Last week I participated in my first Holistic Mom’s Group here in Santa Clarita.  I decided to attend to learn new approaches to parenting.  Most books and websites only guide you towards the mainstream way of parenting.  The topic this week was on raw dairy.  I knew a few people through my husband (who was once a personal trainer) that ate a raw diet and I myself tried it for about a day.  It is really difficult to find enough foods to eat since I like a variety in my diet.  And in the SCV the only place to purchase such foods is at Whole foods which can be very expensive. 
The reason people eat a raw diet is because cooking food kills enzymes. Enzymes help you digest your food. Your body can create enzymes but that process takes a lot of energy. This process makes you feel tired and heavy after a cooked food meal. Further, the enzymes your body makes are not as efficient and effective as the ones that were destroyed in your food. Consequently, your food is not broken down as well and thus harder to digest. Cooking foods also changes the pH of the food and makes food acidic.  Eating acidifying food makes your body a welcome feeding ground for disease.  Cooking foods can also destroy most vitamins.  (to learn m ore go to http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/raw-food-diet.html)

One of the leaders talked about developing your own raw milk formula, if you decided not to breastfeed your child and also showed us how to make our own raw cheese and butter from raw cream.  It was surprisingly easy and delicious!  I however don’t know if this will fit into my lifestyle now that I am a working mom but it was great to learn about some different options.  My son is currently fed about 1/3 breast milk and 2/3 organic formula (cow’s milk based), and soon enough he’ll be eating solids which I’m looking forward to making his food from scratch.  Back to the Holistic Mom’s Group… I decided I would pay the $45/annual fee to sign up for this group and attend the meetings.  The next topic is regarding cloth diapers, which is another topic that I don’t think applies to me but I’m definitely interested in learning more about!

Namaste