2% milk is over 35 Percent - That's right - 35% FAT!

alphaip
alphaip Posts: 86
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
Yikes - am I the only one who is just learning this?
2% milk is gets about 35 calories per 100 calories from FAT (that's 35% in my book)!
and 1% milk is 20% fat.

Why in the world is 1% milk called 1%? 20% of the calories are from FAT???/

Replies

  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
    It is called 1% milk because fat makes up 1% of the entire volume of milk. Whole milk is about 3.9%.
  • alphaip
    alphaip Posts: 86
    So I guess it's mainly 0 calorie water by volume, but if you look at the calories it's high in fat. Am I seeing this right? Wouldn't this be the same as putting an oreo into a glass of water- and then saying that it's 1% fat and sugar?
  • yosho2k
    yosho2k Posts: 3
    No, you're not seeing this right. Fat is controlled to alter the thickness of the milk. Whole milk is much creamier than nonfat, which has the consistency of water.

    2% milk is 2% total milk volume. If you want to know the nutritional percentage of the fat, it's on the back of the label.

    You can't make the oreo argument either, because the fat concentration is always the same no matter how much milk you're drinking. Eating an oreo with 6oz of milk will have a higher percentage of calories from fat and carbohydrates because of the concentration of the cookie. If you drink more milk, the total calories will go up, but the concentration of calories will go down because no matter what, 2% of the entire volume of milk will be fat.

    Also, you might consider before flying off the handle, treating caloric measurements as guidelines more than anything else.

    Fat and carbohydrates have important jobs in nutrition. It's less important to worry about the calories you get from drinking milk, which is from lactose and milk fat and proteins and more important to worry about the calories you get from eating an oreo which gets its calories from high fructose corn syrup and higher concentrations of fat and cholesterol per cookie and much less protein.
  • jlayney
    jlayney Posts: 22
    hey yosho2k: i know what water tastes like....but i don't know what white tastes like. your post is informative, yet hilarious. white water. too much! thanks for making me laugh. I hope you will be m,y friend! :)

    J'Layne
  • yosho2k
    yosho2k Posts: 3
    :P edited.
  • alphaip
    alphaip Posts: 86
    Also, you might consider before flying off the handle, treating caloric measurements as guidelines more than anything else.

    Fat and carbohydrates have important jobs in nutrition. It's less important to worry about the calories you get from drinking milk, which is from lactose and milk fat and proteins and more important to worry about the calories you get from eating an oreo which gets its calories from high fructose corn syrup and higher concentrations of fat and cholesterol per cookie and much less protein.

    You're right - I forgot about all those ads that say milk is good for me - just so you know, I'm using sarcasm.

    Earlier - with my oreo example - I was using hyperbole so I picked an extremely unhealthy food like an oreo to make my point. I don't eat oreos. And I don't have a passion about milk.

    And yout post seems to indicate that those are good fats in 2% milk? 60% of that fat is saturated - that's not good fat. I am watching where the calories come from and was surprised that 40% of the calories in 2% milk were from fat. In fact 24%, or 1/4 of that glass of 2% milk calories are from saturated fat. That's too high for me to drink and try to lose weight. I'm cutting saturated fats and replacing them with better fats like Carlson salmon oil, Domestic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, etc.

    Whatever makes you so passionate about this - I apologize for telling the truth about milk and hurting you, but I'm looking at the FACTS, which you pointed out our conveniently located on the back in small print - behind the part that reads 2% - it may as well read 98% fat free!

    You see, many of us older people who grew up on whole milk think that 2% is a a low fat food.
    I'd rather go to skim and keep the nutritional value of the protein and drop the fat.
  • dj_stevie_c
    dj_stevie_c Posts: 270
    But if you're having 300ml of 2% milk on your cereal in the morning.

    And you're keeping track of the fat content and making sure you don't have too much fat elsewhere.

    What's the problem? Milk provides some other important nutrients like calcium that we also need, I don't think you can just throw milk away because it has fats/calories that we already know about, if you record stuff on here and read labels you know what's in milk already surely?



    Edit:

    I didn't mean this post to be offensive in any way, I just think that sometimes we over-react to things when we don't need to. Milk is important for us (though there are alternatives of course).
  • KimbersNewLife
    KimbersNewLife Posts: 646 Member
    .

    It's less important to worry about the calories you get from drinking milk, which is from lactose and milk fat and proteins and more important to worry about the calories you get from eating an oreo which gets its calories from high fructose corn syrup and higher concentrations of fat and cholesterol per cookie and much less protein.
    [/quote]
    This is so true please everyone do not learn the hard way like I did. Our bodies need fat and if you go on a fat free diet binge your body will revolt and you just will not able to get full. Look at the over all calories and of course you do want to balance your fat and make sure you do not get too much in one day but make sure you have some healthy fats that way you will have better, faster results.
  • hill242
    hill242 Posts: 412 Member
    We ought not to be so fat-averse, even when it comes to saturated fats.

    http://www.slate.com/id/2248754

    "The foundation for the "fat is bad" mantra comes from the following logic: Since saturated fat is known to increase blood levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol, and people with high LDL cholesterol are more likely to develop heart disease, saturated fat must increase heart disease risk. If A equals B and B equals C, then A must equal C.

    "Well, no. With this extrapolation, scientists and policymakers made a grave miscalculation: They assumed that all LDL cholesterol is the same and that all of it is bad. A spate of recent research is now overturning this fallacy and raising major questions about the wisdom of avoiding fat, especially considering that the food Americans have been replacing fat with—processed carbohydrates—could be far worse for heart health."
  • July24Lioness
    July24Lioness Posts: 2,399 Member
    I burn fat like crazy by eating saturated fats. And saturated fat is not bad for you either.

    Boy, everyone has grown up being so brainwashed by the media, government and all of these other organizations.

    It takes fat to burn fat. Plain and simple. Just like it takes gas in your car to be able to drive it. Same thing............

    One of my favorite books............

    Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats by Mary Enig


    P. S - There is nothing better than getting cold milk straight from a dairy farm where he just milked his cow an hour earlier. The stuff they sell in the store, whether it is whole milk or skim milk is not milk.

    The natural yumminess that comes straight from the cow that has the cream mixed in it still is the best milk. Raw milk is AWESOME!!!
  • alphaip
    alphaip Posts: 86
    Thanks for the comments on good fats - i agree. I use coconut oil and olive oil and take salmon oil (mercury free). I have had trouble losing weight when my good fats get too high - like into the 40% range of calories is too high for me. I like to keep them around 20%.

    My main point is that 2% milk is higher in fat than I would have thought by looking at the front of the label.
  • hill242
    hill242 Posts: 412 Member
    My main point is that 2% milk is higher in fat than I would have thought by looking at the front of the label.

    A definite reminder to read labels carefully and don't trust the "branding".
  • yosho2k
    yosho2k Posts: 3
    Boy, everyone has grown up being so brainwashed by the media, government and all of these other organizations.

    I don't agree with that, high fructose corn syrup levels have been skyrocketing in foods for the past 20 years. I think a healthy fear of the consequences, especially since 1 burger at McDonalds has become half a day's portion of saturated fats.

    McDonald's doesn't spend billions on advertising each year because it isn't effective. "Our food is delicious and you want it and we're projecting the image that we're making it healthier, even when our salads are more unhealthy than our burgers."

    Organized responses to increasing nutritional imbalances tend to be emotionally charged instead of logically thought out, because in case you haven't noticed, appealing to emotion and desire is usually more successful than appealing to logic.
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