteoporosis rate while women in China (a country that consumes the least) have the lowest cases of osteoporosis. Coincidence? Read on...

Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C. states that: “The connection between calcium consumption and bone health is actually very weak, and the connection between dairy consumption and bone health is almost nonexistent.” [3]

A Harvard Nurses’ Study of more than 77,000 women ages 34 to 59 found that those who consumed two or more glasses of milk per day had higher risks of broken hips and arms than those who drank one glass or less per day. T. Colin Campbell, professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, said, “The association between the intake of animal protein and fracture rates appears to be as strong as that between cigarette smoking and lung cancer.” [2]

If you've read The China Study (highly recommended) this information will already make sense to you.

9. Poor Source of Calcium

As mentioned above the connection between calcium consumption and bone health may be weak but none the less calcium is still very important for overall function as it's the most abundant mineral found in the body. However humans can get all the calcium they need from a healthy plant-based diet as the top rich in calcium foods include: broccoli, dark leafy greens, tofu, almonds, pack choi, bok choy, okra and green snap beans [5]. You could also opt for soy/almond milks with added calcium.

10. Environmental Destruction

Large dairy farms have a huge detrimental effect on the environment. Cows produce a lot of Methane and Nitrous Oxide in their digestion system. These are greenhouse gasses that are about 21 and 296 times as strong as that of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Cows also produce a lot of manure which pollute the water and soil and can disturb the natural nutrient balance needed for normal plant growth. Additionally cows need a lot of land to graze on (if they get the opportunity) and the production of their feed also takes up a lot of land area. The production of cattle feed is a major reason for deforestation and is putting pressure on nature. [4]

Sources:

[1] http://www.naturalnews.com/035489_got_milk_celebrities_pus.html
[2] http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/cows-milk-cruel-unhealthy-product/#ixzz2zS4dlt6Q
[3] http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

[4] http://www.animalsaustralia.org/factsheets/dairy_cows.php

[5] http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-calcium.php

[6] http://www.appetiteforprofit.com/docs/dairy_industry_propaganda.html

[7] http://lifeorlunch.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/18-images-big-dairy-doesnt-want-you-to-see-features-peta/

Credit for the inspiration behind this post goes to Freelee the Banana Girl, check out her amazing video on YouTube for more info about why you should stop drinking milk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS9hh-Npc50

WHY VEGAN?

Over the past few months I've written about vegan recipes, make up and outfits, which is all fun and games but I realised I haven't actually talked about the many reasons for being a vegan. While they may sound obvious to those of you who already are, I'd like to let the readers who aren't vegan know why someone would choose this kind of lifestyle. 

The no.1 reason for me is that animals should not be used as commodities to fulfil our selfish, unnecessary desires (notice that I said desires and not needs). This is because meat is not an essential nutrient, humans can still live, breathe and actually attain better health without meat. The documentary Forks over Knives shows us the vegan diet is healthier, 'Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented—and in many cases reversed—by adopting a whole-foods, plant-based diet."

Meat eaters often respond to vegans with 'clever' quips such as 'eating animals is all part of the food chain, animals kill each other so why shouldn't we eat them'. What they don't realise is that we should know better because we don't need to eat animals and we should be taking care of those more vulnerable than us, not abusing them. Another popular one is 'I would go veggie but I need my protein for the gym', again this is an unjustified observation. As a vegetarian or vegan you can make up the same amount of protein in meat by eating a combination of healthy veggies, grains and nuts (see here). For example Tempeh packs a protein punch of 19g per 100g while just two cups of kidney beans contain about 26g of protein (almost the same as a Big Mac, which has 25 grams!). 

Do you see through these programmed responses, how we have been manipulated by the media (through our ego self) to think that we need to eat meat to survive? They do this because it sustains the current infrastructure of making money out of your disease (dis-ease). They don't care about your health but you should! I see veganism as a choice to take back your rights to health, well-being and spirituality.

I believe we're here to get along with everyone and everything harmoniously, being the best we can be in this life by making conscious decisions about what's right and wrong, a moral value that often seems lost in the age of Miley Cyrus and Rihanna as role models. People seem to be living only for the now and ignoring the later consequences, while veganism is about choosing a more responsible and sustainable approach to life, not only for your own health but for the planet as well.

The trouble is people think they are so small in this vast universe that they can't make a difference to the world but they don't realise they are part of the universe and should be working in conjunction with it not against it! They say 'if the meat is already sitting nicely pre-packaged on the supermarket shelf why shouldn't I buy it?' To them I would say one person making a conscious decision to become a vegetarian saves 100 animals a year (source). One person changing their lifestyle inspires others to do the same and before you know it you've influenced a whole group, it's a knock on effect. I have already noticed people close to me eating less meat, whether its subconsciously or not, your actions do affect other people!

Vegan food is damn tasty too! I've had meat eaters try my meatless meals and dairy free desserts and not be able to tell the difference. There are vegan/vegetarian substitutes for almost every animal product you can think of and I believe the food tastes better because no pain or suffering went into the making of it. The one thing I would say that's potentially bad about a vegan diet is the high intake of soya, however look at the Asian populations who eat soya very regularly yet live longer, healthier lives than all of us! So the jury's still out on whether it's actually bad for you or not. For now I try to buy these products in moderation and eat as close to nature as possible i.e. more organic fruits and veggies with less processed, pre-packaged foods. If you are going to eat soya always try to go for the organic option. 

I've also recently noticed a lot of vegan foods have 'natural flavourings' listed as an ingredient. This is an umbrella term and is allowed to be derived from anything, including Castoreum (secretion from a beaver's anal glands - yup), GM and Aspartame (source), so I'm thinking this ingredient is also best avoided until there's more research/guidelines for this.

While I have much more to say on this topic I've gone on long enough for now! I hope I've given a fair point of view on veganism to allow you to make your own mind up, I could talk about this subject all day so if anyone has any questions regarding this post or would like some advice on turning vegan - get in touch!