For more than a generation, we’ve been taught that milk does a body good, but in Got Milked? Alissa Hamilton dispels common misconceptions about milk and looks behind the marketing, examining the enormous influence the milk industry has over our diets. Separating science from advertising, Hamilton uncovers the inside story behind how milk became a dietary staple, stripping away years of conventional assumptions about diet to reveal the ways in which milk interferes with everyday health.

But more than just a sobering look at how milk is not the wonder food that it has been made out to be, Got Milked? also demonstrates how going milk-free can revolutionize your diet and your well-being. Attacking decades of accepted wisdom about milk, Got Milked? will make you rethink the way you consume milk and empower you to eat better. Hamilton also offers delicious dairy-free recipes and full meal plans that deliver the same nutrients found in dairy products, without all the sugar or negative side effects.

At once provocative and transformative, Got Milked? challenges many of the myths surrounding milk and will leave you prepared to take charge of your health. Not only will you find it easy to drop milk from your diet, you will thrive without it.

Three myths you don’t want to swallow

Myth #1: Milk protects your bones and prevents osteoporosis

Untrue. The calcium in milk, claimed by milk marketers as the best way to avoid diseases like osteoporosis, is actually harder for our bodies to absorb than the calcium found in vegetables like broccoli, bok choy and kale. In fact, the record high calcium recommendations in North America may be doing our bones and bodies more harm than good.

Myth #2: Milk is an essential part of a healthy diet

Untrue. Claims that milk is a good source of protein and other essential nutrients fly in the face of modern medical science. And although low-fat milk is fortified with vitamin D, vitamin D is fat-soluble and therefore not the best source of the nutrient. Further most people cannot digest lactose, the sugar in milk. Even those who can have good reason to avoid it. Lactose breaks down during digestion into a highly inflammatory sugar that can accelerate aging and lead to disease. The picture only gets worse when sugar-laden, flavored milk products are lumped in with milk marketing.

Myth #3: Milk is pure and simple

Untrue. Regular use of antibiotics and growth hormones means that modern milk is anything but natural. Some of the essential nutrients in milk are added in the same way that Kellogg’s fortifies Fruit Loops with vitamins and minerals. And the industrialization of milk has allowed dairy processors to mix large batches of milk from different farms to create a uniform product that lasts longer, but may also cause more allergies. Modern milk is making us sick, yet milk and sugary milk products – some with sugar levels as high as soft drinks – are served to children in schools across North America.

ALISSA HAMILTON is an author and an expert on food processing and marketing. Her first book, Squeezed: What You Don’t Know about Orange Juice, sparked a series of class-action lawsuits in the U.S. against orange-juice companies for their deceptive marketing practices. An authority on food labelling issues, Hamilton has wrote articles for various magazines, academic journals and online media sources. She has spoken at TEDxCambridge on the subject of “How Do You Eat?”; has been a guest on The Dr. Oz Show; has appeared as part of the consumer watchdog report on ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer; and has been featured and quoted in The Guardian, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, the New York Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Wired, NPR, Martha Stewart Living Radio and others. A 2008–2009 Food and Society Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, she continues to work with current and former fellows to advocate for more transparency on the production of processed foods. Alissa lives in Toronto.

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