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 photo via Why Milk? So much for those "Got Milk?" ads that promise dairy helps aid in weight loss--two researchers are crying foul. I have to say, as much as I love dairy, I always have been stymied by the claims that it promoted weight loss. Milk is, by its very purpose, designed to be nutrient dense and help offspring grow and gain weight. I'm certainly not knocking the dairy industry (after all, I DO live in the dairy state) but claiming that milk is good for weight loss reminds me of back in the day when pregnant women were advised to smoke for a healthy pregnancy. Also, anecdotally, if drinking milk and eating cheese helped you lose weight, I would be a size 2, not a 2X. I
guess it's never going to be enough to just enjoy a food group for its
own sake. There always has to be a promise of making your life better
somehow. Eat beef and you'll get a man! Eat yogurt and you'll turn into Beyoncé overnight (or become a good pooper just like Jamie Lee Curtis)!
Entire industries have lobbying groups, ad councils and public relation
committees, and we all know that nothing gets our attention like the
promise of thinner thighs. Seriously, I know that I'm jaded, but what's
the next thing that the food industry will claim helps you lose weight?
Please god, let it be bacon. 4 CommentsLeave a comment |
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Read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan if you haven't. It's quite relevant to a lot of the posts that show up here.
(Not preachy. Not about weight loss. Just about food and our - the American - food chain.)
I'm a firm believer that lowfat/fat free milk makes you thin BECAUSE of the protein, low calories, and the CLA that it contains. All of which are great in aiding in weight loss. This study probably was not controlled. The participants were probably eating too much. Milk makes a great snack. You can't just eat candy all day then drink some milk and think you're gonna lose weight. Not gonna happen. Low calories and THEN add milk.
Discovery Health Channel just ran a show on various food scientific studies, one of which was the effects of calcium on fat absorption. The participants ate a controlled number of fat/carb/protein calories, but one group had a very high calcium intake. That group absorbed significantly less fat from their calories (they measured it by collecting and analyzing everyone's feces for a matter of weeks - a study that gross has to be accurate, I say.)
Note also that calcium does not = milk, necessarily.
Of course, ingesting large quantites of calcium will inhibit your body's ability to absorb iron, but let's not talk about the fact something like 30% of women are borderline anemic anyway.
I'm lactose intolerant, anyway. Last 'medical professional' who gave me dietary advice (read: damnfool in scrubs on the bus) told me that shouldn't stop me from drinking milk. I explained to her that I didn't want to be arrested for gassing my cubicle partner to death.