Skim Milk - the big lie

Why do people drink skim milk?  Because they think that they will lose weight by not drinking the fat?  That the fat is bad for them?  And what about the taste?  Without the fat it has little to no taste. So why do people drink it?

Whole milk has saturated fat in it.  And when it comes to saturated fat we've been sold a bill of goods. Prior to World War II Americans did not drink skim or low fat milk. We only drank whole milk, and in fact the more cream in the milk, the higher the quality of the milk, and more likely the consumer was to buy it. In addition, milk was not homogenized then so you could see the cream line on the bottle.  Cream was considered a valuable and nutritional food for centuries.

Remember the bill of goods we were sold about margarine?  Remember when butter was bad and margarine was good?   Now we know that margarine is bad and everyone needs to go back to eating butter. It's the same with skim milk.  Years ago even doctors told us to drink skim milk, now we know better.

The no fat craze is over, thank goodness.  Thirty years later we continue to gain weight and heart disease is on the rise. The no fat craze did not have the effect we were all told it would. Look around.  Has anyone really benefited from eating a no fat diet? I don't think so. 

The fact is skim milk has been found to cause people to gain weight.  That's right!  Diabetes and hypoglycemia tend to raise on these types of diets.  The fat in milk helps us to digest the sugar lactose and it slows the blood sugar release. There are no ups and downs of insulin when your diet has fat in it.  So what happens when you drink skim milk?  The lactose sugar spikes your glucose level. This action is something you want to avoid.  Repeated spiking is what contributes to diabetes.  Your goal should be to eat foods that get released slowly, with no spike.

Fat as part of a meal slows down absorption so that we can go longer without feeling hungry.  In addition, they act as carriers for important fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.  Dietary fats are needed for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral adsorption and for a host of other processes.  Do you take vitamin supplements?  Well, your body needs fat to absorb those vitamins otherwise they may be doing you no good. 

Additionally it has been shown that people who drink skim milk tend to substitute carbs to fill the gap.  Again these carbs spike the blood sugar and are the foods that actually contribute to weight gain.  Consuming the fat in milk will help to satiate you and you will be less apt to need those additional foods.

Part of a healthy nutritious diet includes good fat sources, and that includes fat in milk.  Try and buy the best quality organic milk you can afford, and when you drink that glass of milk I hope you think about the good you are doing your body.