about a month ago (31 October) i started to write a new post publicly committing to join in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the month of November. After a paragraph was finished I got distracted by who knows what and never finished the post. I also never participated in the month long novel writing challenge, wherein the challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. do i regret this? yes-and-no. i think this would have been good for me, i have wanted to write a novel, but have a hard time committing to things and had a lot of school work during November. but now, i am going to publicly announce my prospective commitment.

i know i have mentioned giving up meat before, becoming a vegetarian, reducing our negative impact on this place we call home. the reasons for which i advocate these things is not because i believe humans are the enemy, it’s because i believe we could live our lives in a wholistic way and they could be better: mentally, physically, psychologically, socially (etc.) and this is why i (and hopefully my parents) am/are doing the “go dairy free” challenge. the challenge is 10 days with no dairy-no cheese, no yogurt, no milk, no ice cream, no chocolate, etc.-unless it has some sort of dairy substitute.

for me this is not an animal rights issue, it is a health issue. milk is one of the most common food allergens in the western world. lactose intolerance is very common, and some people may not even realize that milk is the problem for digestive problems. we are the only species to continue to drink milk after weaning. there are greater chances to having diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, and ironically osteoporosis, which all but osteoporosis runs in my family. milk is not the only place you can find calcium, to name a few you can get calcium from soy milk, asparagus, baked beans, green beans, sesame seeds, almond butter, oranges, etc. the milk we drink from the stores is from a cow no longer with a calf that needs milk. in most scenarios the cows are given rBGH(recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) which stimulates the production of the IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) hormone which helps produce milk. (the science of it.)

really, who knows what will happen if i give up milk. maybe my allergies will get better, or maybe i won’t have heartburn anymore. maybe nothing will happen, but with all of the potential side effects and the knowledge of the prospective health benefits, why not try it.

i haven’t decided when i’m going to start, but i want to do it with my family, so whenever they are on the same page-hopefully before christmas.

http://www.godairyfree.org/

http://www.alternative-healthzine.com/html/1200_2.html