Dairy Question: Milk

ELOCN · #1 08/09/12, 11:04 PM

I drink low-fat milk. A friend insists it's better for me to drink half-and-half, because low-fat milk has almost three times as much sugar in it as half-and-half. I've looked at the labels on both and he's right. But he says "when they pull the fat out of that milk, it's the same as putting sugar in." This just doesn't sound right to me. And why would low-fat milk have almost 3 times as much sugar in it? We're talking regular low-fat milk from the store, not chocolate milk. Please help me explain this if you can! Thanks in advance!

arnie · #2 08/10/12, 12:51 PM

I am curious as to the anser to this guestion .I pour the cream off the top of my milk and save it to make butter ,ice cream or yogurt.and drink the skim milk whitch is simaular to 2% milk from the store to my educated taste buds.would this sugar content hold true with unpasturized un homodonized milk from my home milk cow?

Cliff · #3 08/10/12, 01:28 PM

Sounds like an excuse to drink pure fat lol. Milk has milk sugar in it. If you drink half and half you have a little less than half the milk sugar and almost twice the fat. So? I don't understand the point. Does your friend completely avoid sugar in all their other foods? Replacing a small amount of natural sugar like occurs in milk with tons of pure fat makes no sense whatsoever.

Cliff · #4 08/10/12, 01:37 PM

And no it's not the same as putting sugar in the milk when they pull the fat out. It's just that there is a higher percentage of actual milk per gallon for lower fat milk than when the fat is left in. There's a little sugar in the milk, none in fat.

arnie · #5 08/10/12, 05:27 PM

Okay that's kinda what I thought

genebo · #6 08/10/12, 07:13 PM

I raced bicycles and paid very close attention to what I ate. I love milk and was pleasantly surprised to find out that skim milk is an excellent energy drink. The sugar content is almost exactly the level recommended for fueling your body. See if you can find out the level of sugar in the popular energy drinks for comparison.

What's best is that the milk sugar is one of the forms easily utilized in your muscles to produce energy.

Whole milk is not as good because the fat slows down the absorption rate of the sugar and can't be readily converted into energy.

ELOCN · #7 08/10/12, 11:44 PM

Cliff, you're right: he has become a sugar Nazi. I had two big bottles of applejuice here, never opened, and he poured them down the sink. He said they had too much sugar in them.

He's following a diet called the "Paleo Diet" where he says they believe you should consume lots of fat, and no sugar. He even scolds me for eating strawberries or apples, because he says they contain too much sugar.

I might add that he has many bizarre beliefs: he's over the edge on a number of subjects, including politics, religion (he's an atheist), the economy and now nutrition.

Ronney · #8 08/11/12, 06:23 AM

I think I would be keeping him out of my kitchen as well as telling him to worry about his own health and to leave me worry about mine

Cheers,
Ronnie

Cliff · #9 08/11/12, 09:27 AM

I've always been into nutrition. I'm a CCU nurse and see how people suffer for the way they eat. I pay attention to research. A couple of docs in the last 20 years have shown that even severe heart disease is reversible with a very low fat vegan diet.

Sugar is really bad for you. For instance you're way better off eating whole fruit than drinking fruit juices. Too much concentrated sugar in fruit juice. Sugar does all kinds of bad things in your body. Our bodies just weren't designed to process a lot of concentrated sugars. A serving or two of fruit per day is probably enough. But to obsess about it to the point that you replace a little natural sugar in milk with pure milk fat is a little extreme I think.

ELOCN · #10 08/11/12, 08:55 PM

Yep, that's him -- extreme in almost every way. At the end of October he came to my house. I had already bought candy to give out to the trick-or-treaters. He jerked up a roll of Necco wafers and read the ingredients. I asked him to set it down but he wouldn't. He giggled. Another time I had a couple of bottles of some orange drink at my house and he picked up the bottle (I told him not to) and read the ingredients. He is deliriously happy when he can lecture someone about the evils of sugar. I hate his behavior.

ashleep · #11 08/12/12, 08:50 AM

Your friend sounds like a real piece of work. I feel much the same way he does about junk food, but unless you are my child it is none of my business what you eat. I would never dream of acting that way in someone else's home!

I do think whole milk is better nutritionally (not half/half) but if you feel good drinking skim, great. Everyone's body handles fats/proteins/carbs differently so what works for one will not always work for another. I can eat lots of healthy carbs, healthy fats, and not gain an ounce, but my husband can't. I do believe that store milk is truly UNhealthy, and my only advice is to seek out fresh milk from someone trustworthy.

Oh, and tell your friend that the paleo diet actually doesn't include milk/dairy at all, so his half&half argument is flawed.

oregon woodsmok · #12 08/12/12, 05:37 PM

Maybe what your friend heard was this: 2% or whole milk is better for diabetics because the fat helps to slow the digestion of the milk sugars and even them out.

There is no fat to buffer the digestion of the sugar in skim milk.

Have you considered cutting the "friend" out of your diet instead of the milk?