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Last year, Paula Jager, owner of Crossfit Jaguar in Tampa Florida, wrote a series of riveting posts about her 15 day raw milk fast. This series on The Milk Cure sparked much interest from readers from around the world who became interested in reviving this age-old remedy for improving vitality, bodily cleansing and even reversal of serious illness as practiced in the early 1900s by the Mayo Foundation, a forerunner of the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota.
At the end of Paula’s raw milk fast last year, she said that she was so pleased with the results (she had the best bloodwork of her life at the conclusion of the fast) that she vowed to do a raw milk fast every year around the beginning of Spring.
A few days ago, Paula told me that she planned to start her annual raw milk fast very soon. What’s more, this year she asked me to do it with her.
My immediate and knee jerk response was, “Uh, fasts don’t really work for me. I don’t want to lose any weight either, so I think I’ll pass.”
Paula, being her persistent and tenacious self, continued to work to convince me.
Yeah, you guys think I’m such a hard nose, but the truth is, on most things I’m very much “go with the flow”. That cooperative middle child thing, you know?
Paula assured me that I needn’t lose any weight on the fast unless I tried to. One of the benefits of raw milk from pastured cows is that it is a complete food, a perfectly balanced elixir of highly digestible, nutrient-dense fats, protein, and carbohydrates. If you consume an adequate amount of ounces and calories for your body weight each day, no weight loss should occur.
She also assured me that she experienced no hunger or cravings during her fast last year, once again, a strong testament to the complete nature of pastured raw milk, known as “white blood” to physicians that have used it therapeutically.
Still unconvinced, I talked to my husband about it hoping to get a bit of moral support for my decision not to do the raw milk fast with Paula this year.
Sigh.
I got no help from hubby.
As soon as I told him the story, he says, “Hey, what a great idea! I’ll do it too!”
At that point, I started to get a teeny weeny bit excited about the fast. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if hubby joined in too. My biggest concern was cooking all this delicious, traditional food day in and day out for the kids and not eating any myself.
Talk about torture!
But, if what Paula told me is true, I shouldn’t feel hungry at all.
At that point, I was willing to give it a go.
Then, it hit me. Why don’t we do this together as a group for anyone who wants to join in? I know that a bunch of readers would like to do a raw milk fast based on emails I’ve received about it over the past year, so let’s do it as a 10 day raw milk challenge!
The Milk Cure (aka Raw Milk Fast)
Here’s how The Milk Cure 2012 will work …
Paula and I will start our raw milk fast on March 1, 2012.
Any of you who wish to join us should plan to start on that date as well.
The fast will go for 10 days and will conclude at midnight on March 10, 2012.
The only thing you are to consume on this fast is pastured raw milk. Water of course is fine too, but no other food or liquids but raw milk.
The reason I’m putting this post up a full week before the fast starts is to give those of you who are going to join us a chance to prepare and stock up on your raw milk. You may even need to freeze some if necessary if you don’t have access to weekly pickups.
You will need anywhere from 2-5 quarts of raw milk per day per person depending on your current height and weight. If you are trying to lose weight, then drink less. If you don’t want to lose any weight, drink as much as you need to stay satisfied at all times.
Paula drank 3 – 3 1/2 quarts per day last year. She is 5’3″ and 117 lbs.
Please read her 15-day Milk Cure diary from last year to prepare if you plan to join the challenge.
If you’re considering something less rigorous, this journal of a 3-day raw milk fast may prove helpful to your decision.
What worked for Paula was a pint of raw milk every 2 hours or so which translates to approximately 2,000 calories per day (if your raw milk comes from Jersey cows with tons of cream). If you drink raw milk from Holstein cows, you probably should think about adding some additional raw cream to each glass. A cup or so every hour or even a few ounces every 30 minutes works fine too – just adjust the amount and timeframe as it works best for you.
Also, please read about The Milk Cure and how it was used to cure very sick patients at the Mayo Foundation by clicking here.
I plan to drink closer to a gallon a day. I am just shy of 5’7″ and 124 lbs. I do not want to lose any weight so am shooting for 2,500-3,000 calories per day.
Feel free to stop the fast at any time if you choose to join in and discover that it isn’t working for you. I told Paula that if I start to lose weight after a few days, I plan to drop out. I lost 8 lbs on GAPS 2 years ago and although GAPS did me a world of good, I don’t want to go there again. My digestion is really good right now and I don’t have any health issues that I am addressing at the moment, so if this rocks the boat for me too much, I plan to drop out.
Why You Might Want to Fast With Us
I am attempting this raw milk fast primarily as a seasonal cleansing.
You might choose to join in to lose some weight. Perhaps you have some digestive or other health issues you want to turn the corner on and start to heal from.
Perhaps you might want to do it for spiritual reasons. Fasting is encouraged by many spiritual disciplines and that may appeal to you.
Whatever reasons you choose to join in are yours and yours alone. You can choose to share them with the rest of us or not.
Each day during the fast, I will post an update on how Paula, my husband, and I are doing. My hope is that any of you who are joining in will update all of us with your progress in the comments section.
The goal for this 10-day journey is to have available to the world a written diary of the experiences and observations of hundreds of people of various backgrounds and health challenges while on a raw milk fast.
Will this happen? I don’t know.
Maybe it will just be Paula and me and my husband.
I do hope at least a few of you will join us though!
If you do join in, please be sure to check with your doctor first before undertaking this fast particularly if you are doing it to help resolve any health issues.
Also, do not attempt this milk cure fast with pasteurized or even low temp pasteurized “cream top” milk.
Milk becomes a completely different food once it’s pasteurized and many vital nutrients and enzymes are either totally lost or significantly reduced. Pasteurized milk is not a complete food like raw milk is.
Please indicate in the comments section below if you plan to join us! If you want to add your reasons for joining in, that would be cool too but is not necessary.
10-Day Milk Cure Series
Below are links to each day of the Milk Cure 10 day raw milk fast so you can follow along and track our progress!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Breaking the Fast
How do you feel about raw milk from Jersey cows that are fed hay, silage, and grain? It is all that is available to me.
The Milk Cure was historically done with raw milk from cows on grass. Not sure how I feel about that. If it’s the best you can find, then it is what it is.
Sarah has it down with her way of life and eating.
You other women crack me up, with “I don’t want to gain weight” You worry to much about gaining weight. If you eat and drink the right foods and you gain weight. It will be in the form of solid weight, not water weight. That is what I call Healthy weight. Too thin is not healthy either and if your thin, but have a little pouch then your still not eating right. It does not take much to maintain a healthy weight. And yes you don’t have to kill your self in the gym or do long cardio sessions.
I do not agree Jeff. Hormones play an overriding part during menopause especially when your endocrine system is not right. These things must be in line for the metabolism to do its job correctly. If not. You will not budge an ounce no matter what you eat, do not eat or how much time you spend in the gym.
Just increased my raw milk order for next week. I have been thinking about doing a raw milk cleanse as I am reading Matt Stone”s ebooks on the 180 degree health website. I am overweight and trying to loose some. I have increased my metabolism by changing my diet, basal temp used to be 95 now it is 98.1. Now I want to cleanse the toxins. I was deciding this morning when to start, then I saw your blog. It’s good to have company.
I have done the fast in the past with success and would like to do it again but have concerns since I am now dealing with a sluggish metabolism. Do you think I could do the milk diet with a higher milk/cream ratio to keep the sugar calories low. I notice that I stay full for a long time when I drink cream (such as in my coffee). I can only afford 1500 calories per day. Your thoughts?
Ok, I really want to do this, however, I’m in Canada, so there is zero grass right now. What are your thoughts on doing a milk cure when the cows are not on fresh grass? I was planning on doing it in the spring when the grass started growing again (which isn’t until April/May here).
I’d love to do it with a group of people though, how fun would that be?!!
Yes, the group aspect is very appealing and may encourage a few to join in who otherwise would not or at least try it later.
I’ve decided to wait until the cows are on pasture since that makes more sense to me, in terms of using the best quality milk.
I look forward to reading everyone’s posts on how they’re doing during the fast! I’m glad you’re setting this up – it will be interesting to hear everyone’s experiences. Very exciting.
I’m in Ontario too, and am going to wait until May 1st to do this. Rachel – and the other person from Ontario who commented somewhere above – we should arrange our own group!
I think I am in! I am interested in loosing weight with this so how do I know how much milk to drink? I figure if I am going to fast then I can use that time to loose some of the extra poundage I have.
And my mom is going to join me!!! However we are going to start on the 5th.
Count me in for NEXT YEAR. Currently breast feeding.
I would love to do this (after the pregnancy (38 weeks now) and after EBF this next baby, but there is NO WAY that I could get that much raw milk. My cowshare is only for a gallon a week, and cowshares are the only legal way to get raw milk around here. How is it possible to get so much raw milk?!
Save some each time you get your gallon and freeze it. Sarah tells how to do that and it’s also discussed in a couple of the comments here. I’m finally catching up on reading some of them!
That is a good idea, but I only have one freezer and no other way to add a freezer since we rent and space is very limited. Most of the space in the freezer already goes to broth and local meat! I will try to figure out some other way, though! I hadn’t thought about freezing, so I might try to find someone else’s freezer to borrow 🙂 Or, try to talk my farmer into giving me more for a short period of time.
I’m kind of bummed that I have to wait another year, actually! I love love raw milk and I think I’d have no problem drinking it for that long.
Could small amounts of cod liver oil or raw liver be consumed during the fast? Should all veggies be avoided too? I incubate my yoghurt using our oven light for 24 hours. Is that too much heat? Should a combination of milk and yoghurt be consumed if we plan to mix it up? Should one wait to shake off a cold or sniffles before starting this fast i.e., should we be perfectly healthy before starting this fast? Thanks.
I don’t think being perfectly healthy is necessary. After all, if you read the link to the 1929 article (referenced in Sarah’s blog post above, about midway through) you’ll see raw milk was used as the Mayo Clinic “cure” for all kinds of illnesses when medical people still had their wits about them and some common sense, too.
I’ll be joining you and would love to have a jump start on losing weight. How much raw milk should I drink…..I’m 5’5″….moderately active?
Start with 2, 1/2 quarts. If you don’t lose at least a pound per week, reduce gradually until you start dropping. What is your bodyweight?
164 🙁
That’s just a baseline. Yep, start with about 1500 and see what happens–do keep you your activity. Please keep us posted through this blog.
Also….I’m 61 years old
I’ll definitely keep you posted and increase my activity level 🙂 I’m in Palm Beach FL on vacation and won’t be able to start until March 4th when I return to PA….so my 10 days will not coincide with Sarah’s.