TLC: The Life Chat

The Milk Cartel

• Tina, Lauren & Cassie • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Tina, Lauren, and Cassie dive into the raw (unpasteurised) milk debate, exploring why Lauren’s gut handles raw milk with ease while processed milk leaves her uncomfortable. They unpack the tight legal framework around raw milk in Australia, noting that only a single fatality has been linked to it in the past fifty years. From there, the conversation widens into holistic living: the hosts compare traditional food practices, the benefits of breastfeeding, and age-old home remedies with the realities of modern allopathic medicine. Along the way, they question pharmaceutical profit motives and argue for a return to natural, time-tested approaches to health.

Key Takeaways

  • Raw vs processed milk: Raw milk’s natural enzymes seem to ease lactose intolerance for some people, yet strict Australian laws restrict its sale.
  • Safety record: Despite regulatory fears, documented deaths from raw milk are extremely rare in Australia.
  • Holistic mindset: The hosts champion traditional nutrition, breastfeeding, and simple home remedies as practical tools for everyday wellness.
  • Scepticism of Big Pharma: Modern medicine saves lives, but the trio highlight how profit can overshadow patient wellbeing.
  • Call to action: Listeners are encouraged to research food sources, support local producers, and make informed, balanced choices for better health.

Listen in for a candid chat that blends personal experience, historical insight, and a healthy dose of scepticism about the status quo.

00:00 Welcome to TLC the Life Chat

00:31 House Sitting Adventures

01:22 The Milk Cartel: Raw Milk Controversy

02:20 Personal Experiences with Lactose Intolerance

06:47 Breastfeeding and Milk Sharing

08:25 Mind Your Own Business

08:53 Back to Basics: Embracing Natural Living

09:23 The Homesteader Lifestyle

10:28 Nostalgia: The Milkman Days

12:00 The Shift in Milk Packaging

12:35 Traditional vs. Modern Medicine

14:32 The Brave New World of Pharmaceuticals

16:09 The Irony of Health and Pills

17:12 Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts

Catch Tina in the OmMade Wellness Hub

https://www.instagram.com/ommadewellnesshub/

See what Lauren is up to at Eco Play Therapy

https://www.instagram.com/ecoplaytherapy/

Let Cassie Concierge your life at Soluna Concierge. Currently on a break but relaunching soon.

https://www.instagram.com/soluna_concierge/


MIC3:

Welcome. Welcome to TLC the Life Chat

MIC2:

chat.

MIC3:

Tina, Lauren,

MIC1:

and Cassie.

MIC3:

Drink my tea. You love that bit.

MIC1:

I really do love that. And if,

MIC3:

I wish that this was visual so could see us dancing. I'm

MIC2:

I'm very glad

MIC3:

this is not visual. It'll be eventually. Oh my goodness. Well, it's real. It's raw. Yeah. That's us

MIC2:

that's See it

MIC3:

sitting around a dining room table doing it. At Cassie's house. At

MIC2:

At Cassie's house, yes. I'm not So our is Cassie House

MIC3:

sits and so she house sits the most amazing places. And that's where we do our, and we just come and stay there and have girls nights for free, don't we? Yeah. We pretend it's like an Airbnb. We've paid$600 for a night. Yeah.

MIC2:

And

MIC3:

then Cassie cooks for us. Yeah. Yes. And it's pretty good. And she cleans up. She makes our bets, makes us tea.

MIC2:

I do ask the people that I house seat for if I can have guests. yeah. And people are,

MIC3:

to you

MIC1:

in.

MIC2:

and they're very gracious. I must be an ass person to say, yeah, sure. Well, good people

MIC3:

attract Well, you are all right.

MIC2:

that's it. She's lovely people. Lovely, lovely.

MIC3:

if you're an asshole, asshole, you'd attract asshole.

MIC2:

asshole. Generally. I'm not really an asshole.

MIC3:

No, you're lovely.

MIC2:

Let's get into it. I feel like this one is for you and Tina. You know a lot about it. I would admit. No,

MIC3:

think we do,

MIC2:

No, but I would admit we know what we know. That's why there's three of us. We all have different things to bring to the table. These girls have a lot of knowledge on this, so I'm gonna sit

MIC3:

I feel you do too.

MIC2:

literally,

MIC3:

We'll see. But I feel you'll have just as much.

MIC2:

I might be able to input a little bit here or there but I feel like you girls know a lot about this.

MIC3-1:

Okay. The white

MIC2-1:

we're talking about

MIC3-1:

that you sneak into your car, that's what you were talking about? Yes. Yeah.

MIC2-1:

which you've gotta message

MIC3-1:

the person before you arrive so they can come outside so

MIC2-1:

people

MIC3-1:

in the house don't know that you are there. And then meet them at boot with their esky, so they

MIC2-1:

like a drug deal

MIC3-1:

you're not talking about

MIC2-1:

crack. It's not crack, it's not

MIC3-1:

cocaine. freaking milk straight cow. What is going on? So you opened my eyes to this maybe a year ago or so, because I didn't realize it was so illegal. Mm. And I didn't realize that dairy farmers could actually have their. Dairy farm. Shut down. Yeah.

MIC2-1:

And go to jail.

MIC3-1:

I didn't know that, but I thought most of my life that I was lactose intolerant. Well, I think I was, but I'm building up a tolerance now because,

MIC2-1:

hang on.

MIC3-1:

Because you told your body to stop being a pussy. Really good advice from my son. My son. He, he'll say that if you think you're coming down with a cold, or if you think you've got an allergy or an intolerance, talk to yourself and say. Don't be a pussy and you, and you don't be a pus. Well, you are either a pussy or you're not. And I'm not, so,

MIC2-1:

I mean, sometimes I take it too

MIC3-1:

far. I'm like, I'm, I can tolerate all kinds of dairy and then I'm ruined, but I can tolerate a little bit of dairy

MIC2-1:

within reason. So I probably

MIC3-1:

ever delve into that because I avoided cow's milk because it upset my tummy. So I was on the poison milk like the almond and the oat and the soy and the full of fillers. What else was there? Like,

MIC2-1:

Yeah, just the heavily

MIC3-1:

poison

MIC2-1:

chemical feel.

MIC3-1:

they call it. There's no plants in it. It's just poison and it's really, really, really

MIC2-1:

bad oils,

MIC3-1:

you. But it didn't upset my stomach. So I've done that for years and years. But anyway, you told me that this was illegal, and I'm saying why, and you said something along these lines, quote me if I'm wrong, but maybe one person in the last 50 years or a hundred years has died. Yes. From drinking raw cow's milk. Yes. Right.

MIC2-1:

Imagine if they applied

MIC3-1:

that to vaccines.

MIC2-1:

but anyway, carry on.

MIC3-1:

we go again. Um, but then Paul, your husband said. It. But what about alcohol and cigarettes, which is just readily available to everyone and anyone? Have you ever

MIC2-1:

Which may I add? The government makes a shit ton of

MIC3-1:

Well, there there's no money to be made off of raw cow's milk,

MIC2-1:

But well tax it. I don't give a shit. I'll

MIC3-1:

I pay tax as long as we can get it. But everybody, like so many people have died from drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes. Yes. And nobody cares. But one person dies from drinking cow's milk and everybody cares. And then you got me thinking about that. And I could just couldn't believe it. And then I can't say who because, because they'll go to jail. Yeah. But I have come across someone who has a dairy farm who's kind enough to fill up some empty bottles of milk for me and drop it off. To, I can't say the location.

MIC2-1:

I

MIC3-1:

serious. I can't

MIC2-1:

say the location. I can't

MIC3-1:

who, how

MIC2-1:

Lauren, you are. Such a milk cartel. The milk cartel.

MIC3-1:

That's this episode's. It's called the Milk Cartel.

MIC2-1:

but interestingly,

MIC3-1:

20 years or, or I can't remember. Anyway, I think I was born lactose intolerant. I built up a tolerance. Then I had my own kids. I was bad again. I, and it was my son Justin, who wanted the raw cows milk. So I got it for him. And then I tried it a couple of times, really scared, reluctantly tried it'cause the. Gut pains are horrendous. Nothing. No gut pains. I can have a smoothie, milkshake, coffee, no gut pains yet. If I go and get the Coles or Foodland or Woolworths or go to a cafe and get a coffee of cows milk, I will get gut pains. So then I'm like, okay. So they must put a lot of crap in all the milk that we

MIC2-1:

got. Mm-hmm.

MIC3-1:

the shop and raw straight from the

MIC2-1:

it's processed. Yeah,

MIC3-1:

because I'm. I've always said, oh, we are not a calf. Why would we drink? Yeah, human milk. Human milk. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel a bit like, ugh, why would I drink a cow's milk? I'm not a baby calf, And

MIC2-1:

I still think that a

MIC3-1:

bit. But anyway, I can tolerate cow's milk straight from a cow. It's baffles me that it's illegal. Everybody should be doing it. I think we'd have a lot a, a healthier group of humans if we were all drinking. Milk straight from the cow.

MIC2-1:

So many

MIC3-1:

benefits. It's not actually the shit that they put into the milk, it's the the goodness they take out. That's the problem. Oh yeah. So the heating and the pasteurization, all of that takes out all the good stuff. I do still think that we probably shouldn't be having a lot of milk because

MIC2-1:

What

MIC3-1:

it? After the age of five or six, we lose the enzyme lactase, which prevents us from actually digesting lactose. But doesn't

MIC2-1:

doesn't do that.

MIC3-1:

No. that, well, that's the thing. I would still say I'm lactose intolerant, but I'm not when it comes to raw cow's milk. Yeah. And that's why, you know, breastfeeding your kids. For so long is fine too, because they still have that enzyme. I mean, I breastfed Molly till she was five. I love that. Yeah. And that is frowned upon by so many people. Oh, so many people like, but what is more natural than a child having Yeah, their mother's milk and I donated milk through the human milk for human babies page because that's

MIC2-1:

there's a lot of mums

MIC3-1:

that couldn't breastfeed, but they don't wanna give their kids formula or cows milk or whatever. I respect that. So they would drop off their bottles. But that's all

MIC2-1:

like

MIC3-1:

self-funded. Self-managed. Like

MIC2-1:

they don't actually

MIC3-1:

have, is that illegal? Would you get in a lot of trouble if someone found out? No, it's not illegal, but they don't have a milk bank. Okay. Which is ridiculous. I had never heard of that. I had heard of the years and years ago the wetnurse. Where

MIC2-1:

Where

MIC3-1:

you used to feed other

MIC2-1:

people. His mom was a witness

MIC3-1:

babies. When she had her

MIC2-1:

when she had her babies, she

MIC3-1:

had heaps of milk. Yeah. And Joe used to go into the hospital and be like, oh, where's my wife? And oh, she's upstairs feeding all the babies that couldn't be fed by their mums. That's kind of

MIC2-1:

then too, they didn't have all this powdered milk. I know my husband's mom was a wet-nurse for her sister who had triplets and didn't have enough milk back then for them. Yeah, cool. So of course that's her nieces and nephews. Yeah. And that's what they did back then because they didn't

MIC3-1:

I would love to be able to see.

MIC2-1:

all those things. Yeah. And can I just say, going back to you saying, um, it was frowned upon to nurse your daughter's Mm. the fuck cares? I certainly didn't. Seriously. No, but I mean, mind your own fucking business. You do you, yeah. Do your life. Why is everyone so involved in other people's business and, and what they think is right or wrong, or should or shouldn't be done? People get a life. I seriously,, and whether we wanna drink raw cows milk or not, we need to come back to basics where everyone's not just got each other under a fucking microscope.

MIC3-1:

You just

MIC2-1:

said something about getting back

MIC3-1:

basics. That's, and that's what I'm really, really passionate about, but I think I kind of always have been, but more so Like just growing your own veggies and having the royal cow's milk and, and that sort of stuff you're looked at as though you're some weird hippie. A crazy person if you have a vegetable garden or drink raw cow's milk or take your vitamins and drink your herbal

MIC2-1:

raw honey for a sore throat,

MIC3-1:

and that works beautifully. It's amazing. Honey

MIC2-1:

hang on, hang

MIC3-1:

so many things.

MIC2-1:

But not if you're a 24-year-old homesteader with.

MIC3-1:

We some, sorry, We found some overalls for your birthday, by the way.

MIC2-1:

I

MIC3-1:

actually would love some overalls. Thank you. I would love them. And they're the perfect, I changed my tune. I wasn't surprise you, but No, I want them.

MIC2-1:

I want. So

MIC3-1:

I changed my tune on that. I think I was jealous.

MIC2-1:

And

MIC3-1:

when I did some self reflecting, Oh,

MIC2-1:

And a red checkered shirt, like you'll rock it.

MIC3-1:

like a real homesteader because I am a real homesteader

MIC2-1:

goats milk. Hang on My

MIC3-1:

goats, I, I can't milk my goats. Kenny's being fixed and. Well, well, I

MIC2-1:

you would

MIC1-1:

would wanna milk.

MIC3-1:

Kenny because, no, I

MIC2-1:

was gonna say

MIC3-1:

Kenny can't get

MIC1-1:

He has.

MIC2-1:

one tea. It's not drinkable.

MIC3-1:

Oh my gosh,

MIC2-1:

Can I just say,

MIC3-1:

I was gonna say, can't get the girls pregnant. I know, I

MIC2-1:

can't. Do you know what?

MIC3-1:

That

MIC2-1:

teat. Do know what

MIC3-1:

oh my goodness. Just that's silly. But it wasn't that long ago, like when I was young, very young. A milkman came around and delivered milk and you would leave your empty jars out and it would get filled up. There was a milkman. Yeah. And that was raw milk from a dairy. We lived up

MIC2-1:

the

MIC3-1:

dirt road outside of Birdwood. There's a dairy farm on that road. We used to pull in there with a bucket. Mm, absolutely. Like

MIC2-1:

And not even a sterilized bucket. Nothing like,

MIC3-1:

just literally. Yeah.

MIC2-1:

We did the same thing. I was on a hobby farm. No. Saying like we would rock in to the local dairy

MIC3-1:

pull in, get

MIC2-1:

in get, you'd pull the lid up from the milk farm. The Dairy farmer had a jug on top that you grabbed for the people that pulled in. Yeah. You put your money in the little cup, and you'd scoop out a couple liters of milk,

MIC3-1:

and my parents, believe it or not, you know, I mean, they weren't like. What you would call the home sitting part, but having, they sort of were, they sort of were

MIC2-1:

having said

MIC3-1:

that, I do remember them actually making butter. They got a butter churn, a wooden butter churn, and got the cream the top of the milk and made butter. Well, it might have also been a financial thing too. I was a hundred percent financial. Yeah. So how come in just 30 or 40 years, we've gone so far? That it's now illegal. When we remember a time where it was encouraged, it saved on money. It saved on rubbish. Yeah.'cause you would reuse the same bottles over and over. No

MIC2-1:

cartons or

MIC3-1:

or plastic. Yeah. So it's just, I just don't understand it. I can't understand it actually. And there's the other thing about going from glass bottles. To cartons and then back to clear plastic bottles. Mm-hmm. So they went to cartons because the sunlight destroyed the vitamin A in the milk. Oh, right. And so then they said, okay, we'll put them in cartons and we'll protect the milk. And then they've gone completely the other way and put them back in clear stuff. But plastic this time instead of glass. So you're still getting the vitamin. And they destroyed. But it's now in plastic.

MIC2-1:

But it's now in

MIC3-1:

plastic. So it's,

MIC2-1:

it's now le

MIC3-1:

it's only leaching in plastic.

MIC2-1:

they're trying to

MIC3-1:

kill us.

MIC3-2:

Literally whole modern medicine needs to kick up the ass But people say, oh, oh, so you don't really believe in traditional medicine. I've heard that before. And I'm like, what? But traditional medicine is what I do believe in. That's the herbs.

MIC2-2:

That's

MIC3-2:

all the stuff that's been going on for thousands of years.

MIC2-2:

I Alopathic medicine, which

MIC3-2:

is treating symptoms, has only been around for what, just over a hundred years. Yeah.

MIC2-2:

Yeah. that's traditional. That's not traditional. To me, that's alternative. Yes. That's contemporary.

MIC3-2:

years and years and years and years is the stuff. And now this very new stuff to me is alternative, but they seem, I just feel, am I an idiot? Am I that stupid that,

MIC2-2:

No,

MIC3-2:

because that doesn't make sense to me. No, they're actually, they're misbranding it. They, what they should be saying is mainstream medicine or allopathic medicine.

MIC2-2:

Allopathic

MIC3-2:

Is treat is treating a single. System in the body. Respiratory, circulatory, mm-hmm. And it treats the symptoms of that. So you come to me, you've got a cough, I'm gonna treat the cough. I'm not actually gonna try and figure out why, why you have a cough. Yeah, yeah. Or support your system mm-hmm. To have Oh, okay. System for that cough. So that's naturopathy. So that's a holistic mm-hmm. Model. Mm-hmm. So we are look like you're looking at everything within the body. And to support that.

MIC2-2:

And the cough

MIC3-2:

is just to get rid of what's in the body, right? Mm-hmm. So you cough because you've got phlegm or you've got something you wanna bring up. So why would, why do you wanna suppress it and suppress that and dampen it and let your body get rid of it? Like a fever, right? Yeah. When you, you're fighting an infection.

MIC2-2:

yes, your body

MIC3-2:

Yeah. Builds up heat mm-hmm. To get rid of the virus. Oh no. Let's give them some Panadol to reduce their fever. Okay. So let's just let the virus multiply in a very chilled environment without any fever. Yeah. Like, it's crazy. So anyway, sorry, I digress. And people think you're brave if you use the But I think you're brave to use the new stuff. That's what I was saying before in another episode. I don't feel very brave when I'm sticking with something that's tried and tested for years and years and years and years and years. Totally. I think the people that go to the chemist and get the scripts and do that, I think they are so brave, Especially hats off to

MIC2-2:

they actually read, they're so graphic. Yeah. If they read N it and it says

MIC3-2:

A rare side effect of this medication is dizzy spells and seizures. And they still do

MIC2-2:

it. And they still do

MIC3-2:

it. Yeah.

MIC2-2:

Far

MIC3-2:

Far out. You're brave. Yeah.

MIC2-2:

Right. Because you know what? Rare

MIC3-2:

as common as one in a thousand. So the actual definition of rare is between one in a thousand to one in 10,000. That's not very rare. That's not rare.

MIC2-2:

And then though, if you go on the other side of the, take these herbs. God be with you. Yeah. If this shit doesn't work well what? What's gonna happen?

MIC3-2:

Yeah. You're no worse

MIC2-2:

off. It didn't work.

MIC3-2:

No, that's right. Yeah. You've got nothing to lose, have you?

MIC2-2:

no. Yeah. When people roll their eyes at me, when I say, oh, try echinacea, or have like lemon and honey in, they're like,

MIC3-2:

but it works. It actually works.

MIC2-2:

that, there's properties out of certain things that have grown on this earth for like aloe, vera on burns, and

MIC3-2:

a hundred percent

MIC2-2:

Like it's a plant that is natural.

MIC3-2:

Do you know one thing though, that I read somewhere or someone told me, and it's so true, if all these pharmaceuticals and medicines and whatever was about your health, then wouldn't the people who are taking the most pills be our healthiest people? Yes. Yes.

MIC2-2:

Yes.

MIC3-2:

Hundred percent.

MIC2-2:

But

MIC3-2:

don't you find that the people that are taking the least amount of pills are our healthiest people? Yes. So then

MIC2-2:

more pills. More pills.

MIC3-2:

about health.

MIC2-2:

Yeah. Yeah.

MIC3-2:

So they don't make you healthy.

MIC2-2:

Absolutely. Do we

MIC3-2:

got off of track'cause it was about milk. We were talking

MIC2-2:

right.

MIC3-2:

milk. Yeah,

MIC2-2:

But

MIC3-2:

the point being

MIC2-2:

that

MIC3-2:

if it was about health and safety and preventing death from raw milk, then no pharmaceuticals Mm. That's simple. Mm-hmm. If it was about our health, mm,

MIC2-2:

it all comes back to the same

MIC3-2:

money,

MIC2-2:

money, money.

MIC3-2:

Oh.

MIC2-2:

Love it, love it. Alright, we, we

MIC3-2:

a wrap.

MIC2-2:

We need to wrap it up. Goodnight people. Goodnight. We love you.

People on this episode

Contributor

Cassie

Host
Contributor

Lauren

Host
Head Shot

Tina

Host

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Tina, Lauren & Cassie