Milk, and the shortage of it

[belgiank]

Over 40% of Dominican suffer from High BP and Cholesterol.

Although I agree with you guys, how many Americans suffer from the same.

How many Americans walk anywhere? Walking from their car to the food court in the mall, does not count. And even then you see more and more of them using those electric cars for handicapped or elderly people, with their bellies scraping the floor.

How many eat veggies? No, an onion ring, although delicious, does not count, and neither does the see-through sliver of tomato or onion on your favorite burger.

Mind you, the problem is getting bigger and bigger as well in Europe.

At least, here they the excuse that their staple diet is very restricted. Having said this, I see a lot of Dominicans eating veggies, simply because they cannot afford the meat.

[PeterInBrat]

If we are going to go down the road of the American diet, then I'm going to want to talk about High Fructose Corn Syrup and I'm going to start sounding more like pi2.

The American diet has been in decline for about 30 years. Now, about half of what we(in the US) spend on food is on dining out and for many Americans, dining at home means putting something in the microwave and watching TV while they eat. With both parents working, there isn't the time or energy to make a home cooked meal everyday anymore, much less shop for produce two or three times a week.

American agriculture has been directed to commodity crops such as soy and corn since the Nixon administration(Google "Rusty Butz"). Meanwhile, we are trying to outsource perishable crops to the third world where labor costs are lower(and regs for pesticides are also more lax.) The result is a green pepper can often cost the same as a 2 liter bottle of corn-based soda. In many states, either can be bought with Food Stamps. That's why Americans have incredibly huge asses..

Meanwhile milk(remember milk?) is an indirect product of the commodity crops since concentrated feed-lot dairy cows are fed corn/soy based diets with limited, if any grazing. While I'm no fan of bGH, it's indirectly keeping many of the smaller dairy farmers afloat who produce organic(and sometimes raw) milk-- they can sell it for a premium while enduring poor economies of scale. If bGH was banned in the US, the little farmers couldn't compete.

As for animal fat being inherently unhealthy, I think there is much to be debated there. Lard is making a come-back as a "healthy" cooking oil(see below) and butter is lower in trans-fats than corn-based, partially-hydrogenated margarine. Some argue that animal fat from grass fed livestock is healthier than fat from animals raised in concentrated feed lots on grains.

Your body needs some fat. And it's true raw olive oil or other cold pressed oils healthier than grain derived oils and there is also a cult movement about fish oils, flax seed oil and Omega-3 fatty acids. But commercial deep-frying in olive oil is not realistic for cost, and people pretty much everywhere like fried foods. Coincidentally, restaurants really like to sell it. The US has started to phase out trans-fats, but it comes at a price since un-hydrogenated oils do not preform as long as trans-fats.

* More on "healthy" lard:
Lard: The New Health Food? | Food & Wine

[CaptnGlenn]

I just heard a report on lard, and the history of its use and fall from favor in general use. It was on NPR and I'm sure the podcast would be on their site if anyone wanted to hear it.

[Derfish]

speaking of milk... (pet peeve of mine).... why in the world is that crap they call soy milk, (or almond milk, or whatever milk) called MILK at all???? By definition, milk is the product of the mammary glands of an animal (mammal), NOT a bean or legume. OK.. it's white and it's liquid... but it sure as hell ISN'T MILK. They should call it soy beverage, or soy cocktail, or something OTHER than milk. lol ok... getting down off my soapbox now. LOL

Well, there is coconut milk, and coconut meat!
Der Fish

[PeterInBrat]

This guys knows more than any of us here and says it a lot better:

Lewis Black the problem with milk today - YouTube

[CaptnGlenn]

that's true, Der.... but coconut milk was never marketed as an alternative to REAL milk, it was simply a descriptive term to call the liquid in a coconut.

[PeterInBrat]

Coconut water is so healthy it's still used as an emergency substitute for blood plasma. Coconut milk is in the dairy section now too along with rice, soy and almond....

[cobraboy]

But then calves seem to like it!
CC

Maybe it's better on draft...

[PeterInBrat]

I wonder what it would cost to commercially produce coconut milk in the DR. Would it be cheaper than "moo-cow" milk and more importantly, would people use it? Creamora coffee creamer is coconut based. In the US, I think it's about $3.50 for a half gallon of coconut milk in the dairy section(twice as much as cow milk), but maybe it could be produced for less in the DR.

[Koreano]

So there's no milk in DR? This will freak my wife out. We have consulted with our doctor regarding our son and he have prescribed him a strong vitamins. But fact that there is no organic milk will freak out my wife. She will have no problem feeding him soy milk but you and I it's isn't same.

Damn.... Got no milk?