Help?! Whey, HFCS, cows milk...??

dpedi

I used to eat a diet of mostly fast food, take out, and microwaveable dinners. So now I am trying to eat healthier not just to lose weight but also for health and longevity. I have stopped eating fast food almost totally. I cant quit chick fil a!! And now I am of course cutting back on sugar, carbs, starch and adding veggies and fruit. But I wanted some opinions on other things too! What are your thoughts on cutting out cows milk and subbing it for almond or soy? I have heard bad things about the hormones and antibiotics that cows are receiving which is getting transferred to food and milk that we are consuming. And what about whey-protein? I have done some researched and learned that it has antioxidants when can help prevent cancer. Any opinions on this? I have also done some research about high fructose corny syrup, is anyone cutting this from their diet? I would love opinions and also why/how you know or have come to think a certain way.

SunnyAndrsn

I used to eat a diet of mostly fast food, take out, and microwaveable dinners. So now I am trying to eat healthier not just to lose weight but also for health and longevity. I have stopped eating fast food almost totally. I cant quit chick fil a!! And now I am of course cutting back on sugar, carbs, starch and adding veggies and fruit. But I wanted some opinions on other things too! What are your thoughts on cutting out cows milk and subbing it for almond or soy? I have heard bad things about the hormones and antibiotics that cows are receiving which is getting transferred to food and milk that we are consuming. And what about whey-protein? I have done some researched and learned that it has antioxidants when can help prevent cancer. Any opinions on this? I have also done some research about high fructose corny syrup, is anyone cutting this from their diet? I would love opinions and also why/how you know or have come to think a certain way.

I'll add my personal disclaimer first: I'm a farmer's daughter. I don't know how practices have changed, but back in the day, any cow that was receiving antibiotics had to be milked into a bucket. We didn't provide supplements enhanced with antibiotics. The company that we sold our milk to took samples and checked for antibiotics too, and we could lose A LOT of money if the test came back positive. Therefore, we were very, very careful about making sure that any cow being treated was milked into a bucket until she was done being treated. As far as the hormones used to increase production that the large factory farms use, you can buy milk from suppliers that are free of these hormones. Organic suppliers, for one, don't use the hormonal enhancements.

It's really a personal choice, our milk comes from local suppliers, but I'm in the midwest and have a wide variety of options that way. I personally can't stand the taste of soy or almond milk.

HFCS: I don't freak out about it, but I don't eat a lot of foods with it.

susannamarie

I'll add my personal disclaimer first: I'm a farmer's daughter. I don't know how practices have changed, but back in the day, any cow that was receiving antibiotics had to be milked into a bucket. We didn't provide supplements enhanced with antibiotics. The company that we sold our milk to took samples and checked for antibiotics too, and we could lose A LOT of money if the test came back positive. Therefore, we were very, very careful about making sure that any cow being treated was milked into a bucket until she was done being treated.

This is still true. If you accidentally put an antibiotic-treated cow in, they have to dump the whole truck of milk, and the farmer gets to pay for it. So people are pretty darned careful.

I'll also add that quite honestly, if you believe everything you read there is almost nothing that you can eat. Eggs? Good, bad, now good ... fruits? sugars, good, bad, good ... et cetera.

My personal belief is that we should eat a reasonable variety of mostly less processed food in reasonable quantities for the exercise and weight we are. I'm not quite there yet -- I still have some processed food -- and variety is low for any given week depending on what was on sale at the grocer's -- but I'm working on it.

SunnyAndrsn

This is still true. If you accidentally put an antibiotic-treated cow in, they have to dump the whole truck of milk, and the farmer gets to pay for it. So people are pretty darned careful.

I'll also add that quite honestly, if you believe everything you read there is almost nothing that you can eat. Eggs? Good, bad, now good ... fruits? sugars, good, bad, good ... et cetera.

My personal belief is that we should eat a reasonable variety of mostly less processed food in reasonable quantities for the exercise and weight we are. I'm not quite there yet -- I still have some processed food -- and variety is low for any given week depending on what was on sale at the grocer's -- but I'm working on it.

I still eat some processed foods too, like freezer meals. If I get too lazy to pack lunch it's nice to just be able to grab something like that. I still keep snacks around too, which of course, are processed. The quantities I eat them in I think are the biggest difference. It's an actual serving at a time of crackers or pretzels, instead of a sleeve or 1/2 a bag.

Back to the milk thing...then why do you see people worrying about abx in milk all the time? WTF?

jennkain97

People still worry about it, because there are still people out there spreading half truths (and outright lies) in order to promote their own agendas. Groups like PETA will stop at nothing to turn us all into vegans. They spread the antibiotic lie, they scare you about hormones (which you can easily avoid-- look for milk marked "bst free"), and they try to convince the public that all farmers treat their animals inhumanely. But, what the others have said is true. 100% of the milk (and subsequently, those products like cheese and yogurt, etc...) in the US is tested for antibiotics. If it's found, the whole truck has to be dumped, which can cost the offending farmer $10,000 or more, depending on how much milk was in the load. Since most farmers barely break even, we are all very careful not to let this happen. But even if/when it does, the tainted milk never makes it to the processor, let alone the store. If you are still concerned, go with organic cows' milk. Cows' milk is one of the healthiest foods found on earth. Almond? Rice? Soy? They are not actually "milk". And consuming excess soy has been linked to hormonal imbalances, and even cancer (whereas real milk fights cancer). My husband and I are dairy farmers. He is also a nutritionist, so we've got the inside scoop on "all things dairy".

Toddrific

Milk, many common brands label themselves as growth hormone free.

Whey, can be used to supplement protein intake, opt for whole foods.

For health, you'll probably be trying to cut added sugars across the board. People
will tell you to go natural, with honey, agave, etc. but it all boils down to...sugar.

It's rather easy to eat healthier, eat more produce and less stuff out of a box or a bag.

dpedi

Thanks for all the opinions and input! So happy to have MFP!

chevy88grl

I don't like to drink milk, but I do use it for cooking, on my cereal, etc. I don't worry too much about it since I consume so little of it in a day (probably less than a full cup if we're honest).

Whey protein - I drink it occasionally. My boyfriend drinks it EVERY day. I don't know about the good vs the bad of it, but if you like it - drink it. It'll up your protein intake for the day.

HFCS - I've found that I'm very sensitive to this and it causes me to have headaches and to bloat. So, I avoid it at all costs.

sandy2006

I LOVE unsweetened almond milk. It taste great.
I do not (intentionally) eat anything with HFCS in it, I think its poison.
I do have a whey protein powder shake every now and then

sufikitkat

I am allergic to dairy (not just lactose...truly allergic) so I am a bit biased but I have also done a lot of research into dairy since I can't have it. That being said, it is how much dairy and what dairy you choose. Eat raw cheese over processed, whole organic milk over processed skim, basically buy as natural and real as you can and do not eat dairy with every single meal. In general, the protein casein found in all dairy is difficult for us to digest so watching the amount you eat can be helpful.

DataBased

I used to eat a diet of mostly fast food, take out, and microwaveable dinners. So now I am trying to eat healthier not just to lose weight but also for health and longevity. I have stopped eating fast food almost totally. I cant quit chick fil a!! And now I am of course cutting back on sugar, carbs, starch and adding veggies and fruit. But I wanted some opinions on other things too! What are your thoughts on cutting out cows milk and subbing it for almond or soy? I have heard bad things about the hormones and antibiotics that cows are receiving which is getting transferred to food and milk that we are consuming. And what about whey-protein? I have done some researched and learned that it has antioxidants when can help prevent cancer. Any opinions on this? I have also done some research about high fructose corny syrup, is anyone cutting this from their diet? I would love opinions and also why/how you know or have come to think a certain way.

I'll add my personal disclaimer first: I'm a farmer's daughter. I don't know how practices have changed, but back in the day, any cow that was receiving antibiotics had to be milked into a bucket. We didn't provide supplements enhanced with antibiotics. The company that we sold our milk to took samples and checked for antibiotics too, and we could lose A LOT of money if the test came back positive. Therefore, we were very, very careful about making sure that any cow being treated was milked into a bucket until she was done being treated. As far as the hormones used to increase production that the large factory farms use, you can buy milk from suppliers that are free of these hormones. Organic suppliers, for one, don't use the hormonal enhancements.

It's really a personal choice, our milk comes from local suppliers, but I'm in the midwest and have a wide variety of options that way. I personally can't stand the taste of soy or almond milk.

HFCS: I don't freak out about it, but I don't eat a lot of foods with it.

Yes, this. I buy real cream and real milk from producers who do not pump the cows with hormones, antibiotics, or steroids. I am leery of soy milk because some studies suggest soy can be bad for men. I love my man, so I'm sticking with cow juice for now.

I'm trying very hard to keep my only sugar intake to fruits, honey, or raw sugar. In today's world, that is not easy. But these are your choices, and it has to work for your life. These are choices I made for my husband and I, and while I'm happy to experiment and make choices for us... I'd hate to be responsible for making decisions for you. LOL!

Good on you for doing research and trying to find what works for your new lifestyle!

:flowerforyou:

sufikitkat

Also, whey protein is very separate from cheese, milk, etc. Whey protein is the most complete protein you can have next to egg, which makes it very good to have in a shake if you are not allergic to it, especially if you are a runner or athlete (I am a distance runner). I get most of my protein from meat and eggs since I can't have Whey.

cressievargo

Me, I avoid soy b/c of the possible estrogen issues. I have enough of those. Perhaps the risk isn't that great, I am not an expert, but for me, it's just not worth it w/ the issues I already have.

Mostly I just try to get as little pre-packaged food as possible, and I don't buy much canned food. Frozen veggies and fruits are good, especially when getting things that may not be in season in your area.

javamonster

Almond? Rice? Soy? They are not actually "milk". And consuming excess soy has been linked to hormonal imbalances, and even cancer (whereas real milk fights cancer). My husband and I are dairy farmers. He is also a nutritionist, so we've got the inside scoop on "all things dairy".

Okay, I have no problem whatsoever with dairy, but I'd like you to post the peer-reviewed journal articles that support your statement that soy is evil. There is a lot of misinformation being spewed about soy. Probably by the dairy industry. :flowerforyou: My degree is in Food Science (minor in Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals) and we spent a lot of time studying soy. Perhaps there is more recent research that shows the opposite of what my education would suggest?

As far as I know, lifelong soy consumption is still believed to have a protective effect:

http://www.ajcn.org/content/71/6/1705S.short

A more recent analysis suggests there might be a minor increased risk, but as yet nothing is conclusive:

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/7/459.short

Naturally if one is dealing with breast cancer, I can understand wanting to err on the side of caution and avoid soy products, but to the average healthy person I'd need a fair bit of convincing to feel they are unsafe.

gp79

Milk is great and unless you have an allergy to it or plain ole don't like it, there is no reason to remove it from your diet. I have gone through periods of no milk because of the amount of calories in it, opting for a 40 calorie cup of almond milk but unless you really need to cut excess calories from your diet, enjoy it. Chances are its doing much more good than bad.

BLy82

And consuming excess soy has been linked to hormonal imbalances, and even cancer (whereas real milk fights cancer).

You have it mixed up. Countries where more soy is consumed (real soy foods, including tofu, soy milk, edamame, etc) tend to have lower rates of things like breast cancers.

When people do make the claim that soy consumption is tied to higher cancer rates, it's probably largely based on the fact that soy pops up in so many highly processed (and therefore chemical laden and dramatically unhealthy) foods that also displace healthier minimally-processed foods from the diet. Keep in mind that the vast majority of the soy in the human food supply in the United States is some kind of concentration or isolation of soy used to fill in extremely highly processed food (because soy is subsidized by the government, and therefore often dirt cheap relative to other options).

There are some studies, on the other hand, tying cow's milk to cancers. The blame tends to be pointed at the casein.

cressievargo

Almond? Rice? Soy? They are not actually "milk". And consuming excess soy has been linked to hormonal imbalances, and even cancer (whereas real milk fights cancer). My husband and I are dairy farmers. He is also a nutritionist, so we've got the inside scoop on "all things dairy".

Okay, I have no problem whatsoever with dairy, but I'd like you to post the peer-reviewed journal articles that support your statement that soy is evil. There is a lot of misinformation being spewed about soy. Probably by the dairy industry. :flowerforyou: My degree is in Food Science (minor in Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals) and we spent a lot of time studying soy. Perhaps there is more recent research that shows the opposite of what my education would suggest?

As far as I know, lifelong soy consumption is still believed to have a protective effect:

http://www.ajcn.org/content/71/6/1705S.short

A more recent analysis suggests there might be a minor increased risk, but as yet nothing is conclusive:

http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/7/459.short

Naturally if one is dealing with breast cancer, I can understand wanting to err on the side of caution and avoid soy products, but to the average healthy person I'd need a fair bit of convincing to feel they are unsafe.

She never said that soy was evil. She said some studies showed a link. Step down off your soapbox.

BLy82

I used to eat a diet of mostly fast food, take out, and microwaveable dinners. So now I am trying to eat healthier not just to lose weight but also for health and longevity. I have stopped eating fast food almost totally. I cant quit chick fil a!! And now I am of course cutting back on sugar, carbs, starch and adding veggies and fruit. But I wanted some opinions on other things too! What are your thoughts on cutting out cows milk and subbing it for almond or soy? I have heard bad things about the hormones and antibiotics that cows are receiving which is getting transferred to food and milk that we are consuming. And what about whey-protein? I have done some researched and learned that it has antioxidants when can help prevent cancer. Any opinions on this? I have also done some research about high fructose corny syrup, is anyone cutting this from their diet? I would love opinions and also why/how you know or have come to think a certain way.

Cow's milk is completely unnecessary to being a healthy human. While the huge budget of the dairy industry is constantly pushing the idea that we need cow's milk, the actual fact is that many of the people on earth are not even capable of digesting it. They're getting along just fine. In fact, in many of those places they're healthier than we are and experience less osteoporosis (not to say that's purely because of lack of cow's milk, just that health is obviously possible without it.)

It's important to be extra cautious about any pro-cow's-milk information that comes out because the dairy industry is not above lying. Do you remember all those "consume 3 servings of milk a day and you'll lose weight" commercials a few years ago? They quit running those because someone called them on the fact that they didn't have the scientific evidence to back the claim, and they were about to be in hot water for false advertising. They said they'd do some more research and put the commercials back on, but they have very notably remained off the air.

Cow's milk is not entirely without situations where it can potentially be good. Real arguments can be made that raw milk from healthy and well cared for cows has genuine benefits. Keep in mind that ALL standard grocery store cow's milk in the United States is a highly processed food, because they do things to it to prevent it from separating as it naturally would. Cow's milk can also be EXTREMELY GOOD as a means of gaining weight, if that's what you want to do. It's a big favorite of bodybuilders who are in the process of trying to bulk up.

If you get whey protein, look for an isolate rather than a concentrate. Whey can be a relatively cheap source of concentrated protein, and isolates are less likely to contain excess hormones than concentrates because of the way they're formed.

If you want soy milk, look for something that is specifically organic or non-GMO. It's not that we KNOW GMO soy is dangerous, but we don't know it's not. Also, GMO soy supports companies that are using the money they make to do some pretty awful things to farmers and to our food supply.

If you want to go with non-soy, you can do almond, rice, hemp... in fact, you can pretty much make a 'milk' out of any nut that you want if you like. You can get a 'nut milk' bag and make it at home if you want something very minimally processed (shelf life is short because it's unpasteurized, so don't plan to make a batch that'll last you for weeks!)

I hope some of this information is valuable. If you really want to consume cow's milk, you absolutely can. Organic is ideal, but go with whatever you prefer. Just keep in mind that if you're categorizing the stuff in your diet, it's not really one of the items that belongs in the 'super health food!" column.

neaneawy

I stay away from as many processed foods as possible, especially those with MSG. I get terrible migraines from MSG. We've also had to completely cut out HFCS and corn syrup because my daughter breaks out in hives and her eye lids swell resulting in a stye. HFCS is now being listed as corn syrup which is why we also avoid it.

CoderGal

Cow:

have 'complete' proteins (google it). These contain an adequate proportion of all eight of the essential amino acids necessary for the dietary needs of humans or other animals. Some incomplete protein sources may contain all essential amino acids, but a complete protein contains them in correct proportions for supporting biological functions in the human body. - wikipedia. If you're somewhere like Canada, cow's eat grass, not hormones or antibiotics etc that some people seem to think is added to all milk. In Canada, and many other places, it's illegal.

Almond:

This is what I drink mostly. I find it tastes the best, and has very little sugar (I'm more concerned about health then calories). I've tried unsweetened almond dream, natural something or others...and almond breeze. They all taste different. The worse part is it doesn't have the protein that cows milk does (it has nearly none). There's various additives that are different then what's in cows milk and some peoples stomach can't tolerate such as carrageenans (processed from seaweed), added salt, then there's tapioca that seems to be added to many of them or calcium carbonate I guess to give it a consistency similar to milk. Making your own is probably the healthiest. I'm not sure about the nutrients involved but I know that there are several that usually aren't listed on the box.

Soy:

Tastes nasty according to many people, and you probably get enough in your diet, it's in everything these days. Try to find a regular loaf of bread in a grocery store that doesn't contain it. It's in things such as breads, crackers, cakes, rolls, or pastries containing peanuts, peanut oil, soy flour Processed and "natural" cereals which contain soy ingredients, pasta, Soy beans, soybean sprouts, sauces, Fruit drink mixes, fruit toppings, coffee substitutes instant coffee, hot cocoa mixes, malt beverages, pork link sausage, deli/luncheon meats, commercially prepared meats (used as a meat extender), cheese substitutes, tofu, bean curd, natto, miso, textured vegetable protein, canned soups, commercial entrees, and combination foods, baked goods, such as cakes or cookies which contain soy flour, commercial ice creams and other frozen desserts, Hard candies, nut candies, fudge, and caramels, protein powders, margarine and butter substitutes salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces, or gravies, Commercial vegetarian products and meat substitutes Heinz® Worcestershire sauce, Lea & Perrins® sauce, fermented soybean pastes (miso and natto), soy sauce, tamari sauce, granola, or breakfast bars, Imitation bacon bits, Roasted soybeans or "soy nuts"...
http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/allergy/soy.html - Children's Hospital at Standford

There are many nutrients in soy that are wonderful, but it's added to so many of our foods these days, one hardly needs it added to their diet: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/consumer-centre/food-safety-tips/labelling-food-packaging-and-storage/soy/eng/1332437930120/1332437995901 It's to the point that it's a big deal to not have soy in your food, so they put a big bold label on the front.

Since my friend and doctor figured out that her life long health problems may have been due to soy, I figured I'll post. Here are some of the links I've found, I recommend reading all of them.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uIn2L90wA8&amp;feature=player_embedded <-worth watching

reads:
http://www.aquarianonline.com/Wellness/soy.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10763906?dopt=Abstract
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/18/soy-can-damage-your-health.aspx

There are also many books out there talking about the negative affects of soy...can't remember the popular one...I think it's called "The truth about soy" or something.

Also, it's not all soy that causes cognitive and hormonal imbalances (which you'll get if you read the links and video).

Coconut:

Coconut also tastes awesome, but it's high in fat. But keep in mind these are suppose to be the healthy medium chain fatty acids.

Rice:

tastes exactly like liquid rice, and doesn't have the nutritional benefit as the others according to most of the articles I've read.

cr8lace

I use the Organic Fat Free Milk. I like this better than the regular Skim Milk. It is not watery and it has a longer shelf life.