September 26, 2008

On the Menu: Answers, Updates, and Breast Milk?



Please don't let the title of this post scare you--we're not giving away breast milk this week. Our Friday Giveaway is just below. This is just an Odd's & End's post, because we're Odd, and it's the End of the week!


Return of The "What the Heck" Random Post Button


Merry and I thought perhaps we broke it, since we were using it a LOT. (And we were the only ones, as far as I can tell, but what can I say--it amuses us). It randomly calls up old Cranky Fitness Posts from the archives. It's on the right, under "Typical Crankiness."

This clever random post widget had apparently been working just fine for almost a year and a half, but a couple days after we installed it? It broke. (For everyone, not just us).

So if you find yourself at work, and not wanting to get back to something productive yet, check it out! No doubt you'll end up on a lame post like this one, but you never know.


Major Blog Funk Update:

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for all who commented on my meltdown post. I truly do want to keep this blog going, and your helpful, compassionate, understanding, and sometimes hilarious comments really reminded me of why it's so essential to me to stay part of this awesome community of people.

I need to figure out how to get more streamlined over the next few months while I try to get a book proposal together. (Not that there's any reason to think a book proposal would fly. But it's part of the Grand Plan and one of the reasons I started a blog in the first place. I didn't actually plan to blog indefinitely, but hell, now I'm hooked.)

So I'm thinking...

I may not be commenting very often on other folk's blogs over the next few weeks or months. Which is selfish, and probably short-sighted. I will no doubt go into a panic when comments here start to dwindle.

However, I will be stopping by your blogs, to see what you're up to--just not commenting very often.

I know it it sounds silly, but as much as I love it, trying to comment on so many of your fine blogs takes me a huge amount of time. I wish I was better organized and more efficient!


Blogroll Update

In attempting to update the Random Rotating Blogroll, I think I may have lost some of you whom I didn't mean to delete. (Doh!) Plus, there are newer Cranky Fitness Friends who should be on there, but I haven't been very organized about noticing that you're not.

So: are you a somewhat recurrent visitor/commenter/linker to us?

Are we on your blogroll, or if you don't have one, have you mentioned us in some way in the not too distant past?

Do you have a blog which may be of interest to our readers?

Do you keep visiting the site but your blogname NEVER seems to come up in the random blogroll?

Well, if all these are true, then shoot, we need to add you! Sorry. Please leave a comment or send us an email and we'll correct it.

On the other hand, whenever I've even whispered the word "blogroll" in the past, people I've never heard of before (who often have boring blogs) and no relationship to CF sweep in from the far reaches of the blogosphere and ask to be included. We'd like the list to be useful to readers, and stay short enough that everyone sees their name up there fairly frequently. So we'll try to be somewhat selective.


Cranky Quiz Answers:

Not only was Merry was kind enough to assemble the Cranky Quiz, but she provided answers and links. So, how did you all do?

Answers:

1c. Dear Crabby.
2d. The infamous Slanket!
3b. The Lobster
4c. Recycle those old shoes and they'll be turned into rubber-type running surfaces!
5c. Rhoda Runner
6a. Salvia Divinorum
7b. The Cookie diet
8c. The Flat Belly
9a. Hide your alarm clock? As if!
10d. Coffee addiction


And What's That about Breast Milk on the Menu?

Yep, literally.

Over at L.A. Time's Booster Shots, they're reporting about a Swiss chef who plans to put human breast milk on the menu at his restaurant. He'd like to feature soups and stews that are up to 75% breast milk. (Local authorities, however, take a dim view of it).

And Peta chimed in too, sending a letter to Ben and Jerry's, asking them to start using human mother's milk instead of cow's milk for health reasons.

I have a strong, reflexive "acccck" reaction. But why should it seem gross? Why is the idea of consuming human milk so unappealing, when we are, actually, human? It really is arguably more natural than drinking cows milk. But, well, .... yuck.

Update: I just discovered after I wrote this that yet again, Healthbolt beat me to it and already posted on this. That's what I get for dawdling. They really are a great source of weird health news.

So what do you think of adult humans eating stuff made from breast milk? (Anyone ever tried it?)

38 comments:

  1. Hey! I got everything right on the quiz! (Oh, wait a minute. I don't get a gold star in this case :( Damn.)

    Human breast milk is very high in fatty acids that a human infant needs. I know adults need these essential acids too, but all the same I think I'd rather eat salmon, thanks.

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  2. So, then, we're going to start milking women like cows?
    Lactation follows pregnancy so where do the donors come from? And, umm, how do we know if a woman who say, chooses to do this to supplement income, eats properly? What drugs does she take?
    What about allergic reactions?
    Yeah, I'm against it. It really doesn't seem right.
    Breast milk is great for babies. I'm not so sure it's great for ice cream.

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  3. I live right up the street from Peta's headquarters. You have no. freaking. idea.

    I'm not shocked by the suggestion, and yes, I've tasted breast milk as an adult. (It was my own, thankyouverymuch, and I was curious. Like milk, only sweeter.)

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  4. The idea of drinking milk from the breast of a cow is gross enough..why add the human factor?
    I agree with leah...there are so many things that get transfered through milk it would be difficult to ensure it was "healthy".

    I want to be like MizFit too! But, in different ways than just her amazing ability to read all our blogs and still have time for your family!

    You don't need to add mine...I'm just a perpetual lurker for your blog! Shameful, I know.

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  5. Perhaps the idea is repulsive because all the other bodily secretions are emphatically /not/ something we'd ever want to touch?

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  6. leah, good point about the pragmatics.

    lynn--thanks, I was actually kind of curious!

    And diana--we love lurkers! I went ahead and added you, but I can take you off if you'd rather not be listed.

    And congrats Merry for a perfect score!

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  7. I've decided long ago that PETA was insane (actually was a factor in not going full-on vegetarian, albeit a tiny one).

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  8. Breast milk...that's the last part I read so I will say that I think "we" have eaten much worse in our lives with all the crap in food (esp since I said I'd take one of the WW coupons). But if I had the choice of breast or no breast, as long as I don't have to get it out of the breast myself...I'd be okay as long as I didn't know and wait, who's breast is it going to be? I mean I think my mom breast fed me so ...
    oh forget it.

    I didn't take the quiz. I still *owe* some comments to others! And I'm supposed to be working.

    I think I have been reading and lurking CF for quite some time now, and only commenting for awhile. I find your snarkiness inspirational.

    I don't know if I have seen my blog come up in your roll or if it's a blog that others might find of interest. But you could add me.
    And if you don't have time to comment, I will comment for you.

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  9. I'm trying to be logical with myself over the human breast milk because rationally it can't be worse than cow's milk but I'm seriously creeped out by the idea. I have the same questions as Leah about the methods. They planning to just keep a rotating group of females constantly pregnant in order to produce milk?

    I also tasted mine while I was nursing because I was curious about what the baby was enjoying so much and it isn't awful but it's a lot thicker and sweeter than cow's milk.

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  10. POD--I thought you were already on there, thanks for catching that! Great post you've got up now too. Well, no surprise, they usually are.

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  11. Um, yeah, I am with Leah on the practicalities of breast milk production. I can just see women being docilely herded into a milking shed and hooked up to a milker. Oh and then the product packaging, instead of cows, just busty women. (Sarcasm, just in case no one recognized it)

    My understanding has been that women don't always have enough for the child that they produced, let alone any extra. Of course, never having spawned, I could be completely wrong.

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  12. i'll stick to cow milk, thanks. besides, don't cows NEED to be milked? if so, peta needs to be better informed.

    if not ... i still stand by my first sentence.

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  13. Cranky rancher here... Human breast milk? No thanks. (Oh, and the reason it tastes different than cow's milk? The milk you buy in the stores has been through a separator and the cream has been extracted to be used for butter and... well... cream!) I'm not sure what the ratio of milk to cream would be in human milk, but I think that may be why it tastes richer and sweeter.

    I also have the same reservations as some of the rest of the commenters about consuming human milk. We know now that everything the mother ingests makes it's way into the milk.....think about that one, folks! (Who would be selling their milk? Not some wholesome, buxom milk maid, right?)

    And no, cows don't HAVE to be milked. Some cows are superior milk producers and have been bred as such, so they produce far more milk than one calf can drink. But remember, milk cows do not get to feed their calves. The milk from the grocery store comes from cows that are milked twice daily for the sole purpose of supplying milk to humans.

    So, then one could wonder...do we really want to turn that around? Start milking women to supply milk to those poor calves who never get to suckle their mothers....?

    *Okay, climbing off my milking stool/soapbox now.*

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  14. Breast milk? it would be Very Expensive. Consider the relative size of women and cows.

    Mary Anne in Kentucky

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  15. Bag lady, you inspired me to get David Mackenzie's _Goat Husbandry_ off the shelf and look up the chart:


    % Fat: Goat:3.8 Cow: 3.67 Human: 3.6-4.7
    % Lactose: Goat: 4.08 Cow: 4.78 Human: 6.92

    So human milk is really sweeter than cow even before the cream is extracted. Why the human butterfat is given as a range, when the others are averaged (I was lucky enough to drink goat milk from a herd with an average of 8!) I don't know.

    Mary Anne in Kentucky, formerly breastfed

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  16. I have the same "acccck" reaction to using breastmilk, I'm sure its just a cultural thing, but it just seems wrong and strange and creepy. I will admit to tasting it, but it was my wife's, out of my sons bottle while I was feeding him, and I was curious. Enough said about that situation.

    I have the same question as Leah, and many others. Where is all this human breastmilk going to come from? My wife pumped all the time, and still had trouble keeping up with demand of the hungry little bugger.

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  17. I just see all kinds of nightmare scenarios here. Women exploited for milk, "encouraged" to give ALL their breast milk to big corporations who will turn around and sell them expensive formula (and let me just say I'm not against formula-feeding AT ALL, it's just that it is more expensive). Plus, I have to say, having also tasted my own breast milk, I prefer soy.

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  18. I think that the breast milk shouldn't be an automatic "yuck" although that's totally the reaction I have. BUT - how are we getting enough milk for ice cream? The way I understand it, women who are producing breast milk often selfishly want to give it to the baby that just came out of their body and not to me (although maybe breast milk ice cream would be the solution for my lactose intolerance).

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  19. Breast milk on a menu!!!! really?? I'm just trying to think how!! as in HOW???

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  20. It's my mission to discover a great new blog in the Fitosphere, click on the comments section and NOT find Mizfit has already posted.

    That woman is omnipresent!

    (In a nice way)

    :0)

    Good luck with the proposal, keep us posted on how you get on. And please please please get some merchandise going, I would buy a Cranky Fitness ANYTHING.

    TA x

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  21. I was not breastfed as a child so I'm kind of curious! Um, not. And even if I were, I'd want to do it in its purest form, straight from the teet, yo! None of this masking the fact I'm drinking breast milk by adding lots of sugar and cookie dough and other weirdness then freezing it in a carton.

    Re the blogroll... you were an early addition to ours... would love to be on yours!

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  22. I'm guessing that most Dads have at least tasted it at one time or another, but yes, I have the same concerns that Leah expressed (no pun originally intended) about how it would be regulated. I just don't think we NEED milk of any kind in our diet. Humans are a strange lot.

    I have no idea if I'm still on your blog roll or not, but I totally understand if I've been culled. My blog has nothing to do with fitness so no problem if mine doesn't fit in.

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  23. My friend's mom's doctor used some of her (the mom's) breast milk in his coffee after showing her how to use the breast pump.


    *shudder*

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  24. First a post about Pull-ups, then a post about breast milk. Is there some other reason you are not telling us about that is the REAL reason you are moody and too tired to comment on other blogs? Hmm?

    ~laughs hysterically~

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  25. Holly--

    Oh my goodness! Didn't realize the trend but will promise not to post about teething on Monday. A little too late for little crablets for me at this point!

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  26. I fear that if breast milk catches on I'll be rounded up and forced to supply the masses...I have such an oversupply for my one tiny baby it's ridiculous. But, I am in the minority - most people I know have the opposite problem. And anyway, gross. I can't even bring myself to taste my own.

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  27. I have a total ick factor to the breast milk...I mean I guess cow's milk just comes from a cow. But breast milk comes from a woman, with a name and a face...and I just. can't. do. it.

    Love the widget, btw. :)

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  28. I have never personally tasted breast milk - even my own - and have no desire to do so. I did, however, used to squirt it at my husband occasionally for fun. But he NEVER asked me to put it on his cereal.

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  29. I've got just one thing to say about this...

    PHOEBE: Oh, I tasted Ben's milk, and Ross freaked out.

    ROSS: I did not freak out.

    CAROL: Why'd you freak out?

    ROSS: Because it's breast milk. It's gross.

    CAROL: My breast milk is gross?

    SUSAN: This should be fun.

    ROSS: No, no, Carol. There's nothing wrong with it. I just don't think
    breast milk is for adults.

    CHANDLER: Of course the packaging does appeal to grown-ups and kids
    alike.

    CAROL: Ross, you're being silly. I've tried it, it's no big deal.
    Just taste it.

    ROSS: That would be no.

    PHOEBE: Come on. It doesn't taste bad.

    JOEY: Yeah, it's kinda sweet, sorta like, uh-

    SUSAN: Cantaloupe juice.

    JOEY: Exactly.

    ROSS: You've tasted it? You've tasted it.

    SUSAN: Uh huh.

    ROSS: Oh, you've tasted it.

    SUSAN: You can keep saying it, but it won't stop being true.

    ROSS: Gimme the bottle. Gimme the towel.

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  30. Monica and Hilary: you were both on there already and fortunately not caught in the missing chunk. Just keep hitting refresh and pumping up our page views and you should see it pop up eventually!

    Too funny Chicken Girl. Never caught that episode.

    Therapy Doc--great post on DFW.

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  31. Oh, my -- I hadn't heard that about the breast milk. That's interesting. My reflexive reaction is ewwwwwww -- but more than that, I've gotta agree with Leah about the practicalities.

    Glad you're feeling great about your blog again! :) It rocks. :) And exciting about the book proposal!

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  32. Enculturation is an interesting gauntlet. Breast milk is a little too cannibalistic for us, huh? Don't have a problem with someone else's kidney.

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  33. Problem with breast milk: it contains veriouse goobies intent on boosting the baby's immune system. Adults should not consume that.

    Problem with breast milk number two: ehe. gross.

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  34. Ok, I am kinda grossed out by the breast milk thing. I mean health is important but there are some things even I won't do... ;)

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  35. Objectively speaking, I can see breast milk as a source of nutrition. In reality, though? *vomit* I think it's because our culture doesn't represent breasts as a natural food source, but rather as a sexual organ (nipple-bearing model? Cool! mother breastfeeding in public? OH GOD!) Cow's milk? A-okay. I mean, steers don't motorboat their mates. :)

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  36. I saw this on Healthbolt on Friday, and had the same EEEWWWWWW reaction most people had. Even went to far as to post about it on Facebook.

    And while I don't have a problem with babies breastfeeding, I seriously, really, don't want to drink another woman's breastmilk as an adult. It creeps me out. I think that the major difference between this kind of "cannibalism" as the previous poster put it, and getting organs from other people is that the organs are for lifesaving measures. Human adults don't need milk. We may like it (especially as ice cream), but the majority of human adults are lactose intolerant, because nature never intended us to drink milk as adults.

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  37. Why not just switch to soy or almond milk?
    I heard an interview with a PETA lady who said she is trying to get Ben & Jerry's to make a human breast milk ice cream...it's all a demented ploy to get focus back on cruslty to cows in the milk industry if you ask me.
    There are a lot of alternatives for us other than cow milk. And breast milk is for babies. I won't drink goats milk so there is no way on this earth I would drink human milk...unless I had to to stay alive or something.
    And who would donate? I had a friend with twins who couldn't make enough milk for both of them and she had to go to a poorly supported milk bank to feed her babies...why would we chain up women into mass milk production for our own benefits? Why not just take your vitamins and eat some more fish?
    It's silly.
    A silly argument and I'll just look for a milk alternative thanks...

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