I am very excited to be sharing this with you all! This is a raw cow milk based formula recipe via Weston Price. Breastfeeding is ALWAYS best, but, in some instances, it is not an option.
Before you stop reading, did you know that more people get sick every year from pasteurized milk than raw milk? TRUE! Of course more people drink pasteurized milk than raw milk, but that statistic is based on percentages within each group so it is an accurate reflection. If you were not aware of that, I'm glad I have your attention! Keep reading, even if you are out of the infant stage and have older children.
This formula is far more nutritious than ANY formula you can buy in the store, and extremely simple and quick to make; it takes about 7 minutes start to finish. Completely worth the minimal input of time and effort so your little peanut doesn't have to consume store bought formula, but even better because your baby will be getting all of the benefits of raw milk.
Link to recipe on Weston-Price website:
Though sometimes that link will not work, so here is another source:
To buy ingredients:
I run through this quickly at the beginning of the video, but if you aren't interested in watching it, it is certainly worth repeating here. From the time of Hippocrates up until WWII, raw milk was used as a healing food because it has such powerful medicinal properties for curing health issues and chronic diseases. Unfortunately this knowledge has seemingly been lost today.
Cows grazing on grass in pastures
Store bought milk HAS to be pasteurized because of the cow's it comes from {see photos below}. These cows are bread to have enlarged pituitary glands in order to produce 3 to 4 times more milk than they are physically supposed to be capable of. In order to get this level of production, they are not left to graze in pastures on grass, but rather given massive amounts of soy based feed {soy is a whole other issue - DO NOT eat soy and please don't give your babies soy based formula!} These cows also must be on antibiotics full-time in order to keep them well in these conditions. We do not want to be drinking milk from those cows - yuck!
Although pasteurization kills all of the bad parts of that milk, it also kills the vast majority of the GOOD parts. Once milk is pasteurized it becomes a dead food. What does that mean? I'll start with what I think is the BIGGEST HEALTH MYTH that people have come to believe:
- Calcium from pasteurized milk is nearly completely insoluble! Over 90% of calcium in pasteurized milk cannot be absorbed by our bones. This is a FACT and there is no way around it. Pasteurized milk has about as much calcium in it as a piece of cardboard. If anyone has told you to drink your milk for calcium, you need to start doing your own research, and begin to consider getting your information from another person or source. Leafy greens and grass fed meat are the absolute best sources of calcium out there.
- Nearly all of the Vitamin C is destroyed.
- The Vitamin D is destroyed, and a synthetic form of Vitamin D that is a known toxin to our liver is added back in.
- The lactose becomes beta-lactose, which is what people become allergic to {you will most likely not be allergic to raw milk!}
- BGH {bovine growth hormone} causes an increase in IGF-1 {insulin related growth factor} which survives pasteurization and can be directly absorbed into our bloodstream, especially in infants. IGF-1 can promote the transformation of human breast cells to cancerous forms, and promote progression of already cancerous breast and colon cells.
- And many, many more changes that occur lead to allergies, heart disease, osteoporosis, cancers, etc., which can be read about at the links below for more in depth information. Generic Google searches for dangers of pasteurized milk, why to avoid dairy, etc. will turn up a plethora of additional articles. Make sure to read numerous articles from several sources and not just three or four.
Any person or website that says there is no more of a benefit from drinking raw milk than pasteurized milk, or encourages you to avoid raw milk, has been grossly misinformed, has failed to educate themselves on the benefits of raw milk and dangers of pasteurized milk, or is not putting the health of you and your family as their top priority. As I said above, that is a big clue and major red flag that you should cause you to question where you get your information from and start doing your own research. YOU are the only person that can be relied upon to always put the health of your family first, and the facts on how awful pasteurized milk is for our bodies cannot and should not continued to be ignored.
Here is a great article on the health benefits of raw milk in general:
http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/raw_milk_health_benefits.html
TONS of info on raw milk:
http://www.organicpastures.com/faq.htmlhttp://www.organicpastures.com/faq.html
Now, to find CLEAN raw milk, which is key, view a list of sources here:
http://www.realmilk.com/where.html
There are wonderful dairy farmers all across America that take great pride in keeping their animals clean, healthy and happy! We love supporting them and their efforts :)
Even if you are out of the infant stage, it would be wise to at least stop buying pasteurized milk {and pasteurized milk products like cheese, yogurt, etc.} for your family. If you do not want to drive out to the country to get raw milk, there are far better choices such as almond milk and coconut milk {make sure they do not contain carrageenan}, available at every grocery store these days from Whole Foods to Wal-Mart. As I said above though, please do not consume any soy products. The links to infertility are numerous, astounding and awful, which is even more reason to definitely not give your babies soy based formula. Yikes!!
Last but not least, to easily make homemade whey:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-liquid-whey-and-cream-cheese/
{I make mine monthly in bulk with roughly 1/2 gallon of raw milk separated into three glass jars, and have best results for purposes of this formula when I separate around the 24-36 hour mark}
...and finally, 101 uses for soured raw milk:
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/101-uses-for-soured-raw-milk/
Pasteurized milk becomes a serious food borne illness risk once it has "gone bad", but raw milk is still an incredibly nutritious food with even more health benefits once is begins to turn. Amazing, right?
I hope I have opened the door to a whole new world for you and planted a seed so that everyone gets to exploring!!! Have a GREAT weekend, and please, feel free to leave comments below with any questions. I will answer as many as I can!
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/101-uses-for-soured-raw-milk/
Pasteurized milk becomes a serious food borne illness risk once it has "gone bad", but raw milk is still an incredibly nutritious food with even more health benefits once is begins to turn. Amazing, right?
For those in the Fort Worth area, I personally use All-Natchur-L Farm outside of Cleburne. It is about an hour drive from west Fort Worth. I always take the kids with me because they love seeing all of the animals, and we generally hang around to eat lunch while we are there. Here are a few photos from last time we went out in early November:
The amazing thing about these farms is that they work on an honor system. Everyone is always out working hard doing whatever needs to be tended to, so all of the milk is kept cold in a large refrigerator for people to come and go as they please throughout the day to pick up. There is no need to call ahead and give notice; you simply drive there, get however many gallons you would like, write that number down and the amount due, and leave your money in the jar on the table next to the fridge. They also generally have farm fresh eggs and raw milk cheese and butter available - YUM! {Have you ever researched egg farms, or looked into what actually constitutes "free range" by government standards?}
Squish hauling our milk around to the back door to put in the freezer :)
NOTE: Since you will most likely buy multiple gallons at once, when you defrost them, leave the gallon on the counter in a dish covered with a thick rag for about 24 hours and then move it to the refrigerator.
I hope I have opened the door to a whole new world for you and planted a seed so that everyone gets to exploring!!! Have a GREAT weekend, and please, feel free to leave comments below with any questions. I will answer as many as I can!