31 Days to a Cleaner Diet {7}: Dairy and Eggs

If there’s one thing I want you to remember from this post, it’s the word “pastured.”  Because when it comes to dairy and eggs (and meats, for that matter), that word is like gold. 

Pastured means that cows and chickens are doing what they’re supposed to do:  grazing around, getting fresh air and exercise, and eating the food they were designed by God to eat. 

Pastured is good – both for animals and for you and your family. 

Of course, that word is often elusive in the grocery store and almost always means your product will be more expensive. 

But it’s worth it. 

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Vote with your food dollars?”  It means that if you believe in a  concept, like organic food, put your money where your mouth is and pay (aka “vote”) for that better product. 

At my local grocery store, the organic store-brand half-and-half is $1.99.  It sits right next to the Organic Valley half-and-half, which is pastured, and sells for $2.99. 

It kinda kills me a little each time I buy it that I could be saving a dollar.  (Some of you are like, “A dollar?  Who cares?!” and I’m sure others of you are horrified that I spend that much on creamer. lol)

But I’ve had a shift in my thinking about this.  Because I want Organic Valley to thrive.  I want them to make so much money that they can buy more pasture, and have more happy cows, so that I can get more of my clean half-and-half. 

If nobody buys the pastured half-and-half, and nobody votes with their food dollars, then eventually Organic Valley will go out of business…and we, as consumers, will be left with less choices. 

You guys, I’m not a millionaire.  I’m certainly not rich.  I’m probably barely in the middle class!  lol

But don’t you want a future where the next generation has access to affordable organic foods?  I sure do.  We have to do our part now, however small that might be, to show the small companies (and the big companies!) what is important to us. 

Here’s an interesting quote I found: “In 2008, a study by Newcastle University in the UK, published in the Journal of Science of Food and Agriculture, found that organic grazing cows produced milk with higher content of fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins as compared to conventional cows that were fed grains and were kept indoors.” {source} 

Let me caution you to be aware that just because a food is labeled organic does not mean it is a) necessarily healthy for you (there’s a lot of organic junk food out there!) or that b) the animals are being raised the way that God designed. 

Organic milk, unless it says “pasture-raised”, does not necessarily mean that the cows are eating grass as they should be.  It can just mean that they’re getting fed non-GMO, non-pesticide corn…in a feedlot. 

For this reason, I always buy Stonyfield products, because they are a New England-based company (which, for me, is “local”), and they are the only major brand I’ve found that tells you that their cows are pastured. 

 

Believe me, if a product is pastured, that company wants you to know (because it cost them more!) and they WILL tell you on the label. 

 

(Ideally, you want cows that graze during the growing season and then are also fed hay in the winter.  But this is the best I can find so far in my area.)

You might not be able to find pastured eggs near where you live.  I am so thankful to live just a short drive from a farm where I can see those chickens pecking their little hearts out in a big old open field of grass. 

My eggs even come with HAY on them sometimes.  (I kinda love this.)  I pay $4 a dozen for these babies…..but they’re worth every delicious, deep-golden yolk.  (And the peace of mind that they most likely will never give me salmonella poisoning, since they’re  not standing in inches of their own poop all day long. BONUS!) I have talked to this farmer personally at the farmer’s market and when I see him at the farm.  I love knowing that he’s doing something good for the environment – and I’m happy to give him my money. :)

 

Veering on the other end of the spectrum from pastured animals, I can’t stress enough how really, really, reeeeealllllllly icky regular cow’s milk is for you. 

Remember when I talked about meats and mentioned how the animals were treated all day?  The same goes for dairy cows. 

Regular (as in non-organic) dairy cows are fed genetically-modified, pesticide-laden corn, which makes them super sick, since cows are called “ruminants” – meaning God only designed them to eat grasses.  The cows, since they are sick all the time, need to be treated frequently with antibiotics to clear up the infection they never should have had in the first place.   Many cows are additionally often given artificial hormones to increase milk production; some are milked as often as THREE TIMES a day. 

So here’s another bottom line for you:  when you drink regular milk, you’re ingesting an antibiotic, hormone, pesticide, GMO, corn-laden drink.  

Appetizing, no? 

 

So let’s break down the better and good list for the final time, although this time I’m going to break it down into three categories:

Best: Raw pastured milk*
Better: Organic pastured milk
Good: Organic milk

Honestly, I can’t in good conscience advocate anyone drinking non-organic milk, especially at the rate most of us drink it.  It’s just that bad for you. 

Eggs

Best: Pastured
Better: Organic
Good: Vegetarian-fed (this is a bare-minimum requirement)

Please, please, please don’t ever buy eggs that don’t meet at least one of those three criteria! (Otherwise they’re fed ground-up animal parts, and that’s just really, really gross.)

 

*Again, this got so long that I had to cut out huge parts of the discussion.   There are many people who claim that pasteurization kills crucial elements inside milk and that it is actually detrimental to it.  Personally, any texture other than skim milk makes me want to gag, so although I believe that these findings are correct, I can’t wrap my brain around drinking thick, whole milk (since raw milk doesn’t come in skim, haha).  On a chemical level, though, you do absorb more nutrients when you ingest fat with the milk.  My husband claims that skim milk isn’t even milk at all. lol  I am working on it! First I need to get up the courage to drink 1%.  :)

You guys, please don’t walk away from this thinking that I’m a perfect eater.  I’m definitely not.  I don’t buy pastured (or even organic!!) butter or cheese.  I’ve honestly never seen organic cheese in the grocery store, and the organic butter is about 6 or 7 dollars a pound.   I am a work in progress, just like all of you. :)

 

I’d love to know: do you have any options for pastured milk or eggs where you live?  What about butter and cheese?  What do you always buy organic, and what areas do you have to still make changes in (like me)? Remember, I am always more than happy to answer any questions you might have!