For years, we've been bombarded with advertisements from the dairy industry talking about how vital cow's milk is for our overall health. "It does a body good," and "Helps build strong bones," are two common claims we hear about the product. Milk appears in thousands of common products and is almost impossible to get away from. But what's the big deal? Is it really that harmful?

In a word, yes, it most definitely is. There are a number of reasons you should stay away from milk.

1. It ruins your bone health.

Wait a second, wouldn't the calcium in milk actually make our bones stronger? That's certainly what we've been lead to believe by the milk industry, but why would they want to tell us the truth? Because of pasteurization, the milk actually has next to no bioavailable calcium. In the absence of calcium, the milk actually has an acidifying impact on our bones, causing them to break down.

2. Milk harms your gut.

Raw milk is full of bacteria that's quite important for good digestive health, but pasteurized milk is completely without this good bacteria. This is one of the reasons milk is so hard to digest for so many people. The lack of bacteria also causes milk to be stored as fat.