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How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation

22.36 |


Staying motivated is a struggle — our drive is constantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future. Everyone faces doubt and depression. What separates the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward.
There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.

Reasons We Lose Motivation

There are 3 primary reasons we lose motivation.
  1. Lack of confidence – If you don’t believe you can succeed, what’s the point in trying?
  2. Lack of focus – If you don’t know what you want, do you really want anything?
  3. Lack of direction – If you don’t know what to do, how can you be motivated to do it?

How to Boost Confidence

The first motivation killer is a lack of confidence. When this happens to me, it’s usually because I’m focusing entirely on what I want and neglecting what I already have. When you only think about what you want, your mind creates explanations for why you aren’t getting it. This creates negative thoughts. Past failures, bad breaks, and personal weaknesses dominate your mind. You become jealous of your competitors and start making excuses for why you can’t succeed. In this state, you tend to make a bad impression, assume the worst about others, and lose self confidence.
The way to get out of this thought pattern is to focus on gratitude. Set aside time to focus on everything positive in your life. Make a mental list of your strengths, past successes, and current advantages. We tend to take our strengths for granted and dwell on our failures. By making an effort to feel grateful, you’ll realize how competent and successful you already are. This will rejuvenate your confidence and get you motivated to build on your current success.
It might sound strange that repeating things you already know can improve your mindset, but it’s amazingly effective. The mind distorts reality to confirm what it wants to believe. The more negatively you think, the more examples your mind will discover to confirm that belief. When you truly believe that you deserve success, your mind will generate ways to achieve it. The best way to bring success to yourself is to genuinely desire to create value for the rest of the world.

Developing Tangible Focus

The second motivation killer is a lack of focus. How often do you focus on what you don’t want, rather than on a concrete goal? We normally think in terms of fear. I’m afraid of being poor. I’m afraid no one will respect me. I’m afraid of being alone. The problem with this type of thinking is that fear alone isn’t actionable. Instead of doing something about our fear, it feeds on itself and drains our motivation.
If you’re caught up in fear based thinking, the first step is focusing that energy on a well defined goal. By defining a goal, you automatically define a set of actions. If you have a fear of poverty, create a plan to increase your income. It could be going back to school, obtaining a higher paying job, or developing a profitable website. The key is moving from an intangible desire to concrete, measurable steps.
By focusing your mind on a positive goal instead of an ambiguous fear, you put your brain to work. It instantly begins devising a plan for success. Instead of worrying about the future you start to do something about it. This is the first step in motivating yourself to take action. When know what you want, you become motivated to take action.

Developing Direction

The final piece in the motivational puzzle is direction. If focus means having an ultimate goal, direction is having a day-to-day strategy to achieve it. A lack of direction kills motivation because without an obvious next action we succumb to procrastination. An example of this is a person who wants to have a popular blog, but who spends more time reading posts about blogging than actually writing articles.
The key to finding direction is identifying the activities that lead to success. For every goal, there are activities that pay off and those that don’t. Make a list of all your activities and arrange them based on results. Then make a make an action plan that focuses on the activities that lead to big returns. To continue the example from above, a blogger’s list would look something like this:
  1. Write content
  2. Research relevant topics
  3. Network with other bloggers
  4. Optimize design and ad placements
  5. Answer comments and email
  6. Read other blogs
Keeping track of your most important tasks will direct your energy towards success. Without a constant reminder, it’s easy to waste entire days on filler activities like reading RSS feeds, email, and random web surfing.
When my motivation starts to wane, I regain direction by creating a plan that contains two positive actions. The first one should be a small task you’ve been meaning to do, while the second should be a long-term goal. I immediately do the smaller task. This creates positive momentum. After that I take the first step towards achieving the long-term goal. Doing this periodically is great for getting out of a slump, creating positive reinforcement, and getting long-term plans moving.
It’s inevitable that you’ll encounter periods of low energy, bad luck, and even the occasional failure. If you don’t discipline your mind, these minor speed bumps can turn into mental monsters. By being on guard against the top 3 motivation killers you can preserve your motivation and propel yourself to success.
Confidence is KEY to keeping motivated. 

Want to feel great every single week? NOW YOU CAN!

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/tag/balance/

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10 Ways to Instantly Build Self Confidence

22.33 |


Self confidence is the difference between feeling unstoppable and feeling scared out of your wits. Your perception of yourself has an enormous impact on how others perceive you. Perception is reality — the more self confidence you have, the more likely it is you’ll succeed.

Although many of the factors affecting self confidence are beyond your control, there are a number of things you can consciously do to build self confidence. By using these 10 strategies you can get the mental edge you need to reach your potential

Build Self Confidence


1. Dress Sharp
Although clothes don’t make the man, they certainly affect the way he feels about himself. No one is more conscious of your physical appearance than you are. When you don’t look good, it changes the way you carry yourself and interact with other people. Use this to your advantage by taking care of your personal appearance. In most cases, significant improvements can be made by bathing and shaving frequently, wearing clean clothes, and being cognizant of the latest styles.
This doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot on clothes. One great rule to follow is “spend twice as much, buy half as much”. Rather than buying a bunch of cheap clothes, buy half as many select, high quality items. In long run this decreases spending because expensive clothes wear out less easily and stay in style longer than cheap clothes. Buying less also helps reduce the clutter in your closet.
2. Walk Faster
One of the easiest ways to tell how a person feels about herself is to examine her walk. Is it slow? tired? painful? Or is it energetic and purposeful? People with confidence walk quickly. They have places to go, people to see, and important work to do. Even if you aren’t in a hurry, you can increase your self confidence by putting some pep in your step. Walking 25% faster will make to you look and feel more important.
3. Good Posture
Similarly, the way a person carries herself tells a story. People with slumped shoulders and lethargic movements display a lack of self confidence. They aren’t enthusiastic about what they’re doing and they don’t consider themselves important. By practicing good posture, you’ll automatically feel more confident. Stand up straight, keep your head up, and make eye contact. You’ll make a positive impression on others and instantly feel more alert and empowered.
4. Personal Commercial
One of the best ways to build confidence is listening to a motivational speech. Unfortunately, opportunities to listen to a great speaker are few and far between. You can fill this need by creating a personal commercial. Write a 30-60 second speech that highlights your strengths and goals. Then recite it in front of the mirror aloud (or inside your head if you prefer) whenever you need a confidence boost.
5. Gratitude
When you focus too much on what you want, the mind creates reasons why you can’t have it. This leads you to dwell on your weaknesses. The best way to avoid this is consciously focusing on gratitude. Set aside time each day to mentally list everything you have to be grateful for. Recall your past successes, unique skills, loving relationships, and positive momentum. You’ll be amazed how much you have going for you and motivated to take that next step towards success.
6. Compliment other people
When we think negatively about ourselves, we often project that feeling on to others in the form of insults and gossip. To break this cycle of negativity, get in the habit of praising other people. Refuse to engage in backstabbing gossip and make an effort to compliment those around you. In the process, you’ll become well liked and build self confidence. By looking for the best in others, you indirectly bring out the best in yourself.
7. Sit in the front row
In schools, offices, and public assemblies around the world, people constantly strive to sit at the back of the room. Most people prefer the back because they’re afraid of being noticed. This reflects a lack of self confidence. By deciding to sit in the front row, you can get over this irrational fear and build your self confidence. You’ll also be more visible to the important people talking from the front of the room.
8. Speak up
During group discussions many people never speak up because they’re afraid that people will judge them for saying something stupid. This fear isn’t really justified. Generally, people are much more accepting than we imagine. In fact most people are dealing with the exact same fears. By making an effort to speak up at least once in every group discussion, you’ll become a better public speaker, more confident in your own thoughts, and recognized as a leader by your peers.
9. Work out
Along the same lines as personal appearance, physical fitness has a huge effect on self confidence. If you’re out of shape, you’ll feel insecure, unattractive, and less energetic. By working out, you improve your physcial appearance, energize yourself, and accomplish something positive. Having the discipline to work out not only makes you feel better, it creates positive momentum that you can build on the rest of the day.
10. Focus on contribution
Too often we get caught up in our own desires. We focus too much on ourselves and not enough on the needs of other people. If you stop thinking about yourself and concentrate on the contribution you’re making to the rest of the world, you won’t worry as much about you own flaws. This will increase self confidence and allow you to contribute with maximum efficiency. The more you contribute to the world the more you’ll be rewarded with personal success and recognition.

*source::http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/10-ways-to-instantly-build-self-confidence/

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Imagine How the World Would Change By Knowing What Type of Learner You Are

21.47 |


Catherine Franz
President John Kennedy was a reader and writer. President Lyndon Johnson was a listener. President Johnson didn't do well as he could in the White House because he thought he had to follow Kennedy’s way of learning and absorb everything through writing. As well written as those reports were, he couldn't comprehend them as well as Kennedy. It wasn't until many years after the White House that Johnson learned what type of learner he was. Now, all we can do is think of the possibilities of how different the United States would be right now if he learned sooner.

Eisenhower was a reader and writer. During the war, Eisenhower insisted that all questions be presented in writing prior to each press event. His press events, outstanding and memorable because of his ability to process in writing, opened his path to Washington. In Washington, Eisenhower, now required to be a listener and respond on the spot, found it very difficult to learn and think. This limitation did affect his decision making, thus the world’s progress, and especially America’s success. His country no longer had the full benefit of his evolutionary learning – his brilliance.

Our school system teaches by listening and reading and not writing. This is why many writers’ in high school and college do poorly in lecture-type classes. When required to test based on lecture they usually receive an inadequate grade for their level. When allowed to read and submit a report, they flourish. When allowed to process the information in writing they add to classroom conversations in outstanding ways. Many times moving the information in evolutionary new ways or depths. Writers need to design their study through the writing process. Writer’s learn and perform by writing not listening.

What type of learner are you? Your child? Significant other? Customers you attract? How does this affect how they learn from you, how they process, and how they succeed?

The way they learn affects them in everything they do in their life and yours.

For instance, are you an entrepreneur? Today, it is popular for entrepreneurs to deliver their information through teleclasses and teleseminars. I know, I'm a certified teleclass leader, and offer these regularly.

Most individuals who attend these events learn best through listening. The majority of the attendees are listeners. Does this mean that readers/writers aren't able to learn through this manner? Not, necessarily. Their success does depend on the leader and the event’s structure.

If you are a reader/writer and you are registering for a teleseminar – 98% listening design – then you will need pre- session prep notes, a recording of the session, and to set aside additional time to process the information in writing afterwards in order to maximize your learning. The leader needs to all writing time, exercises, during the session. The event needs to provide preparation and follow up materials, such as notes. And encourage continued processing through writing afterwards. An important skill required for leaders of both learners is learning the delicate balance between giving space for writing and not letting listeners fall zone out.

Are the type of customers you attract listeners or reader/writers? Because of the law of attraction, like attracts like, and quantum physics, it is natural for listeners to attract listeners. And readers/writers attract the same. This does not necessarily mean listener learners can't attract readers/writers. It does mean that to attract the oppose you will need to learn and practice the opposite’s way of learning. If you are listener, learn to process through writing. If you are a writer, learn and practice listening and language skills. An acting class is an excellent place to start.

Attracting the opposite is a choice. It will require both extended patience and practice. The payoff can be enormous in making revenue. There isn't a right or wrong in this, just awareness, observation, and choice. If you are a company that wants to attract the opposite for a wider set of prospects, hire the right learner, and have the patience to work with them knowing their benefit for the company.

If someone is standing before you, you can easily tell if they are a listener just by watching their brain process as you verbalize. If they need to write it down, let them, you also have the answer on how they learn.

Listeners who want to write something, love to talk their way through what they want to write first verbally before writing. Or they want someone to listen as they process a spot they make be stuck on in their writing. Ask them to tape record their part of the conversation. They will probably not need to hear it again but the safety net will provide calm in their writing process.

This is why writers prefer to tape record interviews. They aren't natural listeners and need that additional support to process. After years of conducting interviews, the writer’s listening skills have increased to higher levels and they rely less on the tape recorder as support.

Knowing your learning style does determine life, career and relationship performance. It can affect your job evaluations, who you attract in life, success and results. If your boss is a listener and you a writer, it can be a big difference in how you get along, frequency of pay increases, and even whether you are let go.

If you have every let someone go, think back to whether they were just a different type of learner than yourself, and this tried your patience. I know I can find a few when I was an early employer. I bet you can too.

If you are in a high position, it could affect America or even the world. Who knows, someone reading this today may be President years from now and a single decision like going to war may be made outside the scope of their learning style that can cost America much.

Be brilliant at who you are by knowing how you learn. And then doing it your way!
 
----------------------
Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Coach, specializes in infoproduct development. Newsletters and additional articles available: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com/
----------------------

Article Source: EzineArticles.com


 

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Perfectionist Boss

21.43 |

Use Emotional Intelligence and Body Language Training So That You Don’t Suffer Under Your Perfectionist Boss

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Math En English !! ^^

20.15 |

The study of mathematics may be likened to the study of a language. In fact, mathematics is a language, the language of number and size.  
Just as the rules of grammar must be studied in order to master English, so must certain concepts, definitions, rules, terms, and words be learned in the pursuit of mathematical knowledge.  
These form the vocabulary or structure of the language. The more language is studied and used, the greater becomes the vocabulary; the more mathematics is studied; the more mathematics is studied and applied, the greater becomes its usefulness.

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ODDitude ___ Finding the Passion for Who You Are and What You Do

21.19 |


Odd View..

Becoming your wizard of ODD :

1.       Keep in mind that those who thirst for recognition from others don’t recognize much in themselves.

2.       Love who you are. Love what you do or do something else.

3.       To be ODD, you must develop spiritual muscles, the strength to stand alone and the will to rule your world.

4.       Remember, passion is the heartbeat of ODDITUDE.

5.       Remind yourself that every moment on this planet is a privilege. Life is passionately. Have fun. Be ODD. Now !!!

Being a wizard of ODD to OTHERS

1.       Encourage those you care about to become their own wizards. Remind them that when they do, they will be.


JOYOUS. 

They will love who they are and whay they do. 

CREATIVE. 

They will learn from everyone around them, but they will live their lives in their own unique way. 

DEMANDING. 

They will settle for nothing less than the very best from both them selves and everyone around them.


They will be ODD.

Be the highlight of everyone’s day

As you know, today’s world is more than just you---it is also yhe art of leadership and teamwork, effectively communication with others, dealing with change, problem solving, and creative thinking. Someone once said, “No man is an island.” Of course, no man is a couch either. But that’s not the point. The point is that we must learn to effectively interact and cooperate with others.
Nothern california’s giant redwoods are among the oldest living organisms on the planet, having survived over two thousand years of storms. People simply presume these trees have deep roots. In fact, they are surrounded by sandy oiland have shallow roots. But their roots interlock with other nearby redwoods, which is what gives them all the strength to survive. 

Remind those aroud you,”Do what you love or learn to love what you do or do something else.   

Remember, the time you share with someone is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How would you treat that person if you knew you would never see him or her again?



*adapted from : ODDitude_John R.Power, Ph.D.

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Homemade Traditional Corned Beef

21.04 |



It’s the beginning of March and St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. Since I’m not Irish-American, I don’t have much reason to commemorate the holiday, but I certainly consider the reuben sandwiches and good beer that celebrate the day to be welcome noshing traditions in this cold and rainy season.
Corned beef is one of my favorite meats and it’s not difficult to make at home, which is attested to by cooks across the web. Just type in “homemade corned beef” to your favorite search engine and you’ll come up with pages galore.
By the way, “corning” is a technique for preserving or curing meat by soaking it in brine for long periods of time.
When beef is preserved using traditional methods, it’s a fermented food that nourishes your body, in addition to being melt-in-your-mouth satisfying. It takes 5-10 days to cure, so now is a good time to get started in order to have your meat ready for March 17.
And I’ll be honest, I’ve never actually made this recipe before  – every year I look at the recipe and think, “Oh, I should do that next year.” Well, no more. This year is the year! I’m sharing the recipe here that I’m using and I’ll report in afterward about the results. If you decide to join me, please post your results as well!

Traditional Corned Beef

Ingredients:
1 3-pound beef brisket, grass-fed (see note)
1 cup unrefined coarse sea salt
1/4 cup unrefined cane sugar (optional, no substitutes)
Pickling spice (recipe follows)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups whey or sauerkraut brine*
2 cups celery juice
*Get sufficient whey by straining 2-3 quarts of yogurt in cheesecloth for an hour or so – plus you end up with thick Greek-style yogurt. Yum!
Pickling Spices: 
3 bay leaves
1 stick cinnamon, broken into pieces
2 tablespoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoon whole coriander seed
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole cardamom pods (optional)
1 tablespoon juniper berries
4 cloves
Method:
Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. If you have time, freeze it in a deep freeze for 14 days, then thaw it completely in the refrigerator. Otherwise, continue with the recipe as usual, but add in a cooking time at the end.
When the meat is completely thawed, mix the salt, sugar, pickling spices, and garlic together in a small bowl, breaking up the bigger items with the back of a spoon (or use a mortar and pestle to make it easy). Rub as much of the mixture into the meat as possible, massaging it in if needed.
Place the brisket in a glass container or jar with a tight-fitting lid. Pour the whey and the celery juice over the brisket, along with any of the salt mixture that fell aside. If the brine does not cover the brisket entirely, add enough filtered water to cover it. Weigh it down if necessary with a plate or a jar filled with water.
Place the lid on the container and put the brisket in the refrigerator. Let it cure for 5-10 days (count on at least two days per pound), turning once each day and ensuring that the meat is covered in brine at all times. Add filtered water if necessary.
Once the meat is cured, toss the brine and rinse the meat to reduce the saltiness. If you originally froze the meat, it’s now ready to use in whatever way you best like your corned beef: Reuben sandwiches, crock pot corned beef and cabbage, New English Boiled Dinner, corned beef hash, corned beef and potatoes. Keep in mind that unless you cook it at this point, it is still raw, which is recommended by some dieticians, but you need to have handled your meat properly to consume it in that state.
If you didn’t freeze the meat or aren’t comfortable consuming raw meat, submerge the meat in fresh water in a stockpot or crock pot and simmer it very gently until it’s fork tender – generally for 2 1/2 – 3 hours on the stove over low heat and 5-6 hours in the crockpot on “high.”

Why Grass-Fed Is Important

Choosing grass-fed beef if at all possible is especially important in this recipe. By eating the meat in a somewhat raw state, the enzyme structures are kept intact, as with most raw foods, which makes the meat more digestible and keeps more nutrients bio-available, thus you want as safe a product as possible. Bacteria infestations, such as e-coli, are greatly reduced in grass-fed animals.
Grass-fed meat is also significantly higher in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a potent cancer-fighting fatty acid that only exists in meat that comes from pastured animals.

A Few Notes

This recipe calls for freezing the meat first. By freezing it for at least 14 days, any bacteria present in the meat will be unable to survive. If you don’t have time to freeze the meat or you choose not to, it is recommended that you poach the meat after curing it.
And what’s the deal with celery juice, you might ask? Celery juice is the most potent source of natural nitrites, the preservative that kills bacteria and helps the meat retain its flavor. Artificial nitrites such as saltpeter or even those found in pink salt, which are often used in corning beef, give the beef a deep red color, which celery juice won’t do, so don’t be alarmed. To read more about natural curing methods, both Niman Ranch and Red Cat Restaurants have some very helpful information.
“Curing, no matter which method, involves several processes, the most significant of which is denaturing of the proteins. This happens when salt is introduced to the meats proteins. Proteins are coils and the salt causes the proteins in the muscle fibers to unwind and [the salt then can] absorb the extra water trapped inside. Water inside your meat spells trouble because bacteria love water so eliminating it by salting and drying allows for longer storage.” – Red Cat Restaurants

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5 Reasons We Drink Our Milk Raw

20.57 |


Raw Milk Is a Living Food

Raw milk and pasteurized milk are two very different creatures, which is ironic considering they’re both milk.

When milk is fresh from the cow, regardless of whether it’s destined for pasteurization or not, it is a food teeming with beneficial bacteria, enzymes, fat-soluble vitamins, and – if it comes from pastured cows – the potent cancer-fighting CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid).Milk is, after all, a food designed to nourish a newborn, populate its sterile gut with beneficial and symbiotic microflora, and protect from infection.

This is exciting because the milk in this state is in some ways the “perfect” food – everything needed to digest the milk and make the nutrients bio-available is in the milk itself. This is rare among foods, even whole foods.

This is also exciting because the multiple types of beneficial bacteria present are able to keep control over the normal amounts of pathogenic micro-organisms that come in contact with the milk, just like a healthy body’s immune system. This keeps the milk safe, even as it sours. You can test this yourself: if you leave pasteurized milk at room temperature for a day or two, it putrefies. If you leave raw milk at room temperature for that same period of time, it sours. In the souring, the beneficial bacteria actually increase, culturing the milk into a probiotic-rich, yogurt-like drink and rendering the product more digestible. Many cultures around the world sour or clabber their milk in this way, although I must admit that I definitely prefer the sweet, creamy taste of the fresh milk to the more tangy taste of a bonny clabber. (It’s great for baking though!)

Raw Milk is Not Pasteurized

The striking difference here is that while all those lovely things exist in all milk, once milk is pasteurized, the beneficial bacteria are destroyed along with the pathogens. The process also denatures various enzymes, including lipase, the enzyme needed to digest butterfat, and lactase, the enzyme needed to digest lactose. This has led to growing numbers of lactose-intolerant people in North America. Interestingly enough, however, one study actually showed that 80% of individuals diagnosed as lactose-intolerant were able to digest raw milk with no side effects.
But to understand the real difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk, we need to look more closely at the process of pasteurization. Pasteurization isn’t just the process of heating the milk – we even do that ourselves on our stove-tops when we’re making yogurt or cheese. Conventional pasteurization is the process of heating a fluid extremely rapidly, which takes the milk from refrigerator-cold to 161° F in a matter of seconds, and it’s the violence of this method, not the actual heating, that does the most damage to the nutrients and enzymes. Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) pasteurization takes the milk even further to 280° F for just exactly one second, leaving it completely devoid of the good and the bad – UHT pasteurization is essentially sterilization, and makes it an actual harmful food rather than a nourishing one. And most astoundingly, pasteurization is not meant to kill all pathogenic micro-organisms! It’s merely meant to reduce the number of viable pathogens so they are unlikely to cause disease.
Now, I don’t point all of this out to demonize pasteurization, as there are definite times when pasteurization is appropriate. What I want to point out here is the method by which most milk is pasteurized, which is what does the most damage.
Beyond that, however, it merely makes me eager and excited to enjoy my fresh, untouched raw milk and the benefits my body gains from it.

Raw Milk – the Ultimate Local Food

As regular readers of this blog know, I’m passionate about local food. And as it turns out, raw milk is the ultimate local food.
Yet another layer of the current conventional method of pasteurization is that most milk has to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest pasteurization plant and/or hundreds of miles back once it has been bottled. The cost of shipping large amounts of milk adds significant overhead to the process, thus the farmers themselves receive only a small portion of the profit from the sale of each gallon. This in turn necessitates that large-scale dairy farmers have hundreds of heads of cattle in order to provide enough volume of milk to make their business successful. And since it’s impractical to have hundreds of head roaming rather than close to the milking parlor, as well as the massive amounts of land needed to support that many cows, it has become convention to keep the cows in feedlots.
The problem with this is that since the cows are in close quarters at all times, disease can spread rampantly. There are also large amounts of manure due to the sheer number of cows. Farmers do tend to be careful to keep each cow’s teats clean, but in the large-scale operations, the requirements for what is allowed to be in the milk is very low since it is known that the milk is destined for pasteurization, so the raw milk itself is unsuitable for drinking.
Now, I should make mention here that not all farms whose milk gets pasteurized are milking cows in filthy conditions or are large-scale operations. There are many family-run or other small-scale farms who pasture their herds and milk in sanitary conditions, but whose milk is sold for pasteurization anyway – heck, my own grandmother was one of those. But pasteurization is the status quo in the dairy business (and in most states it’s required) and often, farming has such a tight profit margin, you don’t mess with the status quo at the risk of losing your farm, your home, and your livelihood.
In the states where raw milk sales are legal, there are actually a different set of regulations for raw milk which are much more stringent than the regulations for milk heading for pasteurization. And the farmers themselves tend to be even more careful and stringent than the regulations. For example, in the state where I purchase our milk the law is that each cow must be tested for disease once a month, but the dairy that supplies our milk not only conducts monthly herd testing, they test every single batch of milk before it leaves the farm.
And herein lies the beauty of local milk. With raw milk you have to be assured a safe product and thus you need to know where your milk came from. It’s advantageous – perhaps even necessary – to have seen the farm and the cows that provide your milk. If you aren’t satisfied with the conditions, you can’t be ensured safe milk. Purchasing raw milk, therefore, necessitates buying local.
(If you’re wanting to visit your local farm, Dr. Joseph Mercola has some great pointers for what to look for and what to ask to ensure your milk is safe.)

Milk is a Seasonal Food

The taste, texture, and nutritional components of milk change according to what the cow eats and what time of year it is. If the cow eats only grain, as often happens in a feedlot, the milk will be different in its makeup than if that same cow is eating grass, hay, or sileage.  According to where you live and what your seasons are like, if she is only out on pasture in the sunshine for part of the year, the Vitamin D in the milk will vary as well through the year.
Bovine and human lactation patterns are fairly similar, as well. A dry cow cannot produce milk until she has calved and she will continue to produce milk as long as she is milked. Her first milk is thick and creamy, making it perfect for making butter, and a bit later in the summer, when the grasses have been lush and she’s been out in the sun, her milk is lovely for making cheese, which will then provide those nutrients through the dark days of winter.
As for taste, that’s a bit seasonal too. One friend of mine referred to the raw milk she drank in late spring as “Breyers ice cream in a glass”! My parents, both of whom grew up on family farms, remember the bitter, grassy taste the milk took on when the cows were released from the barn for the first time each year and went from eating sileage to munching on the first grass shoots. (Picture the taste of the sweet bitterness of drinking freshly juiced wheatgrass.) I must admit, however, that I myself haven’t noticed more than very subtle changes in the taste of the raw milk we’ve been drinking for the last couple of years – I don’t know whether that’s merely the much more moderate climate I live in as compared to where my parents grew up so our grasses don’t change as much through the year, or whether our local farmer takes great care to keep her cows eating the same thing year round for the sake of keeping the product “familiar” to all her consumers.
Either way, it’s pretty darn yummy!

Raw Milk Offers Family Farms a Sustainable, Viable Economic Option

Farming is a difficult business – it requires extremely long hours and demands extremely hard work, usually all for a very small profit margin.
Dairy farming is no exception. The price of milk is set by the regional dairy board or national cooperative (such as Dairy Farmers of America, which controls approximately one-third of the US milk supply), so farmers receive their cut according to how much milk is picked up on their farm, either for pasteurization or to be made into other dairy products, such as cheese or ice cream. In 2009, when prices were at a 40-year low, farmers were receiving a national average of 98 cents a gallon, which meant that some farms were losing as much as $200 per month per cow. Even today in 2011 as prices have improved, many dairies are operating at cost or at very little profit.
With raw milk, farmers sell directly to the consumer or to a retail outlet. They control their own prices (a typical price is somewhere between $5-10 gallon) and can maintain smaller herds with less overhead. This offers the option of making a viable living even with small herds. In addition, these types of farms typically are also able to be a bit more diversified, offering butter, cheese, chickens, eggs, or produce for sale as well.
Thus, buying raw milk has a direct effect on the local economy, allows a family in your area to make an honest, adequate living, and supports a more sustainable form of agriculture. In my book, those are reasons alone for buying raw milk!

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Diposting oleh adventurous girl ^^
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