Whether or not you are the type of person to spend time perusing the USDA’s MyPlate to determine what foods you should eat each day, and how much of them, it is important to understand that your body needs the nutrients found in dairy products. Different dairy products will do different things for you.
The basic key to having dairy in your diet is to make sure you are picking low or no fat options. Dairy can contain a lot of fat, if you’re opting for things like whole milk. You won’t be losing out on good stuff by picking the healthier options. Instead, you’ll be gaining a healthier lifestyle.
Drinking Milk
Even people suffering from lactose intolerance can still work to get dairy in their diet. There are types of dairy milk made for people that have an issue with lactose, and there are other dairy products that basically have no lactose in them.
As far as drinking milk goes, calcium is important for growing children, helping them build strong and healthy bones. You can buy milk that has vitamin D added to it, which works with calcium to help build a strong body. The older you get, the more you need these as well, which can help you avoid things like osteoporosis, which could cause your bones to be more easily breakable.
Milk Based Products With Lactose
If you don’t seem to have an issue with lactose, and you believe that dairy is good for you, you can get it by doing more than just drinking a glass of milk. Other dairy products include cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, gelato, and cheese.
All of these products contain good things, like calcium and protein, but a couple of them have little to no lactose in them, making them OK for people that generally try to avoid lactose. If it doesn’t matter to you at all, eat any dairy you want, just stick with the stuff with less fat, if you want to avoid a bigger middle.
Going Lactose Free
If you get diarrhea, constipation, or stomach upset from the dairy you eat, it could be a sign of lactose intolerance. In this case, you can spend money on pills that will help your body tolerate and digest it better, or you can opt out of eating the dairy products that cause you issues.
The ones that are less likely to bother people that can’t have lactose are cheese and yogurt. In the processing of these dairy products it seems that lactose is processed out of them. This way you still get your dairy, without as much stomach pain and pressure.
Originally posted on July 13, 2016 @ 10:01 pm