Skim milk - diet food?

Ok, since I can remember, my household has had skim milk in it. It is the ONLY kind of milk I can stomach and I honestly think it's a pretty perfect food, lots of protein and calcium - all good stuff. However, I see it referred to on the forums as "fake" or "diet food" and something we should avoid eating like splenda! I think that's crazy!

Anyway, what's your opinion on skim milk?

i don't see skim milk as a diet food at all, i see it as more of a personal choice.

i grew up on skim milk, and i personally can't stand the taste and texture of 2%. skim milk is just what i'm used to, and my family has been drinking it for years.. and none of them are on diets.

It's just regular milk with the fat scraped off. It's not like they send it to the lab and do horrible chemical things to it to make it diet. Skim milk has been around forever. I know a lot of people have a problem with drinking cow milk in general but if the argument is skim milk v. full fat milk it's skim milk for the win.

I dont think that people should consider skim milk "diet food." Especially if the person drinks 1 or 2% milk...because thats also a reduction of the fat content thats normally found in it.

What should be a concern about milk is the way that its stored. Depending on the container, the nutrients can be decreased...hence the reason milk should be stored in opaque containers as opposed to clear plastic...check out this article! >> http://www.dairyfoods.com/CDA/Archives/b1cbc9 79ec0a7010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____

Posts 1 and 2, I totally agree. It's a personal choice and if I prefer skim milk...why should I drink anything different? I've never even considered whole milk an option!

My opinion on skim milk is exactly the same as yours.

I think its absolutely sooo healthy, probably one of the most healthy balanced foods I know/have.

Good balance of protein + carbs... lots of vitamins and calcium

It is definitely nowhere near Splenda on my lists!!

I drink at LEAST one glass of milk everyday and have drank up to a litre of milk on my crazier milk days :P
Plus, they do recommend 2-3 servings of milk of day!

(I was just raeding this article before I came across your thread: http://www.dairygoodness.ca/en/consumers/be-w ell/health-milk-products/fall-in-love.htm?WT. srch=1)

I like it better. My mum always bought us full fat as kids, but as we hit the end of our teenage years, started buying more and more skim. Now I can't go back.

I think that the milk companies are marketing it like diet food, but I don't think it is in essence.

I agree- I grew up on skim milk 1.5% and I can't digest the full fat variety. It was never looked at in our house as being a "diet food" and today I don't consider it to be that either. I think it's

a) a personal choice

b) a conditioning thing (I am not used to full fat and therefore can't tolerate it)

Skimmed milk is just milk with the cream taken off.... it's no more 'fake' than trimming the fat off a steak.

I grew up on a farm, and at home, we drink milk directly from the tank hehe. It was probably around 4.5% fat. Crazy! Now that I've moved away, I started with 2%, got used to it, moved to 1%, and I pretty used to it now. I tried skim; but I'm not there yet. However, when I go home, I can't eat the stuff. I have to go buy some 1%.

Same here--love the stuff! I grew up on 1% at home, and when I went to college it was easier to move down to skim than up to 2% (they had skim, 2%, and whole milk in the dining hall...no 1% love!). I couldn't stand the taste of 2%. Now I usually choose skim when I have the choice although I'll still drink 1% when I'm at home. :-)

I used to drink full fat milk when i was a kid and then got high cholesterol (go figure) and switched to skim milk, and been drinking skim milk ever since. Now i can't even stomach full fat milk or even 2% for that matter.

It's not a "diet food" because its still coming from cows, its not artificial, the fat is just taken out.. usually when i think of "diet food" i think of something that is chemically altered (like for instance, walden farms no calorie dressing)

I wouldn't call it a diet food at all.  The protein is good, but most of the calories are sugar (lactose), and for its volume it contains as many calories as soda.  If you treat it as a food and count it you're fine, but use water to quench your thirst.

I've always preferred skimmed milk too and don't see it as a diet food. To me it's just a preference, like whether or not you like sweetened drinks.

I've never seen anyone condemn skim milk.  I've seen multiple people, including myself, suggesting switching to full-fat dairy products instead of low-fat or fat-free if someone's having trouble ingesting enough calories, but that's about it.

When I was little, whole milk made me throw up if I got in the car within a few hours after, and since we were travelling and spend most of our time in the car, the family switched to skim. :)

Oh, they do.  Every so often, somebody posts about how full-fat dairy is the only kind worth having.  I suspect it's a bit of a defensive reaction to those of us who promote low-fat dairy.  (For the record, I don't actually think badly of full-fat dairy; it's just not my thing.)

Me, I like skim milk; I actually can't drink any other kind.  We drank full fat when I was really little, switched to 2% when I was about 6, switched to 1% when I was in my teens and I switched to skim when I went to university (after a year of not drinking milk at all because it made me ill; switching to skim fixed that).

It is all a matter of personal preferance. I have to say i love skim milk. i used to drink it like water, i have backed down now, but it is a great way to add creamyness to coffee without the calories, or to make smoothies and add some chocolate powder to it and heat it up and it is AMAZING.

Why is everyone knocking splenda, i happen to like splenda. I pretty much have like 10 packets a day at least.