Milk seems to be a controversial food. Some argue that pasteurized milk is no good because the naturally occurring pro-biotic cultures are destroyed. I've made some interesting observations regarding milk that I wanted to share.
- In "Kundalini Yoga" by Sivananda, Sivananda writes, "If you want to enter into Samadhi quickly, cut all connections with friends, relatives, and others. Observe Akhanda Mowna, Live on milk alone. Plunge in meditation." In the "Practice of Brahmacharya" by Sivananda, he contraindicates goat milk for people trying to observe celibacy as it excites passion whereas cow milk is seen as more sattvic.
- In "Pranayama: The Breath of Yoga" by Gregor Maehle the author writes that T. Krishnamacharya utilized an exclusive milk diet along with his practices to help him attain the ability to stop his heart. Unfortunately, Krishnamacharya's claim is somewhat controversial. (see http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/24/6/1319.full.pdf)
- The "Explanatory Tantra" of Tibetan medicine speaks more favorably of milk. "...lukewarm milk [fresh from the cow] is similar to nectar in qualities."
- There was a time in the early 1900s when some western doctors would utilize exclusive milk diets to heal their patients of a wide range of illnesses. J.R. Crewe of the Mayo Foundation (which was the forerunner of the Mayo Clinic) is one example. (see http://www.realmilk.com/health/milk-cure/). Also, if you visit "milk-diet.com", you can find reference to two books which can be read online for free. Both books were written by doctors who utilized milk diets to cure their patients of various disorders.
- The following link contains an interesting written interview with a man who has been living more or less on milk for five years. (http://www.simpledailyhealth.com/diet/how-the-radical-milk-diet-helps-people-with-eye-discomfort/) The books found in the milk-diet link also contain various stories of people living on milk for long periods of time, in one case for fifty years.
- According to wikipedia, Trailanga Swami would break his fasts with buckets of clabbered milk, which is essentially just milk that has been left to sit and naturally sour some. I was always under the impression that he mostly lived on clabbered milk, though I'm not certain about that.
- According to wikipedia, there were some sects of the Maasai people of Africa who (at least at one point) would live off of milk, blood, and flesh. From what I understand the Maasai are healthy. "Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, and raw blood from cattle. Note that the Maasai cattle are of the Zebu variety. In the summer of 1935 Dr. Weston A. Price visited the Maasai and reported that according to Dr. Anderson from the local government hospital in Kenya most tribes were disease-free. Many had not a single tooth attacked by dental caries nor a single malformed dental arch. In particular the Maasai had a very low 0.4% of bone caries. He attributed that to their diet consisting of (in order of volume) raw milk, raw blood, raw meat and some vegetables and fruits, although in many villages they do not eat any fruit or vegetables at all."
It seems to me that if milk is consumed, it would be best to consume it by itself, especially apart from grains and meats. That way the body can focus on properly digesting it. Fermentation is probably good, but since raw milk contains live cultures, it may not be critical to do so.
Some people believe that drinking raw milk is dangerous because of the risk of disease. Those people may be correct in saying so. Life is full of risks, be careful.
