How to Heal Rheumatoid Arthritis
First this note/disclaimer: “The information found here has not been approved by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.” I'm only sharing our own story, your situation may be VERY different, and I'm not a medical professional or anywhere close. Use this information only to do more research on your own!
Do you know someone who suffers with Rheumatoid Arthritis? While this is only one person's story of healing Rheumatoid Arthritis, I know that it could help many people who just don't know that they should give this a try! Alongside the recovery information is another one of the many frustrating accounts of persecution against a traditional farmer (it's all related, you'll see as you read)…
I have been a longtime reader of your blog. I was asked to testify at a Sibley County court hearing earlier in August on behalf of Michael Hartmann, a farmer who sells raw milk in Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has been persecuting him for doing so since 2010. The following is the letter I submitted and it was accepted as testimony for the court records. I think it would benefit the raw milk movement get this information circulated. There seems to be a dearth of consumer testimony in the media about the government battles against raw milk farmers. Our voices need to be heard because it is an important part of the equation. I hope you will publish this on your blog.
Our 14 year old son was spending a few days visiting the Hartmann farm to learn about farming, and happened to be accompanying Mike Hartmann while he was delivering raw milk on August 8, 2013. Mike's truck was stopped by the police for “driving over a white line” while allowing another vehicle to pass. The police put a call in, and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture requested that the truck and all foods (several hundred dollars worth) be seized – for delivering raw milk. The truck was returned to Mr. Hartmann. However, the food was not returned to him, nor was he compensated for the value of the food. This is the third time in 3 years that MDA has seized Hartmann foods. Mr. Hartmann had not been charged with any crime, so it seems wrong that the State could just confiscate his property without compensation. At what point is it outright theft?
The timing of the seizure of Hartmann's food was curious in that it happened several days before his scheduled hearing on Aug. 12 at Sibley County in which the MDA called him in for selling raw milk without a license. I was asked to provide consumer testimony at this hearing which is why I wrote the letter.
Letter for Hartmann Case:
I have been a steady customer of Mike Hartmann since the early 1990's, when I met him through my work as a researcher and technical writer for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Energy and Sustainable Agriculture Program.
My job was to gather information and write publications for farmers who wanted to reduce pesticide and chemical fertilizer inputs. One case study I worked on featured the Hartmann farm as a model organic operation and was published with the Land Stewardship.
For this work, I studied Mike Hartmann's approach towards farming and animal health and learned that he placed a high value on environmentally sound practices and maintaining good health of his livestock and soils. His priorities for farming were aligned with my value system. I thus determined that my own family would benefit from consuming foods Hartmann produced.
My family ate products from the Hartmann farm for many years, but did not regularly consume raw milk until 2010 when my 20 year-old daughter became severely ill with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is an autoimmune disease in which inflammation affects joints and can result in crippling pain, joint disfigurement, and complete disability. RA is viewed as a degenerative, incurable disease, and the standard treatment uses medications with “black box warnings” by the manufacturers including side effects such as fatal infections, leukemia, kidney and liver failure.
My daughter was bedridden with pain and was forced to drop out of college for a year. However, she was unwilling to assume the risk of side effects of the medications and refused all pain relieving and immuno-suppressant drugs.
In researching alternatives, I learned that raw milk had been used in the early 1900's by prestigious American hospitals for curing diseases including arthritis. In fact, one of the doctors who co-founded the Mayo Foundation – a forerunner to the Mayo Clinic – wrote an article on the effectiveness of raw milk from pastured cows for healing inflammatory diseases.
My daughter began a dietary regimen which included 5 gallons of raw milk per week – a substantial portion of her caloric intake. Within days, she noticed a slight improvement in her pain levels. Her health steadily improved until she was able to return to school full-time, perform at a high level to earn a scholarship, and finish her degree without missing a single day of class. (The latter is significant because RA is characterized by “flares” of pain which causes patients to be absent from school or work for days at a time.). My daughter has faithfully adhered to this raw milk diet and we believe it is responsible for restoring her health.
Mr. Hartmann's willingness to transport raw milk from his farm to our dropsite was significantly helpful for my daughter, who was too ill to drive out to the farm to pick it up on her own.
Although we have heard from state agriculture and health officials of the risks of food-borne illnesses from consuming unpasteurized milk, we were reassured by Center of Disease Control (CDC) data that the risk is in fact negligible – no deaths attributed to raw milk in almost 4 decades. Furthermore, we are unconvinced that bacteria from raw milk pose a threat to our health, and any risk is outweighed by the benefit of the helpful bacteria, live enzymes, bio-active nutrients, including vitamins A, D, K, B12 – which are abundant in raw milk, but deactivated by heat pasteurization.
We do not live on a farm and have no access to cows. Raw milk is not available for purchase in retail stores in Minnesota. The State of Minnesota's interference in my family's private association and contract with Mr. Hartmann in procuring raw milk – a health-restoring nutrient-dense food – has posed a substantial burden to us.
Respectfully submitted,
Charlene
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us, Charlene!
Sadly, this case is still pending. 🙁 Maybe Charlene could comment below to let us know if there are numbers we could call to voice our complaints about this situation?
Are you still unsure about raw milk?
Our family has enjoyed it for years, we feel great, and are rarely ill. I truly can't even remember right now when any of us were sick last. One of the kids might have had the sniffles for a day or two last spring…? I attribute this primarily to the raw milk and cod liver oil along with plenty of healthy fats in our diet.
Related posts:
- Healing arthritis and osteoporosis on the GAPS Diet
- Read more about raw milk here (there are many topics covered including safety concerns, how does it taste, and more)
- Read more about cod liver oil here including how to get it down and the many benefits (or here's where to buy the only kind we get) – it's my “all natural chill pill” you know. (For real!)
- Read all about healthy fats here and there's a list of posts at the bottom all about the dangers of statins (cholesterol lowering drugs)
- Find raw milk by you: RealMilk.com
- Read over the Weston A. Price article on arthritis and painful joints
Charlene is a stay-at-home mom of three kids, married to a professor, and a part-time piano teacher. She has a B.S. degree in biology and an M.S. in Agronomy. Her last job in the paid workforce was with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture as an Information Specialist that ended in 1994.
And if YOU have a real food success and healing story to share, please email me! [email protected]. (Read all of the real food success stories here.)
Liz says
How long did it take for your daughter to feel results? I have rheumatoid arthritis and I’m currently doing the milk cure. Drinking over a gallon a day and not eating anything else.
Reghan McChesney says
We were raised on raw milk. I absolutely believe its contributed to my family members good health and no broken bones.
CCM says
Yes, this is the same case. The state made laboratory tests of over 300 samples of *food* (milk, cheese) from the farm and found no pathogens. Funny how that fact never comes out in the media.
Jamie Larrison says
Is this the same case? This Mike Hartmann was prosecuted after cases of E-coli poisoning were linked to his milk products. I’m all for raw milk, but there seems to be some missing information here. If they are the same person, what was he doing about the E-coli and why was he accused of having “gross unsanitary conditions?”
https://www.nujournal.com/page/content.detail/id/531748/Hartmann-pleads-guilty-to-two-counts.html?nav=5009
Jamie says
It’s interesting how persription drugs, which may have side effects, are deemed perfectly safe, yet raw milk, which may have side effects, is deemed unsafe.
Just for a fun side-story, I had a doctor once give me an anti-seizure medication, becasue one of the side effects is weight loss. How is that logical and safe? I only took it one day, because it messed me up so bad.
Jill says
I am so blessed to have a raw milk farmer just a few miles from my house. If ever raw milk is no longer available to me, I will no longer purchase milk. Simple as that. Raw or none. The difference is that big–in how it tastes and in how we feel.
I pray that this Mr. Hartman, a glimmer of light in the dark world of mostly destructive (environmentally, health-wise, animal welfare-wise) agriculture and animal husbandry practices, will soon be free from persecution so he can continue providing his community with awesome, healing nutrition and being a model steward of his land.
Great testimony, by the way, of the healing power of REAL food!
Kat says
That is so amazing. So many times we are told that prescription drugs are the cure-all. I really believe that raw milk, whole foods and FCLO are what has healed our son of eczema. Thanks for that uplifting story.
Lisa says
Interesting. I suffer from inflammatory arthritis and have been slowly healing myself naturally. I say interesting because one of the big no’s on an autoimmune paleo diet is dairy, including raw milk. I am fortunate that we receive some every week for my 19 month old daughter, maybe I should try drinking a lot of it too. 5 gallons a week is a ton though. Hmmmm
Dani says
I love reading stories where something as simple as a real and whole food changes someone’s life–it certainly has mine. We have been moving, and having to sell our house before we have another under contract has caused a strain on our normal routines. We both had massive allergic attacks that lasted for about two weeks, and as soon as we finally made it to our co-op and picked up some raw milk, we both went home and had full glasses. We didn’t do it for the allergies (in fact, we weren’t thinking straight and since so much is packed away, I was lamenting my local honey and other herbal remedies), but because it just TASTES so DARN GOOD, like a glass of milk should. Lo and behold, my allergies have gotten better, little by little, and my plantar fasciitis that flared while we were moving has relaxed to tolerable levels again. I can’t wait to be settled into our house where I can get fully back onto the whole foods and healthy fats regimen (I won’t tell you where we’ve been eating some nights when we get home ridiculously late after looking at possible houses), because I am missing the benefits that I have enjoyed since I made my food revolution four years ago!
Kimberly says
This is what happens when we allow government to get too big. We all need to focus on getting the government to understand that we can and, in fact, want to be responsible for ourselves.