Randy Travis Drinks Raw Milk

Last Sunday morning, my husband and I spent two happy hours with the Moore family at Lavon Farms in Plano, Texas, home of Lucky Layla drinkable yogurt. This is a picture of one of their beautiful Guernsey cows. We’ve been buying raw milk from the Moores since last summer when I first read Nina Planck‘s book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why?, and learned about the amazing nutrient-dense food that is raw milk.

We were out at the farm taking some pictures for a Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund fundraiser that will take place at Lavon Farms on November 11, during the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions Conference in Dallas. When details for both events become available, I’ll let you know.

Just 20 miles north of downtown Dallas, and a world away, this 200-acre farm is home to champion Guernsey and Jersey cows that live life the way cows were meant to. As we walked the pasture to get a better look a the cows, this Guernsey girl in the photo was so curious she just walked right up to us.

This great life they lead is in sharp contrast to the cows that produce most of the milk consumed in the U.S., even organic milk. Most milk is from confinement dairies where cows stand or lie on concrete, often in their own feces. At Lavon Farms, the average productive lifespan is seven to eight years; contrast that with industrial confinement dairy cows’ lifespan of two to three years.

Are you getting enough good protein in your diet? If you’re counting the protein in industrial pasteurized and homogenized milk, that might not count. Todd Moore reminded me that his milk contains the rare A2 protein that’s particularly beneficial for people with:

• type 1 diabetes
• high risk of heart disease
• autism

Only milk from Jersey and Guernsey cattle have the important A2 protein, and Guernseys are known to produce the highest percentage of A2 of all breeds of dairy cattle. If you or your family members have any of the above conditions, and even if you don’t, you may seriously want to consider drinking A2 raw milk. Find your local source for real milk here.

Ann Marie of Cheeseslave.com, says this about protein in general: “Protein is made up of chains of amino acids, which are the precursors for the neurotransmitters in our brain. The amino acids in protein are the building blocks of endorphins and serotinin. According to Julia Ross, pioneer in the field of nutritional psychology and author of The Mood Cure, lack of protein causes:

• • anxiety
  • depression
  • insomnia
  • ADD
  • alcohol/drug addiction, and a host of other problems

Julia says we need 20-30 grams of protein per meal — three times a day. And that’s just to maintain our current brain chemistry. Animal protein is the most nutrient-dense form of protein — so why not just cut to the chase? Anxious? Depressed? You need more protein! It’s essential to always eat fat with protein.”

I am so passionate about real, raw milk that it inspired me to start this blog. My first blog post was about raw milk, and my masthead features bottles of fresh milk. My husband and I drink about a gallon a week; we’ve been known to drink two … and we find ourselves white-knuckling it toward the end of the week, trying to make it last until our next visit to Lavon Farms. I drink it before and after my Camp Gladiator bootcamp workout. Raw milk is the perfect food: you get protein, carbs and good fat, as well as tons of vitamins for healthy body and amino acids for a healthy gut. When your milk is from healthy, happy cows, milked under sanitary conditions, and it’s not pasteurized or homogenized, you get the full benefits of nature’s perfect food.

So what about Randy Travis? I hear he’s a fan of raw milk from Lavon Farms, too!