This seems a good time to address the Dairy question.   Here is the human dairy:
In case you can’t read backwards, my new shirt (from Rachel, visiting from Taos!!) says “Lactivist”.  In short, I have spent a lot of my adult years helping women breastfeed their children as it is the superior source of infant and toddler nutrition.  Breastmilk, human or cow, is a Living Fluid.  It contains enzymes, antibodies, immune complexes, proteins, all types of fats including antiviral/antibacterial medium chain saturates, and probiotic bacteria to keep the gut healthy.  Right-who wouldn’t want that?  Right about now you are wondering how you can GET SOME!  Your suckling days are long over or perhaps like many people my age you never had any to begin with.  But wait-isn’t Dairy bad?  

Clearly, Milk-The-Living-Fluid isn’t “bad”.  There are cultures from all over the world, including some of the longest lived peoples like the peoples of the Caucasus Mtns, that have used dairy foods with excellent health.  It is also true that the average Hunter-gatherer provides human milk to their children until they are about 4 yrs old.  If you want to raise up your kids Paleo there is something to think about.  Primates also nurse their offspring until they are about the equivalent of a human 4 year old.  So, what is the deal with Dairy then if it isn’t necessarily intrinsically “bad”.  Well, here is how these long-lived peoples used their dairy:

Not pasteurized or homogenized.  Not from animals designed to produce high volume of milk with low fat content.  It was straight from the tit of an animal chosen for producing a high fat milk, and never refrigerated.  It was (and is for peoples still following traditional food ways) full of LIFE and beneficial fat.  The proteins were not superheated with pasteurization so that they suffer denaturing and become indigestible.  The enzymes and bacteria that provide and produce lactase (the enzyme that digests lactose) were still living in the Milk, not killed with pasteurization rendering tons of hard-to-digest lactose with no lactase.  The probiotics that help our GI tract were still in there (no expensive probiotic supplements necessary).  The photo above is my gallon of Raw Milk (available at The Food Conspiracy Coop and Aqua Vita).  It is a daily staple for my kids.  What?  Don’t I keep a Paleo house?  For the reasons I have already outlined, I believe that Milk-The-Living-Fluid can have a beneficial role in some people’s diets.  Milk (in its true form) is such a dense, concentrated source of nutrition that it should be thought of as a growth food.  Kids are growing.  Milk-The-Living-Fluid=Right.  I would prefer not to grow.  Milk-The-Living-Fluid=Wrong.  If you are unwilling or unable to consume Raw-Living Milk then whatever bastardization you were going to choose is Wrong.  Consider yourself very fortunate if you do want Milk because Arizona is one of very few states that allows the sale of raw milk in the store.  Raw cheese is also available to us here (don’t cook with it obviously).  It is also full of excellent fats and enzymes.  If you want growth then you might use some Raw Cheese.  If you aren’t in the market for growth then don’t use Raw Cheese.  Is this making sense yet?

Lastly, the majority of dairy consumed with excellent health results was not only Raw, but cultured, fermented or soured.  The phenomenally wonderful proteges of that disgusting “yogurt” and “sour cream” available in the store (I include the “organic” versions here too) were pungent, strong and elixirs of life.  I can leave a jar of Raw Milk on my counter in Tucson for 2 days and if I have asked the right food spirits, it will be sour, thick and taste delicious on my strawberries.  Try that with your pasteurized “milk”! (Not really obviously).  I hope this helps you all understand the Dairy issue a little bit better.