Milk
Milk does a body good, right? I guess.
Here’s the thing; contrary to what the USDA tells us, we don’t need no stinkin’ milk to be healthy. As a matter of fact, countries where dairy is not a diet staple have lower levels of osteoporosis as well as fewer bone fractures; they maintain a healthy calcium balance on half of the calcium intake recommended by the USDA. This most likely has to do with what they are eating besides milk; less meat (protein, which depletes calcium), less sodium from processed foods (which also depletes calcium), and more of those good veggies. Vegetables — beans, nuts, greens, etc. — have calcium.
How about whole v. skim? Here is how they do it.
The dairy farm takes all the cow juice from the udders and pools it in one big vat. They allow the cream to rise to the top and separate the whey (milk) from it. Then, they take the fat that they had separated earlier and add it back to the milk in differentiating amounts; the more fat added gets you whole milk, the less, skim. Basically, whole milk is skim milk with fat added to it.
Drink those low fat milks, get the dairy nutrients (not that you need them, anyway) and leave the fat at the farm.
That being said, God, do I love milk.
Thanks, Marion Nestle. More to come.
