Why I don't drink milk?

People usually understand why I don't eat meat, of course they understand it in the way they want to. I refused to eat meat because of myself, maybe it sounds selfish, but actually everything what we do is selfish, because it's always "I WANT you to be happy", "I WANT to help the animals" and so on, it's always us. 

Such beautiful living beings!

As I look back I got lots of signs about vegetarian lifestyle, it took me two years to realize, that I need and I want to change. The critical point was when I finally understood, that everything is energy and by eating animals I get all the fear, anger, stress and other negative energy which they express all their life and before their horrible slaughtering process. The most shocking and yet self-evident truth for me was, that all my life I was eating dead bodies, I was consuming death. I watched a couple of videos and I just couldn't eat it anymore. For myself and later (when I got all the information) for the animals. 

With milk everything was different. I was milk chocolate addict, I loved ice-cream, cheese and other milk products. Actually it was surprise for me when I stopped eating meat, because I couldn't imagine my life without chicken and I didn't know what to eat as vegetarian so for first weeks I ate only rice with curry spices and potatoes with beets. So I haven't even thought about vegan diet, it was totally mystery and yeah, I thought it was extreme. 

When I became vegetarian I was interested in The Vedas (religion) teachings and it said, that cows milk is magical, it calms you down and it's really good for you not only physically, but also mentally, so I started to drink hot milk in the morning (6am) and before bed and I felt great, I really believed the milk was part of my happiness (now I think it was spices I used in milk, which calmed me down and helped to relax) and it was difficult for me to choose the right side - is cow's milk good or bad for us humans. I think I new it's no good for us, but it was so tasty for me, that I tried to convince myself, that it's ok. I was thinking, that here in Lithuania cows are treated better, they are happy here. What I didn't realize, it's how milk gets to a cow. We were taught, that cows love to be milked, because if it has too much milk, it hurts. But what we weren't taught is, that cows must be raped and get pregnant to start producing milk. And the most saddest part is, their kids are stolen from them, just for us to get those ice-cream... Baby boy calves is usually killed, because it's no use of them and girls are taken for the milk industry. After mother cow can't produce milk anymore, she is slaughtered.

This is how it should look like (without the gates)

As vegetarian I joined some raw-vegan and vegan groups on facebook and I started to get knowledge about milk products. I learned, that cows milk has cows hormones and bacteria in it (logical, isn't it?), which affects our body and our mind. It has calcium, but it also has lots phosphorus, which is too much for human and it hinders the uptake of calcium. Basically cows milk does no use, only harm for our body.

First of all I stopped eating cheese, I thought it will be harder, but I haven't even notice how it disappeared from our menu. Yet milk desserts was much more harder. Here, where I live, there's no cheese alternative, no ice-cream alternative, almost nothing for vegans. So I had to learn to cook by myself and I loved it! I'm new vegan and I'm also new to gluten-free diet, but I'm really passionate about it and I already found lots of simple and delicious healthy vegan recipes which I'm sharing with you here, on this blog.

Also I started to create vegan T-shirts to help spread this message and bring harmony to this planet.(:

More info about cow's milk

Popular myths relating to the use of milk:

"The milk is rich in calcium, which helps prevent osteoporosis"

Unfortunately, clinical studies show a very different thing. In a study of 12 years were followed 75,000 women state of health, findings were announce: the larger the quantity of milk diet does not protect against osteoporosis, and does not reduce the risk of fractures. Calcium content of cow's milk, our bodies are unable to assimilate (The Harvard Nurses Health Study, An Australian Study). You can reduce the risk of osteoporosis to avoid sodium (salt), eating fruits and vegetables and especially - by exercising. Well calcium is find in cabbage, nuts, seeds, beans, peas, green leafy vegetables and other plants. 

"Children need to necessarily drink milk"

Unfortunately, the use of cow's milk products is associated even with type I (children) diabetes. In different countries, conducted epidemiological studies show a strong link between dairy products and type I diabetes.  It is suspected that cow's milk contained the substance causes an autoimmune reaction that destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. 

"Cow's milk contains vitamin D"

Milk is not a reliable source of vitamin D. During the research, in some of the milk samples vitamin D levels were 500 times higher than the norm, but in some - none of vitamin D found at all. Too much vitamin D can be toxic, lead to excess calcium in the blood and urine, the formation of calcium sediment in the kidneys, biliary tract, soft tissues, increase uptake of heavy metals in the body. 

"Milk helps to remove harmful substances from the body"

Today, the dairy industry using a variety of additives to enhance the performance of the cows. Mastitis (inflammation of the mammary glands) are common on farms. Antibiotics are used to treat cows, they are found in milk and dairy products. There are also hormones, pesticides and other chemicals. Dairy industry uses large capacity milk collection and and for disinfecting uses strong acids, alkalis or chlorine. It is very toxic and some of them will inevitably fall into the final dairy products. They can cause allergies to dairy products.

"Milk is good for your health"

Unfortunately, the milk can be found in at least part of the blame for today's serious illnesses.
Milk and milk products (cheese, ice cream, butter) are "good" sources of cholesterol and fat. Regular and frequent use of these products are causes of cardiovascular disease, increases the amount of cholesterol in the blood.

And what could be an alternative to milk lovers who are used to drink it?

There are lots of milk alternatives, such as coconut, almond, rice, oat or soy milk, you can buy them or make them at home, it's not hard at all. Also you can make or buy vegan mayonnaise, vegan ice-cream, vegan butter and lots of other delicious and most important healthy, nutritious & cruelty free things.