Raw, whole milk to prevent gastroenteritis?

I have been a SEVERE emetophobe (fear of vomiting) since childhood. I somehow managed to make it through 3 pregnancies without vomiting. Mind over matter! And why on earth did someone who fears vomiting decide to have children? And then end up with 3 boys who kinda think vomiting is funny.
My oldest suffers from severe migraines and of course, gets awful vertigo and vomits like crazy until his pain stops. Side note: I had a good handle on his diet and stopped his migraines in his tracks with dietary changes when he was younger. Now, he's almost a teen and sneaks foods he shouldn't have.
My middle son seems to attract every stomach bug that comes around. He even vomits when he has a cold... or other virus that usually doesn't cause vomiting in normal people. He also seems to have some food intolerances.
My youngest is severely lactose intolerant!!! Can't catch a break over here.

A horrible stomach bug ripped through our house a month ago. Then last week, I got a phone call from the school. My middle son threw up. Ugh.
So I started googling "stomach flu frequency" etc because it seems that he has had it at least 6 times since New Years Eve (of course) last year. I came across an article that really promoted raw, whole milk as a potential aid in decreasing stomach issue... not just "stomach flu" but digestive disorders as well.
We are almost totally lactose free. I only eat cheese. The kids don't really eat cheese and the milk they do drink once in a while is 1%. I do give them calcium and vitamin D... but between everyone's issues, we typically stay away from it. Here is the article

I have not been able to find any other research done on this. As we all know, "they" recommend staying away from dairy during any gastro ailment episode. So my searches have been clouded with recommendations to avoid dairy. I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of this, or has any other information regarding these claims. I am really wanting to change our diets because I personally believe that most GI issues can be stopped with the correct diet. I want to introduce pre and probiotics, and digestive enzymes. All food based. Supplements haven't really done a whole lot for me or the kids.
Thanks in advance!

Sounds like your kids have all kinds of digestive issues.
I would get away from milk completely for a while. Humans are the only animal that doesn't stop drinking milk at childhood. (At least I can't think of any)

Maybe try chlorophyll and or the stuff they put in yogurt...acidophilus maybe... ask a health food store.

a reply to: alishainwonderland

I work with milk. I recommend you to find out all about possible allergies that you and your family could have. Define if you have problems with lactic acid too. If you consider consuming a different type of milk, read first about rBST free milk.

Long time ago, I did a thread with some info you may find interesting. Here : www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: alishainwonderland

I think that if I were in your shoes, I'd give the probiotics a shot before I tried raw milk.

In my opinion (as a laymen, not a medical professional) if they are already susceptible to stomach bugs, the last thing you want to do is give them unpasteurized milk which could be loaded with pathogenic bacteria!

I agree with Hoosierdaddy71. I would avoid dairy completely. Stay away from sugar and preservatives. Eat fresh fruits and veggies. The herb pau d arco helped my digestion issues and heartburn. I also take chlorella for extra chlorophyll. Magnesium helps me too

You need the fat in milk. In fact, the percentages of Omega three fats to Omega six fats is a lot better in whole milk than in one percent. Grass fed milk is also better than regular milk. The type we buy is almost organic, but is more of a grass fed free range milk than commercial milk. Now there is more to this than that, don't drink reduced fat milk and do not eat Carrageenan added to anything. I don't care about Chinese hair in my food like my daughter does. It's kind of gross but oh well.

Milk is an antidote for a lot of things, and a sedative, containing beta blockers naturally. But the commercial crap is not the best because they have completely changed the cows diet.

a reply to: alishainwonderland

I've been drinking milk for about seven years now and it has helped to clear up many digestive issues that I had.

Raw milk still contains the enzymes and benefitical bacteria that is pasteurized out of - well- pasteurized milk.

My daughter was horrendously allegeric to milk when she was a baby, to the point that I couldn't have dairy while nursing. It was a protein allergy not the garden variety lactose intolerance - my mother was the same. So no dairy in my house basically ever. And I did have gas, bloating, heartburn, reflux, prone to food poisoning, etch from youth even without the milk.

So I read a book, "Noursing Traditions" by Sally Fallon, et al, and decided to give raw whole milk a try. Guess what the above began to go away - and pretty quickly. My daughter can drink raw whole milk without difficultly today though it's not a favorite, she does use it to make her own yoghurt and kefir.

Which brings me to raw cultured foods which are also very benefitical to digestive and overall health. Kefir, Kombucha, Saurkraut and other cultured veges. These feed and provide the benefitical bacteria that your gut needs to function well. Store bought, processed, pasturized foods do not. Though you can get these raw in many health food stores it is easy to do at home. I've always a 'vat' of something brewing....

Remember that you 'gut' health is important to many aspects of health including the immune system and the neurvous system (healthy gut bacteria produces B vitamins which are essential). Mood improves with a healthy gut environment, skin improves with an active gut, everything improves.

As for teenagers and food - they will learn or they will not and it's pretty much out of your hands at this point and in theirs - if they want to be sick from food, so be it.

I have very few digestive issues with milk right from the farmer. I can drink about five times as much as I can the organic grassfed kind that is pasteurized. But I do not have a local source. If a farmer knows what to feed the cows and does a good job at hay selection, the milk tastes great.

The last source I had, my stepfather actually knew the guy well, got busted and had to get rid of his six milkers. His milk was the best milk I ever tasted. The government burned him bad, he had to sell all his cows and still got a big fine.

I bet not one of those officials actually checked out the cleanliness of his barns to see how clean they were and his collection stuff was immaculate. He was very fussy with the breed of cow and the foods he fed them. I bet they never even tested a sample to find it it had any bad stuff in it.

This is how our government works, they classify all those who do not poison others into a criminal pool.

I made a mistake in my previous post and wrote "lactic acid" where it should say lactose. Please take that in consideration.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Thank you for the info! I just started Kevita and picked up some other fermented coconut water last night. The kevita alone has made me more regular already. I haven't been brave enough to try kombucha yet, but I will.

a reply to: alishainwonderland


Kombucha is great - the store bought ones too - great flavors - rather like a healthy soda - but expensive. But it is easy to make - all you need is a scoby (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) and you can buy them online or ask about town for someone who makes their own - they reproduce like bunnies. My dogs love them and get them whenever I pare one down.

a reply to: alishainwonderland
do some research on lemon and limes if you juice one of each including the skins take the pips out this should sort out their digestive tracts it also creates the most amount of enzymes in your liver and is very similar to hydrochloric acid. always use organic.

a reply to: alishainwonderland

Our naturopath has encouraged us to drink whole raw milk, and we are a family with a few digestive issues. The probiotics sound like an excellent idea, the good bugs only help. Kefir is something else that might be worth trying, it can be dairy or grain based. Through the course of my searching lately, I have also come across the fact that plain gelatin is very healing to the digestive system. It will help heal all the small fissures within the system. I don't remember the name right now but there is even a brand of gelatin that is sourced from organic free range animals.

It's amazing how much diet really does help. Supplements can also help, but only if your system is in the shape to absorb them to begin with. Ultimately most of my family's difficulties stem from malnutrition due to the inability to absorb enough from our food. I only share that because we went rounds for years with traditional doctors with no help. Goodness, one of them seriously contributed to the issues my oldest son is having. Find a good doctor and discuss these issues with them. It's also amazing at the range of odd things our digestive systems do to us. Several different problems can all cause the same general symptoms, and those same problems can hide behind different symptoms in everyone.

Best of luck to you. I feel your pain on the boys' enjoyment of certain body fluids and processes. Hopefully you can heal them up enough to enjoy them puke free for awhile! Oh, and one more thing, my doc told me that bags under the eyes are a classic food allergy symptom. Maybe that might help. I only post my own experiences and what has worked for my family, I'm not a doctor.