Is milk good for you?

I read alot about how bad milk is for you because the antibiotics and hormones pumped into the cows to maximize milk production, and that milk has alot of saturated fat.

But if I drink fat-free organic milk like Horizon organic brand, is it good for losing weight? I probably dont get enough calcium in my diet. And I think drinking 3 cups of milk a day might make my diet more balanced and healthy.

I love the Horizon organic. I get the 1% and it's great. I fit two servings a day in. One in the morning with my cascadia farms organic granola cereal and one with din din.

i love milk & drink it everyday, 1% with supper, and then soy chocolate with breakfast.

Yes milk is good for you - the organic even better.  You do need to calcium - though you can get it from other sources.  The Dr. recommended I add a second glass of milk to my diet each day, so now I drink two.  I also get calcium from other sources - yogurt, cottage cheese.

is milk good with dinner? i've heard so many people drinking it with dinner. i wanna start now lolz.

A nice tall glass of ice cold skim milk with dinner is one of the best things ever.

I find that soymilk is just as good or better, and you don't have to worry about hormones and all the other stuff that goes against milk. You can get it light in fat/calories, or vitamin fortified, and in a variety of flavors, and most are organic.

Organic dairy products cost more, but they taste great and you won't have to worry about contamination.  I like Horizon brand, and also the Whole Foods Market store brand.

Organic milk is the same as regular milk! All that hormone is poison stuff is marketing hype. People think there are more hormones and that this are dangerous. All untrue.

"Extensive studies of the safety of bST have been conducted world-wide and
reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA concluded that both
milk and meat are safe. A separate review of the data has been conducted by the
National Institute of Health, the World Health Organization, the Office of the
Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, and reviews by
the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics, and the Journal of
the American Dietetic Association all independently have arrived at the same
conclusion, milk and meat from bST supplemented cows are safe. In addition,
regulatory agencies from countries around the world have reached the same
conclusion, milk and meat from bST supplemented cows are safe. In addition,
regulatory agencies from countries around the world have reached the same
conclusion."

From Cornel University bST fact sheet

On top of that, milk production without supplementation is less efficient, and therefore wasteful of resources. So if you think organic farming is more "green" think again.

 

Clairelaine what "contamination" exactly? 

i suggest drinking soymilk if you're worried about hormones and antibiotics. even though a carton of milk says "organic" on the label, it's basically just a cow living off of "organic grains" rather than enriched corn. the cow is still abused, and the milk that it's forced to pump out three times a day still has unhealthy chemicals.

organic is better than not.  the fda only tells people what it wants to tell them.  they are lining their pockets while people die from the stuff they say is just fine.  of course, this is just my opinion.  do some research on your own and make your own conclusions since everyone feels differently and will never all agree. 

when i use milk i also buy horizon skim. i use soy milk the most because it is only 50 calories per 8 ounce glass.  it's a taste that you get use to so don't expect it to taste just like milk. i put chocolate in it to drink in a glass.  i also use it on cereal and in cooking.  the only think i use real milk for is sf, ff pudding because it doesn't thicken  in soy milk for some reason.

the FDA says a lot of things that aren't true. rBGH has been proven to cause mastitis (udder infections) in cows, and the major risk of cows with mastitis is that they are given tons of antibiotics to cure which we in turn consume (not to mention that there is pus in the milk from infected cows). it also reduces their longevity of milk production and their life and it causes birth defects in their calves. what is it doing to the humans that consume it? studies have also shown it causes cancer. we are the ONLY industrialized nation to not ban it. 

also, did you know that monsanto, the makers of rBGH are also the creators of that fine product AGENT ORANGE in addition to the fact that they are poisoning the country's crops with GMO laden seeds? (in addition to like 5 thousand other horribly corrupt and irresponsible things that they do?) check out this link: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbghlink.cfm in addition to this section there is a wealth of organic news info.

most soy is genetically modified these days and is so oveprocessed and bad for you. the stuff you commonly find is owned by big businesses who add a lot of crap to it. if i use milk i prefer a nut milk substitute like almond milk.  i do think milk from cows is for baby cows not humans.

that said, if you are going to drink milk, if you buy organic and locally produced  (if possible) then you can feel confident as to where it is coming from and how the cows are being treated. i've read some bad things about horizon but i suppose it's better than buying something commercial that definitely has hormones in it.

just pay attention to labels and read up on things but find viable sources of information.

 

I don't eat everything organic but I have also committed to only drinking organic milk. Let's face it, by the time the FDA (or Health Canada in my case) gets around to understanding the consequences of pumping cows with hormones it will be too late for most of us.

I don't know about the US but if you shop around you can find organic milk for only a little bit more money.  If you think about all the money you are saving by not buying candy and chocolate I'm sure it allw orks out.

Milk really is not that good for you.  Despite all the hype it is actually a really poor source of "absorbable" calcium.  It comes from cows!!!! Which means that it was not designed for humans!!!! Milk in moderation is fine, but look for alternate sources of calcium which are much better (ie. fruits and veggies)

wow, i didn't realize that people still belive anything that the FDA says, i'm... baffled!

Dang it all cows are not abused and milked three times a day. Orgnaic cows have a lot more restrictions then just organic grain. My uncle can not use pesticides or anything else To help his crop grow. Furthermore human drnking water has to be prvided streams and the like have to be locked off becuase they mght be contaminated.

Whats even better is bst is produced by cows naturally it is a milk producing hormone. That is why even though milk says it is rbst free it isnt. That is also why there are no tests that can be conducted to prove or disprove wether or not a cow was giving rbst.

More on the abuse thing. my uncles cows are outside at least eight hours a day. Have round the clock water and feed. They are milked twice a day. He does not abuse these animals They are prize wining jerseys and he takes care of them as well as anyone who owns prize winning dogs would.

Saying all milk farmers are bad is like me saying all vegans or vegetarians are unhealthy. (I know a few vegans that eat poorly and have yellowish skin) It just isnt true. Also If a cow gets mastitis the milk can not be put into the bulk tank. Furthermore if the milk is organic the only thing you can give a cow for mastitis is garlic bulbs that help only a little. My uncle has had two cows die from masttis becuase he is organic and could not give them any medication for it. Same with scowers a type of diarrhea that gets into baby cows an they die of dehydration. Cant give them anything either.

His cows are now getting ring worm becuase my uncle cant stop it with any medication. I think it is worse to let a poor innocent calf die from lack of hydration then to give it the meds. my uncle has taken to giving his sick cows the meds then he has to sell them becuase he cant milk them.

Now before you go bashing a whole industry agian by reading a peta website please go out to a local farm (dont try to find the worst one you can. Try and find a good one) And help them ut for a month. Walk in their shoes for a mile or two and try to understand other people better. and the issues you discuss.

My thought is you can name any food item, pick one randomly, and someone will inevitably find something horribly wrong with it.  Example:

Random item- Fish, someone would respond "watch out for mercury.  Nuts, respone "high in fat and calories".  Ice, "will break your teeth".  Eggs, "high colesterol".  Which all in my opinion are healthy choices. 

So my point is, if you can find more benefits to eating a particular item without it having more negatives, eat/drink it!

Depends...are you a baby cow?

whoa whoa whoa, peta's investigations have nothing to do with small organic farms, they research massive factory farming (which is where the majority of our milk here in the states comes from). what you're saying is like trying to compare apples and oranges.

A word of caution about soy products - they contain a natural chemical that mimics estrogen.  Many doctors worry that excessive soy consumption is affecting women's menstrual cycle and as a result their fertility.  Soy has a lot of benefits but there are many drawbacks that need to be considered.