If you are struggling to digest raw, pastured, organic, or even cultured milk you might have a beta A1 casein allergy. Traditionally all cows were A2, but at some point, there was a switch in the genetics of many of our cows. Most of the milk for sale today is actually A1. If a cow is A1, it is said to have mutated genes and some people believe this milk is harder to digest. Many people have found that switching to A2 milk helps them to nourish themselves with dairy (especially raw milk) without any issues. It is interesting to note that human breast milk is A2.
After a lot of struggles over the past 6 years of trying to find or get milk from an A2 cow, we were finally able to milk one of our A2 cows with success, despite the fact that she was very nasty!!We purchased her in milk the year before, but I finally gave up on her after two weeks of only getting a quart of milk, and never feeling like the milk was safe to drink, because she caused so much trouble. That nasty cow taught me a lot, especially patience! We finally milked this same cow a little over a year ago with a little better success, and we observed that the three of our family members, including myself, that had significant symptoms after eating our own pastured, raw, beyond organic milk could tolerate A2 milk very well. It was interesting to note that in the past we all tolerated our butter and cream (there is little casein in cream) so if you can’t find A2 milk, you might be able to tolerate the cream still.
Old-fashioned cows like jerseys and guernseys are more likely to be A2, but be careful if you are in search of true A2 milk. I have heard a lot of stories of people assuming that certain cow breeds were all A2. We read a magazine article a few years ago about a family that was selling A2 milk, and they said they didn’t test their cows because all jerseys are A2. We have tested enough jerseys to know that this is not the case. I don’t believe they were trying to be deceitful; they were simply misinformed. We have also learned through this testing that breeding with an A2A2 bull does not guarantee that the calves from this bull will also be A2A2. A couple years ago I was looking at a $3000 female calf that was said to be A2A2 just because it was bred to an A2 bull, and that was not enough to convince me to buy that calf. Our recent testing has proven this to be false. I’m very thankful we didn’t spend that much on a calf. Sometimes when my situations are difficult, I think that spending more money will fix the problems, but often times it doesn’t.
Have you tried A2 milk and noticed a difference? We would love to hear from you!
Our family has learned to slow down, make careful observations of what heals/damages, get rid of the distractions, take a little more time preparing our food, and most importantly to seek the Lord’s wisdom. It’s a daily struggle and it never goes perfectly, but we just keep trying to do the best we can. If you are working toward a more traditional, clean, whole foods diet, and would like to take small steps to get there, then you are at the right place. Week one was get your salt right, week 2 was get your sleep right, weeks 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were get your fats right, we had several weeks about seasonings and herbs, some important discussion about natural sweeteners, talked about Forgiveness, hopefully we got our eggs right, learned about the benefits of pastured, clean meats, considered getting mercury removed, we got the toxins out of our mouth, skin, and hair, made some changes in our cleaning routines, and this week we are talking about raw milk. Join us next Tuesday for Get Your . . . Right.