Why I’m not on the Milk Mustache bandwagon
Want Milk?
First, let me rant provide my opinion.
Let’s forget the fact that www.whymilk.com is smartly pushing articles about Milk helping you lose weight. I say smartly because unlike back in the mid 2000s when the campaigns were outright saying that milk makes you lose weight, www.whymilk.com’s campaign says milk along with calorie reduction and exercise, or milk instead of soda, helps lose weight. Um, any regimen that includes calorie reduction and exercise or exclusion of sodas is going to help shed pounds. It could be said that I’m being a bias opinionated meanie against these articles because in 2005, when I was 29, I spent several weeks counting my calories and exercising daily and lost 12 pounds. I then learned that drinking 24 oz of milk a day is great for weight-loss and increased my milk intake for two weeks. I gained back 3lbs and suffered from stomach cramps almost every night. But hey, that’s just me.
I also find it silly that according to www.whymilk.com, milk is a better option than water when you’re in your fifties and need hydration. Yes milk is 90% water. I just think it’s too heavy after exercising, but that’s just my opinion.
I’m not on the bandwagon because of my kids.
My kids still drink milk. But, there’s a limit on cows’ milk.
Being a mom of four, you’d expect me to be pushing milk at my kids every time they open the fridge. No, I’m not pushing Gatorade and apple juice. In truth, I push water. Your body is about 70% water. All your organs have water in them. Your body needs water to transport nutrients to all the organs. Water also removes waste, sends oxygen to your blood cells and regulates your body temperature. From personal experience with cows’ milk, I have to tell you that I do limit the amount of cows’ milk my teens drink daily and the toddlers only drink Soy Milk.
Why?
Well, as babies, all my babies suffered from milk allergies in their first year. Spit up, vomiting, pain cries and excessive gas were symptoms from drinking milk based formula. They were all switched to soy formula, (except Damian who had to have Alimentum from 2 months old for about 6 months). After their first birthdays, I introduced the now-teens to cows’ milk. They did well with it and the pediatrician had told me that some babies are sensitive to lactose sugar or may just have milk allergies during their first year and then they grow out of it. Being a new mom, of course I listened.
A few years later, the girls are 5 and 7 years old and have spent the last 4+ years drinking a glass of milk every night before bed. Then they start eating school lunch and milk is added at lunch. (I use to pack them sandwiches and little bottles of water and a snack but they wanted to be like the other kids and so I had to pay for school lunches.) Since most nights they’re passing out from their long day at school, they’d miss out on the nightly glass of milk, so it’s still once a day. But as they got use to school and the routine of running around, there were nights when they were able to stay up for that last glass of milk. These were the nights when their tummies would hurt or they wouldn’t sleep well. We went back to one glass of milk a day. They’re 12 and 14 now and these days I limit them to two glasses (trying to stay one glass below the recommended amount for their age). Sometimes one of them will forget and have an extra glass and within hours there’s complaints of side pains or stomach pains or headaches.
As for the toddlers, well, now that I know soy milk exists, I switched them from the soy formula to the Silk Soy Milk around one year of age. They’re doing great. I wish I could get the girls to drink it, but at this age, they identify soy milk with being a baby, so they refuse.
As for me, well, I’m not lactose intolerant. I can have dairy, but I can tell you, since I started drinking soy milk with the toddlers, my stomach is just so much happier and I no longer get those sharp shooting pains in my stomach that I occasionally had for several years.
Soy milk is available every where I go now, except for when it’s sold out. I only started noticing it in select supermarkets a few years ago. It’s pretty popular now, which is probably why, according to WSJ, Dean Foods recently reported a drop in milk sales but announced that their WhiteWave Foods line which includes Silk Soy and Horizon Organic Milks were performing exceptionally well.
Maybe I’m not the only one sitting on the curb watching the parade pass by.
How do you take your milk?
Cows’ Milk? (Whole, Reduced Fat, Low Fat or Fat Free?)
Organic Milk? (Lactose Free or Ultra Pasteurized?)
Soy Milk?
Please leave a comment, I’d love to know which milk you prefer and if you’ve had a similar experience with cows’ milk.
This post/somewhat review was in no way sponsored by DEP or Silk Soy Milk. The opinions expressed here are purely MY OPINIONS based on MY EXPERIENCE. I’m in no way a doctor, scientist or expert on the cons of milk, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Photocredit: © Rolf Fassbind – Fotolia
Twitter: BeautifulSpitUp
says:
I drink organic fat-free lactose-free milk becuase I’m lactose intolerant. I know you said you are not lactose intolerant, but it sure sounds like you might have a slight intolerance. There are many levels of intolerance, and you might just have a minor allergy to the lactose, hence the tummy pains you felt in the past. Just sharing my family’s experience with milk. One of my sister’s has a minor intolerance and got the tummy cramps you mention. She can still have cheese and other stuff, but drinking milk straight gives her a tummy ache.
My son drinks organic whole cow’s milk mixed with 50% breast milk. He seems to like it, but I think it’s because it’s mixed with momma’s milk! I have wanted to try the almond milk, but my doc doesn’t recommend introducing my son to nuts until after he’s two. I’m not a huge fan of milk either, but I do think it has it’s place in our diets. I might just have to try the almond milk myself just to check it out! Great post, Vanita!
Eve recently posted..Lemon Fusilli with Arugula and Grape Tomatoes
Ya know, Damian is almost 3 and we recently discovered he has a nut allergy. it was the scariest moment of my life. I wanted to die when he started to wheeze. luckily the children’s claritin I keep in the cupboard for my teen was for ages 2 and up.
I saw your post about the Lemon Fusilli in my inbox this morning and I’m like “damn this woman can cook!”
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thank you !! very useful post!
Twitter: iasoupmama
says:
I don’t drink milk, blech. I eat yogurt and lower fat cheese. I have milk over my cereal and in my coffee, but a plan glass of milk, ick!
I serve my kids milk with snacks, but only water with meals. My kids will chug the milk and then not eat the other healthy food I give them.
No lactose intolerance or casein allergies here — just a mama who thinks milk is gross.
see? I knew it! I’m not the only mama who thinks milk is gross! Thanks for sounding off sweeti!
Milk, it doesn’t do a body good. We do Almond milk here. Lower calorie and lower sugar.
i was considering the almond milk, but we found out this friday that Damian has a nut allergy . . .
I personally feel like there is plenty of soy in the American diet. Based on the fact that I am currently recovering from many years of thyroid disease and now a more aggressive form of thyroid cancer, I avoid as much soy as possible… and I try to make sure that my daughter doesn’t get ‘over’ exposed to it as well. Apart from the question as to whether soy even has demonstrable health benefits, there are long-standing concerns that soy may have negative effects on thyroid function and hormonal health. Soy falls into a category of foods known as goitrogens — vegetables, grains and foods that promote formation of goiter — an enlarged thyroid. Some goitrogens also have a definite antithyroid effect, and appear to be able to slow thyroid function, and in some cases, trigger thyroid disease. Now that I am ‘thyroidless,’ I fight the good fight for my healthy everyday. I have always been an otherwise healthy woman, but I was very big into living a vegetarian lifestyle and replaced proteins with soy. I haven’t even started to touch on how this can affect young girls and boys and hormone levels in their bodies. They have been doing scientific research on soy for over 40 years… some of the findings are a little scary. Google it to learn about some of those findings. Though it does have its suggested healthy benefits, I too would consider trying almond or rice milk as an alternative. Thanks Vanita for a great topic of discussion!! Best, Heidi http://www.HeidiHurd.com
Heidi, thanks so much for the information! One thing that we are definitely not in this household is vegetarians! I just prefer the soy milk over the cows’ milk, but i see i must look into almond milk. Thanks again and thanks for dropping by.
LOL, yeah, we don’t do the vegetarian lifestyle much anymore except for not eating red meat… overall, we just try to eat organic if possible (not always possible but we try). Good luck with your continued research!!
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I hear that Almond milk is great!! i want to switch i’ve been noticing a “dairy-reluctance” lately.
Now I’ve got to try the almond milk. peer pressure . . .
Twitter: Christal_L
says:
I use almond milk–I have always had issue with cows milk. My son drank goats milk as a baby–its very close to human milk. Humans aren’t set up to digest cows milk, though I know some who do just fine. We use almond milk, it tastes great and I have no side effects —which are ugly to say the least
I’ve never seen goats’ milk in the supermarket.