Milk. It Does a Body . . .

"The Human Body has no more need for cow's milk than it does for dog's milk, horse's milk, or giraffe's milk."

-Michael Klaper, MD

I had an interesting exchange with Shawn, our choir teacher the other day. He’s an outstanding teacher, and I love watching him perform. If you’ve ever seen a really good high school choir director, you know what I mean. Fantastic.

Anyway, he’s been missing school a lot lately because of a sick child. This directly affects me because he supervises a study hall in my room—during my prep time. He runs a pretty tight ship, so normally it’s not a problem. But when he’s gone he has a substitute.

Remember when you were in middle school and there was a substitute? Remember study hall? It’s not pretty.

Shawn’s son, who is two years old, has been struggling with ear infections, so they’re thinking about putting tubes in his ears. He asked me if I knew anything about it.

I’ve have had tubes in twice. Now, whenever a dr. takes a peek, he or she always comments on the scarring. But I’m fairly certain it’s from the infections, not the tubes.

Still, surgery is surgery. I wouldn’t want to put my 2 year old through it. So I ask if he might be interested in some nutritional alternatives to try first.

“Sure,” he says. “My wife and I are really big into ‘alternative’ things. We’ve tried the chiropractor and all kinds of stuff.”

“Great,” I say. “Lisa has a bunch of information, I’ll ask her what she’s got on ear infections.”

Then I remembered a conversation we had over lunch about two months ago. It started when Craig, a science teacher here (another outstanding teacher) shared a discovery he’d made about giving milk formula to their child. I believe they had just recently made a switch from breast milk to formula, or from one formula to another—I’m not certain.

Craig’s daughter had been fussy and not sleeping. They tried a new formula, something without cow milk, and the results were so immediate that he had to tell us about it.

I mentioned that cow milk has been linked to many health problems.

Shawn was skeptical. Very.

So, remembering that conversation,

I shot Shawn this email:

Hi Shawn,

I just remembered, the first thing Lisa is going to ask me when I bring up "ear infections." Is "does the child drink cow milk?"

You might not believe it (or want to consider it), but there is
quite a bit of documentation on the ill effects of cow milk in the diet. Check it out. Ask your Drs about it. Do your own research.

I'll be in touch again after I talk to Lisa.

This was his reply:

Seth LOVES milk as do I. I myself haven't had any problems with ear infections, and this seems to be recent. He drinks 1% milk for every meal. But other than that we have limited his milk intake as per our doctor.

Growing up on a farm and milking cows for 20 years, it will take a lot of convincing to change my mind about milk and any links to bad health. Haven't you seen the commercial... Milk- it does a body good.? :)

Thanks for checking into this for me though. I appreciate it.

This was my reply:

Shawn,

For what it's worth--take it or leave it.

For the record, I'm not into "convincing" anybody of anything. Do I have certain beliefs and biases? Certainly. Do you you? Of course. Everybody does. Ultimately it is up to you to decide what is best for you and your family. Lisa (and me by default, I've learned a lot as a result of our cohabitation) just enjoys getting people information that they can use to help themselves.

My bias--I believe strongly in the ability of the body to heal itself (if you give it the raw materials it needs, and put it in the right environment).

My experience--I saw my uncle (Jay Wondra), who was (very sick) suffering from colitis and about to have a large section of his intestines surgically removed, make strategic changes to his diet as a last resort. Within a week, he noticed small improvements (less bleeding). Encouraged, he continued and within 6 months was healed. No more colitis. That was enough for me.

Take it easy.

Chris Wondra