Decoding The Carton: How To Shop For Healthy Dairy And Eggs

Cows and chickens do us some pretty big favors. Milk and eggs are packed full of essential protein, calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin B12, and are enjoyed at breakfast (and dinner) tables all over the world. Low-fat dairy foods are also great for burning fat, too. Products such as Greek yogurt, mozzarella, and cottage cheese contain very little carbohydrates and a large amount of good bacteria that help promote a healthy gut, which in turns promotes satiety and healthy digestion. Because they're also great sources for calcium and vitamin D, they help breakdown and release fats more efficiently, as well.

Unfortunately, some bad must come with the good: whole, unprocessed milk is rather high in fat, and eggs carry a lot of cholesterol in their little packages. If you've chosen to keep milk and eggs in your diet, you're probably aware of these dietary caveats, but you might not know just how much a difference organic, ethical sourcing can make to these foods' nutritional values. Reading the labels on your milk and egg cartons more closely will not only guarantee that you support farmers with the happiest animals, but it will provide the best support for your health.

American dairy farmers have access to a literal "cash cow" — bovine growth hormone (BGH). The hormone raises the body's insulin growth factor, so the cow produces up to 60 percent more milk than an animal on an organic, hormone-free diet. This may seem like progress, but it comes with a price: in a study of U.S. women, the presence of high levels of insulin growth factor was found to raise the risk of breast cancer by seven times, as well as elevating the risks of colon and prostate cancers. And the pasteurization process that means to get rid of all the nasty things that can hide out in milk doesn't eliminate the factor, so you could be dunking your cookies in some dangerous stuff.

Organic milk from pastured cows is naturally lower in fat, has a higher nutritional value, and contains more essential fatty acids (such as omega-3) than milk from conventional dairy cows. If the nutritional specs don't convince you, then imagine this: a gloomy shed packed full of cows, each one standing in its own manure until it's time to be milked. Now picture a green field full of peaceful cows, free to wander and graze until milking time. Which cow's milk would you rather drink?

But before you dash off to buy the first carton of organic milk you see, pay attention: just because dairy is labeled as "organic," doesn't mean it came from a grass-fed cow.

The organic label guarantees that:

• The product comes from cows fed an organic diet with no animal byproducts
• If cows are grass-fed, the pastures where they graze are chemical-free
• No antibiotics or hormones are allowed
• Grain feed does not contain genetically modified material

Organic farmers often test milk for pathogens that could harm humans, while conventional dairy farmers just send it off to be pasteurized at ultra-high temperatures that kill both bad bacteria and good nutrients and enzymes. Ultra-pasteurized milk has a shelf-life of six weeks — is that what you would call fresh?

Of course, some organic farmers also ultra-pasteurize their milk. Making sure to buy organic milk from a local supplier that pastures their cows will ensure that you're putting the best, most nutritious dairy milk in your body.

Now that you know whether your milk came from happy cows, how can you tell if the eggs in your fridge came from happy hens? Egg carton buzzwords promise all sorts of things, and "organic" is such a nice word that an organic egg must be perfect, right? Not necessarily. Let's crack the codes on egg cartons:

• Organic: This means the hens ate an organic diet, free of GMOs and animal byproducts, but doesn't guarantee they were raised outdoors.
• Organic, Pastured: The chickens ate grass and ran in open spaces — thanks to their natural diet, yolks are bright orange, taste fresher and contain 10 percent less fat, 40 percent more vitamin A, 400 percent more omega-3, and 34 percent less cholesterol than conventional grain-fed chicken eggs.
• Omega-3: Regular chickens were fed flaxseed, so their eggs would imitate the nutritional value of pastured eggs.
• Cage-Free/Uncaged/Free-Walking: This only means chickens weren't in a metal cage: they could well have been crowded into a shed by the thousands.
• Free-Range: These chickens were guaranteed access to the outdoors, but weren't required to spend time outside the shed.
• Natural: Regular eggs that were not treated with chemicals after gathering — that's not saying anything about what happened before they were collected.
• Farm-Fresh: This means nothing! "Farm Fresh" is a manipulative marketing term used to imply freshness and the idyllic pastoral image. Your average chicken shed is hardly pastoral and is probably more ideal for the farmers' pockets than the hens inside.

If you're going to include milk and eggs in your diet, don't be ungrateful to the cows and hens that gave you such nutritious gifts. Buy local, organic eggs and dairy from pastured animals, and enjoy a healthier, happier quiche.

Yara Shoemaker is an ordinary woman with an extraordinary appetite for knowledge about healthy living. This excerpt comes from her new book, Health on Your Plate, a complete resource for the optimal healthy lifestyle