For Lemont resident Sheri Giachetto, drinking raw milk is no trend for her family — it’s a way of life.

And it’s become a way of life for more than 100 families from the Chicago area who are buying raw milk and other organic produce from Giachetto through the Fresh From the Farm Cooperative. Giachetto said people are waking up to the benefits of raw food, especially raw milk.

“Raw milk has all the nutrients intact, the way it was intended for bodies to be utilized,” Giachetto said.

Of her five children, her two youngest were raised on raw milk from infancy.
Tinley Park resident and co-op customer MaryAnn Laska said drinking raw milk has changed her life. A sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis, she said since she began drinking it in 2007, the condition’s effects have lessened.

“It far surpasses what the conventional medical world could have done for me,” she said.

Through Fresh From the Farm Cooperative, people can purchase an array of products from providers including organic, grass fed beef, pork, pastured chickens, pastured eggs, raw milk, cream and other raw dairy products. Raw honey and bee pollen also is available as well as organic produce in the summer months, all from local, independent, organic farmers. The co-op provides these foods fresh weekly.

Giachetto is a firm believer that foods have a major impact on an individual’s physical, mental and emotional health.

“Truth-seekers who have through their own ill health searched for answers to their health problems (and) have discovered information (that) led them to the co-op,” she said.

Raw food products are gaining in popularity, Giachetto said. Even a doctor from Schaumburg has been referring patients to the co-op to get the food.

“That kind of word of mouth has caused it to take off,” she said.

She suggests storing raw milk in the refrigerator but letting it get to room temperature before drinking it.

“If you drink too much cold milk, the stomach contracts and you end up with undigested proteins in the blood,” she said. “That can give symptoms of emotional mood swings.”

Kimberly Berger, a registered and licensed dietician, was previously on staff at Lemont’s Rock Creek Center as a dietitian and is now at Genesis Clinical Services in Wheaton. She said the less preservatives people consume, through raw or organic foods, the better for their bodies.

“Organic tends to be the trend at this point,” she said. “It’s expensive, but it can be extremely healthy.”

However, Berger urges consumers to make sure they research where their raw and organic foods are coming from.

“Americans are so used to having a long shelf life with food products,” Berger said. “If you choose to be raw, you need to make sure the company provides a good quality product.”

Laska couldn’t be happier with the raw milk she gets from the co-op.

“I don’t want to go off this diet,” she said. “I’m constantly improving, and I’m looking forward to a brighter future.”