Dr. Benjamin Spock finally learned the truth about milk and included that health-promoting information in the seventh edition of his book.

In March of 2011, I posted a blog on the topic of early puberty and the problems involved. In that blog, Dr. McDougall and Dr. Fuhrman stated vehemently that they do in fact know the cause of early puberty — Dr. McDougall has been writing on this subject since the early 80’s. Quite simply, the cause of early puberty and a large majority of our chronic diseases is eating the wrong food for our species. And for most of us, that began with cow’s milk at a very early age and has continued ever since.

Millions of moms across the world considered Dr. Spock’s book the gold standard when it comes to helping them do the right thing for their babies. And for most of his career, he advocated meat and dairy in the diet for both young and old. But he learned the truth before he died and he included that truth in the seventh edition that came out just months after his death.

Humans are the only species in history that drink the milk of another species and the only species that has ever drunk any milk at all after weaning.

But after you hear something your entire life, it’s hard to just put it aside when someone tells you that what you have been told is simply not true. And, since an estimated 95% of Americans still believe that they really “need” to eat at least some animal protein, I figure it’s a good idea to keep reminding them that they don’t.

Just like the repetition that built up that fallacy that most of us have about protein, it’s probably going to take some repetition to get rid of it. Who better than the late Dr. Benjamin Spock, everyone’s favorite baby doctor for many decades, to help us accept the proven truth about animal protein of any kind — including cow’s milk.

Just before his death at age 94 in 1998, the seventh edition of his world famous book, ”Baby and Child Care,” was published. From an article (See link to complete article below) in the New York Times by Jane Brody on June 20, 1998:

”We now know that there are harmful effects of a meaty diet,” the book says. ”Children can get plenty of protein and iron from vegetables, beans and other plant foods that avoid the fat and cholesterol that are in animal products.” As for dairy foods, Dr. Spock says, ”I no longer recommend dairy products after the age of 2 years. Other calcium sources offer many advantages that dairy products do not have.”

After seeing this 13-year old article recently, I called Dr. Colin Campbell to ask him about the comment of no dairy after two years. Colin told me that he had a number of direct communications with Dr. Spock before he died and that he was no longer recommending ANY cow’s milk for babies. The only natural milk he recommended was mother’s milk.

Of course, like today, many doctors were still holding onto to the false belief that meat and dairy are healthy foods for humans — and they were shocked to see that Dr. Spock had finally learned the truth about the natural diet for our species before he died. The article continued:

Given the influence of the book, pediatricians and nutritionists have reacted with concern to the recommendations to raise children on an all-plant, or vegan, diet. Throughout its 52-year history, ”Baby and Child Care” has been the second-best-selling book, next to the Bible.

Part of Dr. Spock’s learning process stemmed from him shifting to a vegan diet himself at age 91. the article continued:

Starting with the first edition of his book in 1946, Dr. Spock always recommended meat and milk products as part of a child’s diet. Dr. Spock’s revisions of what had been his most recent advice — to include small amounts of lean animal foods in children’s diets — stemmed from a switch he himself made to an all-plant diet in 1991, after a series of illnesses that left him weak and unable to walk unaided. His wife, Mary Morgan, said that after he made the dietary change, he lost 50 pounds, regained his ability to walk and became healthier over all. Ms. Morgan said that ”Ben had a hand in every part of the book” and that he was ”very committed” to the diet.

J. Morris Hicks, the “big picture guy” sharing powerful health-promoting and world-changing information with you every single day.

So there you have it. The truth has been seeping out slowly for a long time, but it has yet to be embraced by the mainstream. But you don’t have to wait for the “system” in order to take charge of your health now. Still not sure about milk; read on…

• Cancer, cell phones, cow’s milk, and Cornell
• Cow’s milk; not a health food…2nd in a series of 6
• Where do you get your calcium? From plants or animals? (Includes a Dr. Greger video)

1-31-14 edit. Just today, I found out that Dr. Mark Hyman posted a video discouraging the consumption of dairy products in January of 2010. It was primarily a “Shame on the USDA” piece but he leads off with powerful punches at all things dairy. And he quoted Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Medicine several times. Here is this 10-minute video for your convenience.

Still not sure about dairy? You don’t want to miss the powerful 80-minute video in this blog featuring Dr. Walter J. Veith. Udderly Amazing

You may want to read this entire 1998 article below from the Times. Final Advice From Dr. Spock – Eat Only All Your Vegetables – NYTimes.com

Handy 5-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com

• The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD 
• Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
• An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
• Dr. McDougall’s latest book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes
• Dr. Campbell’s new book: WHOLE, Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

Why should we be eating mostly plants? The “big picture” in 4 minutes.

Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Survey. It takes 2 or 3 minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com

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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.

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