Sorry, Mom. I gave up Milk.

Vegetarians routinely rely on too much dairy for protein. In an attempt to scale back on dairy, I stopped drinking animal milk this year. Prior to giving up cow milk, I was drinking at least 12oz of moomilk every day in a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte-sugar mixed with more sugar. With my new focus on skincare and continual interest in healthy living, I began to investigate the impact of cow’s milk on skin health. I was specifically interested in how it may affect tweens and teens who are pushed to drink milk by their parents and who also fight acne…and never seem to win.

This is what I found:

Acne occurs when steroids (androgens) stimulate the sebaceous glands within the skin’s hair follicles. These glands then secrete an oily substance called sebum. When sebum, bacteria and dead skin cells build up on your skin, the pores become blocked, creating a zit.

What do you expect? When teenagers combine their own surging hormones with dietary saturated animal fat, cholesterol, steroid hormones, dead white blood cells, and cow pus, they’re gonna get zits. The good news: The cure is an easy one: Stop drinking milk. (from www.notmilk.com)

I gave up milk after I read Skinny Bitch and realized how much cow pus drops into milk during collection. That little nugget of disgusting information was all it took to inspire the big change. Knowing that the change to soy milk is benefiting my skin is a nice added bonus. Also, milk is full of sugar. My Dad can’t drink it because he is diabetic. This is not the healthiest of beverage options as the dairy industry has begged us to believe. Try soy milk. It’s not the same as moomilk, but it’s a yummy, healthier alternative. Silk Light Vanilla Soy is my favorite.