Why should we not give our kids skimmed milk??

moggylover

skintchick wrote: »

We used to fight over the cream in our house! WE'd rush to be first ti pour it over our cereal - a big glob of cream! Yum!

And it made absolutely wonderful creamy coffee - ooh, for the good old days!

Just as a matter of interest, I do our fundraising burger shed for my kids rugby club, and when I first started doing it I bought semi-skimmed milk because that seems to sell so much faster in the supermarket and I thought it was only those of us like me that could not stand the coloured water stuff that still bought proper milk.

We used to get through gallons of the flaming stuff because people used so much of it in their tea and coffee:eek: . Now we use full-fat, and I get through probably less than half the quantity;) .

Therefore, I suspect that a lot of people who use semi-skimmed probably use twice as much per cuppa, and fail to see what point there is in that . It was not, however, a scientifically controlled experiment so my conclusion is just a feeling I get: but I would rather have a smaller portion of the "real" thing, messed about with as little as possible (indeed I often buy mine direct from a farmer friend of mine and it is not only not homogenised, but also unpasteurised, just as most of the farmers around here drink it;) ).

I seriously think "heathy" eating has more to do with eating food the way nature designed it, but in smaller portions perhaps - than with fads and fancies like skimming milk! They only sell us this "waste product" as cream anyway - and I have not seen that go down in price since they have so much waste to sell off;) :rotfl: :rotfl:

ETA: Tried to make rice pudding with some left over semi-skimmed once - how can anyone eat that:eek: . It was like water:eek:

Janepig

Ohhhh noooooo Moggylover - full fat milk in tea. Ewwwwwwwwww. I can only just about cope with semi-skimmed and then just a splash. I much prefer skimmed milk in tea. I can't stand milky tea <barf>. I also can't stand semi-skimmed or full-fat on cereal either. I'm a big fan of skimmed milk, as you can tell!!

I like a milky coffee though, and when DS was still on full-fat milk I used to like to pinch some to put in coffee!

Jxx

Milford_Cubicle

So to sum up then, no cows milk under the age of 1, full fat until the age of 5 then whatever you like after age 5 including skimmed!
My daughter is 7 and has semi skimmed, I drink skimmed but if she wanted skimmed then I'd happily give it to her. She gets calcium and vitamins etc from the yoghurt and cheese she eats.
5+ is the 'watch what they're eating age' anyway, prior to this lots of 'good' fat is recommended

Swan_2

even if you're having lots of calcium rich fat free milk products, you still have to make sure you have a source of vitamin D (which is in the fat that's removed) to get optimal calcium absorption. & it's particularly important for girls/women to build up good bone density for later life

I wonder if a lot of products have vit D added now?


I'm beginning to sound like Ted aren't I

pattycake

This is a very interesting thread and has got me thinking. I am post-menopausal and have been using skimmed milk for several years thinking it was better for me in terms of calories and cholesterol. I am not overweight but my nails are shocking. They split and flake and look awful even though I always wear rubber gloves when working in water. Am I missing out on some essential vitamins? I actually use very little milk in fact as I only ever have it on cereal. I drink green tea or Earl Grey (without milk) and rarely drink coffee.

Janepig

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

So to sum up then, no cows milk under the age of 1, full fat until the age of 5 then whatever you like after age 5 including skimmed!
My daughter is 7 and has semi skimmed, I drink skimmed but if she wanted skimmed then I'd happily give it to her. She gets calcium and vitamins etc from the yoghurt and cheese she eats.
5+ is the 'watch what they're eating age' anyway, prior to this lots of 'good' fat is recommended

I think once they're 2 they can have semi skimmed. This from the BBC website:

Milk and dairy foods are an important source of calcium. Your child should be having about one pint (500 to 600ml) of milk a day.

• Use full-fat varieties; semi-skimmed may be given from the age of two if the overall diet contains enough energy and nutrients

Then whatever they want after that.

Jxx

foreversomeday

I have heard American people on forums talking about 1% and 2% milk rather than semi-skimmed, so perhaps it is an imported idea.