why NOT to drink raw milk: my story

I decided that it's time for me to bring my own experience to the table of the raw milk drinking "fad" that seems to be sweeping through crunchy mama land. 

I made a poor choice of making a comment on a friend's Facebook page about her choice to drink raw milk. I sent her an email and I've modified what I sent her below and I wanted to share it with all of you, since this is my blog, and this is a more appropriate place to share my views on matters such as these. I haven't heard back from her yet... I hope I haven't run her off for good! 

I preface this by saying that I am and always have been a proponent of a natural approach to all things - from health, to childbirth, to growing my own food organically, and beyond. You can dig through my blog to find my views on these matters. The benefits of consumption of raw milk, however, do not outweigh the risks. This is simply because the risks are VERY serious, very much life-threatening. 

Here I am, in the ER,  21 weeks pregnant, receiving my second IV bag of fluids, on day five of horrific cramping, diarrhea, and dehydration.

I contracted campylobacter jejuni from raw milk.

....and I was THIS pregnant.

I was just like, perhaps, many of you, a devotee (you can look back on my blog from 2008 and 2009) to the consumption of raw milk - I preached its benefits to everyone who would listen. I touted that I'd researched the facts, etc and knew what I was doing. 

And then I got sick. Very sick. I had consumed several glasses of milk when eating a PB and J one day. Within two days I was experiencing severe abdominal cramping, profuse and bloody diarrhea and could not keep hydrated. I initially thought I was miscarrying when the cramping started. I was pregnant with Noah and I did knot realize it, but his life and my own were at risk at this point. 

The bottom line is, the risk exists, and out of however many people you may know who drink it, one of them got sick, and I am that one. You are informed about the risks on the label, but it's easy to ignore. Especially if you've been drinking it for a long time. Especially if you think the "system" is trying to regulate and keep yet another healthy and natural product out of reach. And the system DOES do these things, however, I am here to tell you, maybe, just maybe sometimes it's for good reason. 

The Infectious Diseases office that interviewed me informed me after the results got back to them that there had been a regional outbreak of campylobacter jejuni in a community of Hispanic women making cheese from raw milk in Northwest GA (the same area where the farm that I got my milk from is located - AND the same farm that everyone I know gets their milk from). Within this community, there were FOUR - yes, FOUR pregnant women who lost their babies - apparently a characteristic of campylobacter infections in pregnant women. Also, whether or not I had consumed raw milk was the LAST question they asked me in my interview - and the interview was 10-15 minutes long - so I do not feel that office was trying to find raw milk drinkers and incriminate the farms. I had been drinking it for well over a year. 

Let me just say that I am not on a mission here, except that I know a lot of people who are in the raw milk bubble right now - they think it's totally fine, totally healthy and that the benefits outweigh the risks ... it's like this "fad" or "trend" in the "crunchy mamas" world. I am sort of trying to bring some reality to the table. And to be honest, I am one of those people who were caught up in that same bubble. And then it burst at the risk of my life and my unborn child's life. 

The thing is, you will not hear about cases unless you really do your research, contact the Division of Health Infectious Diseases office and ask for the data... the data is collected by hospitals and doctors and passed on to them. You will never hear about it from the farms because they (the farms) don't sell it for human consumption. They are totally NOT liable for any human infections, because there is that loop hole in the law - they aren't selling it to you for you to drink, they are selling it to you for your pets to drink... so all these infections, unless treated by a doctor and exposed, are lost in the grey area between the farm being accountable for their practices that led to the infection, and the person who got sick... NO ONE is accountable, and that is a VERY BIG loophole where people's lives and health float in the balance. 

You can get the milk, do a soft pasteurization of it and minimize your risk. Yes, culturing the milk probably is better than drinking it straight. At the end of the day, a lot of people will consume raw milk, and not EVER get sick. And that's great! But if you do, it is a very serious bacterial infection that could at its worst be life threatening, and is of even greater risk to young children and pregnant women. 

I feel compelled to share my story, and there are others I know of who have also gotten sick who have no voice, because of the lack of accountability, due to the farms sort of kind of breaking the law by selling the milk to humans, knowing they will consume it, but leaning on the loophole to make their money. 

Please don't be mad at me! :) Just hear me out, and make your decision. I won't judge you for it, but I won't be quiet about disagreeing with you. 

Just go find yourself a local dairy who pasteurizes their organic milk from happy, grass fed Jersey cows, and I promise, you won't notice the difference! 

I love y'all.

Brooke

progress...

Monday seems to be my most productive day of the week. It's when I find myself busy in the kitchen making muffins, cookies and stuff for lunches for the week. Yeah, I made those muffins again. I made the 2nd recipe (see below) this week because I really like the texture of them with the oats. I've been making everything with agave nectar since it's low glycemic and I am kinda trying to shed a few more of these pregnancy pounds. Unfortunately, training myself to indulge for nine months is sorta hard to undo. Thus, the few pounds remain. Well, the nine months and the fact that I love food and cooking could also be the culprit. But at least I'm making stuff super good for you even if they are quite lush in taste and texture.

The cookies I made couldn't be healthier though, I might add. I made them a few weeks back and Jason LOVED them. I haven't been able to duplicate that batch since. I think the difference was I used quick cooking oats and 1/2 self rising unbleached flour. Everything since then is totally whole grain (whole wheat flour, whole rolled oats) with agave nectar to sweeten and flax oil and natural peanut butter. Well dang, I'll just post the recipe at the end.

To further elaborate on the food theme, I tried some of the cultured vegetables I made last week and they are great. I am a bit gassy this afternoon from them though. I think I need to fast and get a good bit of alkaline fare in me for a few days and maybe I'll feel better.

The garden is coming along. I have good strong plants growing on about 90% of what I planted. Some seeds did not germinate. In the larger box I started some plants from seed and others I sprouted before I planted them. They are all doing well. I planted nearly all my plants in the smaller box from seed and they are slow to start. I know one day they will explode. I hope to harvest before the first frost but if they don't we have some good thick plastic to cover them with, but I continue to research our options. I do NOT want to lose this harvest! Lots of work to make it happen. Plus, it will be a great savings for us this winter. I've planted kale, collard greens, broccoli, parsnips, carrots, lettuce ( black seeded Simpson variety), kohlrabi (sorta like a turnip), radishes, snap peas and I think that's about it.

Today I got an email from Chad Carlton of Carlton Family Farms. They are offering fall CSA shares starting this week. I am hoping I can get in on half a share. Sounds like they will have a good crop this winter - I especially am interested in the sweet potatoes, winter squash and turnips. We just started getting raw milk and eggs from them. Hopefully this week I will be able to pick up some of his cuts of beef. Everything is farmed organically and all their hens are free range. Check out their website at www.carltonfarmsnaturalfoods.com. Chad and his wife have their own farm. Their blog is http://www.featherwisefarms.blogspot.com. They are living a dream of mine! :)

Jason and I are going to spend the day together this coming Wednesday for my birthday and I am so excited. I love getting time alone with my husband. So far the plan is to go to the Flying Biscuit in Midtown and then hit up the Botanical Gardens. I haven't been there in a long time. I know we both want to do a little thrift store shopping... maybe we'll get to.

Anyhow, here's the cookie recipe and some pictures of the garden.

Oatmeal/Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip Cookies (modified from the original Eating Well version: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/oat_chocolate_cookie.html )

2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
4 tablespoons flaxseed oil (or butter, but the butter needs to beaten with the peanut butter if you use it)
1 1/3 cup raw sugar, or I've used as little as 1/2 cup agave nectar and/or honey
2 eggs beaten lightly
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix wet ingredients, mis dry ingredients. Combine. Put spoonfuls on baking sheet. These cookies don't typically spread out much. Bake for 16 minutes.

And pics of the garden...