Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Devil Wears Prada...but GORBACHEV WEARS LOUIS VUITTON!


Boy oh boy have times changed...
I'm not even sure what to say for this one....
Anyway, there you have it. Mikhail Gorbachev as the new face of Louis Vuitton!
Don't stare too hard :).
GORBY FOR VICTORIA'S SECRET!!! YEA!!!

Monday, September 3, 2007

Got (Antibiotic treated and Hormone-raged) Milk?

Warning: This post is DAS (Dead A** Serious)

I used to love the Got Milk? commercials (even though I was a bit lactose intolerant). In the midst of all the random, crass advertisements that wallowed in the ideal of reckless human consumption, the full-page GM? ads felt wholesome and comforting. Flanked by some of the most god-like celebrities (including the likes of Conan O'Brien, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Pikachu), milk seemed to be the super drink of the millenium, something that Popeye would use in place of spinach and still get the same great effects.

It took me awhile to realize that the purpose of those ads were less charming than seemed. Other than for encouraging poor grammar (not unlike Apple's "Think Different") I would personally criticize these ads on quite a few levels.

First off, a little history...

Started in 1993, the campaign was created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993. The campaign is credited with putting life back into milk sales nationwide after a 20-year slump. So there. So much for GM? being a non-profit cause.

Now, think back to when you were little. When most of us were wee little ones, we were pounded into our noggins taught that dairy products are rich sources of calcium, making them essential for building strong bones. Calcium loss from bone was said to cause osteoporosis and the oh-so-feared "adult shrinkage".

Well, listen to this:

"After tracking hip fractures and eating habits in 72,337 women for 20 years, they failed to find a correlation between consuming more than 700mg of calcium a day and stronger bones."

"Similarly, a 1994 study of elderly men and women in Sydney, Australia, showed that higher dairy product consumption was associated with increased fracture risk. Those with the highest dairy product consumption had approximately double the risk of hip fracture compared with those with the lowest consumption."

Did you know that the countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk (namely Norway, Sweden, and Denmark) and have the most calcium in their diets?

But what about all the awesome calcium, you pout? Dairy products cause calcium to be lost through the kidneys into the urine, making it useless to the body.

Sorry to break your little heart there. But what's next is even scarier:

Approved about 14 years ago by the FDA, BGH (Bovine Growth Hormone), which is used by dairy farmers to increase their milk production, is actually a GENETICALLY ENGINEERED drug. Not surprisingly, it has been known to cause many problems for the cows injected including increases in mastitis (udder disease), reproductive problems, swellings, digestive problems, enlarged hocks and lesions and foot problems. Believe it or not, about a quarter of the milk produced in this nation contains BGH. Hmmmm...can't wait to chug that down the next time I reach for the fridge.

Obviously, all these antibiotics and injections given to cows will effect the humans that are so overly encouraged to consume it. And not in a pretty way.

In fact, Dutch and Scandinavian women suffer from higher rates of breast cancer compared to countries with low levels of calcium intake, something that could almost definitively be linked to the high consumption levels of milk.

After visiting a local dairy farm (I do love Elsie) I learned that pasteurized, homogenized milk is NEVER fed to calves as it will make them sick.

And even though milk is a liquid, it contains quite a frightening amount of fats and cholesterol. One cup of 2% milk has as much fat as 3 strips of bacon. Think of that the next time you reach for the carton.

But no, sweethearts. Skim milk is not any better. Read this:

"The path...begins with modern feeding methods that substitute high-protein, soy-based feeds for fresh green grass and breeding methods to produce cows with abnormally large pituitary glands so that they produce three times more milk than the old fashioned scrub cow. These cows need antibiotics to keep them well.

Their milk is then pasteurized so that all valuable enzymes are destroyed..."

"Literally dozens of other precious enzymes are destroyed in the pasteurization process. Without them, milk is very difficult to digest. The human pancreas is not always able to produce these enzymes; over-stress of the pancreas can lead to diabetes and other diseases."

"The butterfat of commercial milk is homogenized, subjecting it to rancidity. Even worse, butterfat may be removed altogether. Skim milk is sold as a health food, but the truth is that butter-fat is in milk for a reason."

Well, now that we've talked about skim milk, let's talk about what you've probably been wondering about: losing weight. So Sophia, you ask, is it true that drinking milk helps you lose weight?

The "Dairy council" says it is. They recommend that we add three dairy products to our daily diet. To lose this weight, we should drink the watery low-fat varieties of these products. But they also say you must also reduce our daily calorie intake as well as exercise.

Can you say BS???? That's like saying, "I can give you a free house. But to have it, you must provide all the materials and build it yourself."

To those downing pints of milk in your system in hopes of losing weight, here's what to do next: STOP!!!!

From the Washington Post:

"The study of more than 12,000 children nationwide found that the more milk they drank, the more weight they gained: Those consuming more than three servings each day were about 35 percent more likely to become overweight than those who drank one or two."


Anyway, remember this: COW MILK WAS NOT CREATED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. IT IS FOR BABY COWS. Considering that about 75% of Earth's human population is lactose intolerant, only a COMPLETE DUMA** would think of cow milk as a "natural" drink for humans.

If you really want your Calcium and Vitamin D, eat your veggies.

Up to 10,000 years ago no humans consumed cow's milk yet the archaeological record shows that our ancestors, maintained excellent bone health without having to steal milk from the children of other mammals. How did they do this?

Green leafy vegetables, such as kale and spring greens, meets calcium requirements in a manner consistent with our evolutionary heritage. Hooray for kale!