First, is there technically anything wrong with dairy in my opinion? No, not really. The P90X guide allows for an allotment of dairy each day. If you love using milk in your shakes, and it fits into your daily totals, then that’s fine. Go ahead.
I have chosen to always make my shakes with water. Sure, I have no doubt that they would be a bit more delicious with milk instead of water, but I’ve always preferred to save the calories from milk and use them elsewhere in my daily plan. So I’ve gotten quite used to shakes made with water. And I think it’s the SMARTER way to approach my nutrition plan.
So what is my logic behind very limited dairy in my diet? I’m not allergic to it (although some are). I’m not lactose intolerant (although some are). I just simply don’t think that dairy, in most forms, is a very good choice to meet our nutritional objectives. It’s not horrible, but it’s far inferior to other options for healthy carbs and healthy fats.
First of all, many dairy options (milks and cheeses) are high in fats, particularly saturated fats. These are NOT good for us! So many think that by getting reduced fat, 2%, or even non-fat versions of milk and cheese get around this problem. But then we have the second problem, which is that dairy is also high in sugars. Even skim milk has lots of milk sugar (lactose) in it, which will spike insulin just like glucose. This makes the carbs in milk and dairy products “BAD CARBS”!!
Second, dairy doesn’t meet any nutritional requirements that we can’t get just as easily from other sources. Many erroneously think that we need dairy to get calcium. This is what the dairy industry wants us to think, but in actuality we get more calcium than we need from simply eating green veggies and nuts. Spinach, broccoli, almonds, etc are all extremely high in calcium.
Finally, this is just the logical side of me talking here, but think about how many other animals (besides humans) consume dairy beyond infancy? NONE! Nearly all animals consume dairy as infants because their bodies need the high levels of fats and sugars to fatten up and grow. We silly humans have turned what should be reserved for infants and have made a culture and food system around it — no wonder we are obese and dying of heart disease! Sure, dumping loads of cheese on everything tastes good, but good grief! We need to think logically!! (that’s just my take … you are free to disagree on this point LOL).
So what about the dairy based items that are a usual part of my diet (whey protein and yogurt)? Well, the reason I use whey protein is that it is isolated from the source, removing the fat and sugars. Thus, the whey protein is simply a clean, pure source of protein that has a full amino acid profile. It has nothing to do with it’s origin as a dairy product.
And as for yogurt and greek yogurt — it still has the lactose sugars in it (which are not ideal), but it has lots of protein and helpful probiotics due to the fermenting process that aid in GI function. So I consider a yogurt each day to be a healthy snack, and I like using it since it’s convenient. By no means do I think yogurt is necessary to a diet, though. I just think it has enough benefits to outweigh the negatives.
Milk and cheese, on the other hand, don’t stack up well on the pros vs. cons analysis in my book.
So, in conclusion, if you can make your skim milk fit into your daily totals, is it okay to keep using it. Sure, if you want. Do I think it’s your BEST plan? No. Dairy is one of those items where people have multiple opinions, and that’s fine. But I just wanted to let y’all know where I am coming from, and why you will only see cheese on my MFP entries when I have an occasional “pizza night” :-).
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