A Few Stats...
Some stats!:
Over the 15 days that I had raw milk, I consumed a grand total of.... 76L of raw milk!!
At 760 calories per litre, this means I consumed 57'760 calories of milk!
Each day I consumed between 3-7L of raw milk a day, and an average of 5L (around 3800 calories a day).
Why I Liked it
- Convenient: grab bottle of raw milk, and go!
- Time-saving: compared juice fasting/feasting, where I would spend hours each morning preparing juices, and have to spend time getting the bulk quantity of produce needed, raw milk is a walk in the park! There is no prep needed, no equipment required, all you have to do is open the bottle and drink!
- Economical: depending on where you source your raw milk, it can save a significant amount of money off of the regular food bills. When I bought mine from the market in France, I paid 1 euro a litre, spending 3-6 euros a day on food depending on how much raw milk I would consume. I don't think I could have eaten such high-quality nutrition for any cheaper.
- Psychological freedom: don't have to think about food!
- Is a cleanse that doesn't destroy the metabolism - many "cleanses" cause the metabolism to decrease, due to minimal caloric intake, low protein and fat intake, and combined with high physical activity. On the contrary, being on only raw milk helped balance my thyroid, helped to increase energy, and motivation to move - and, weeks after, feel healthier, leaner and more energetic.
- Didn't feel deprived or depleted: for the first 2 weeks, I was completely satisfied on nothing but raw milk.
- Feels extremely nourishing and balanced. The immense nutrition that raw, grass-fed milk provides, from the omega 3 and CLA and other fatty acids, to the complete bioavailable protein, to the minerals and enzymes, creates a feeling of being ultimately nourished on all levels.
- Delicious: raw, creamy grass-fed milk is da bomb!!!
Benefits I experienced
- HYPERTHYROID REMISSION!!! Yes, yes, yes!! I got the tests back, and was over the moon. While this isn't the only change I made from being re-diagnosed with autoimmune hyperthyroidism (Grave's disease), it is the most dramatic one I did. From the day after my tests showing hyperthyroid levels, the 3 weeks in-between retesting is the time I did 2 weeks on raw milk. The after-tests showed that my thyroid levels were HALVED!!! "This would be the best possible, most efficient results of medication that we could expect" -- my doctors words. She still called it "spontaneous remission" - I can contest that it required effort though haha! While my levels are still slightly above normal and TSH is still low, this takes time to level out, and I am having tests again in 2 weeks.
- TEETH!!! I have had a lot of severe issues with my teeth from my raw vegan days, and during and since these 2 weeks on raw milk, my teeth have NEVER felt better. For me, this is huge, and the biggest benefit I've gotten out of this, apart from and along with the above
- Skin, hair & nail health: I noticed improvements in all 3. Stronger, shinier, healthier-looking.
- Metabolic reset: having done periods of extremely low carb and ketogenic diets in the past, which had their own therapeutic benefits and extremely helped manage symptoms, I feel long-term, chronic low carb with no breaks may negatively impact metabolism and thyroid health and stress hormone levels - at least for me. I feet that the 2 weeks with completely different macros from the raw milk (but no fructose!... except from the few spoonfuls of raw honey I had some days!) were really nourishing to my thyroid and metabolic health.
- Psychological freedom: like I mentioned above, it was extremely freeing to not have to think about food and everything else around it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food, shopping at the farmers market, and preparing beautiful dishes! But periods like this allow me to reset and simplify my food choices, as well as pervade perspective on my relationship with food - not to mention free up a ton of extra time during the day!
- Less inflammation, no more arthritic pain in the joints in my hands upon waking (which came along with hyperthyroid symptoms coming back).
- Stronger in the gym! I made progress on all my major lifts, and I didn't loose strength in the gym.
Remarks
- Digestive issues didn't noticeably improve, but it did provide temporary relief
- 2 weeks seemed the perfect time for me, and more than than was a struggle.
- I didn't have access to probiotics or kefir grains this time, and next time I would ferment most of my raw milk if I could (though I did let some of it naturally ferment by leaving it on the counter for a few days)
- I didn't loose any significant amount of weight, although weight on the scale is not always representative of body composition changes. I do feel that I lost a small amount of fat, or/& gained a small amount of muscle (at least I look a little leaner, but it may just be from less inflammation, too) - however, for me, this is not a weight loss tool - but then again, I drank a LOT of raw milk! From the calories I was getting a day, theoretically I should have put on quite a few kilos, but didn't.