Why am I drinking this milk

My wife asked me a question that my old age could not respond to.

We used to drink regular whole milk. Then we switched to low fat. Obvious reasons. Then we switched to soy milk. Why?
Then -- last 10 years or so -- we drink almond milk, WHY?
I think it might have been PC-related or maybe general health reasons.

WHY?

Mel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82yzvb7idle

I've tasted almond milk. I can't see why you drink it. Just trying to be funny but it doesn't taste good to me. In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, one titled Strength Issue, is an article about milk. Whatever we consume we should try to get 70+ grams of protein a day.

Almond milk is not milk

But I use it.

Cow's milk is probably best used to feed baby cows. The stuff used to give me a runny nose. Years back casein was used for making Elmer's glue.

I like almond milk but some claim it takes a 1000 gallons of water to produce a gallon of almond milk. Maybe that's only a concern here in the southwest with the Colorado river going towards a trickle and the aquifers falling. As if we don't already have enough looming crises.

I use water on my cereal. It's really not bad after you get accustomed to it. I do love cheese and the occasional bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

My Dad was a door-to-door Sealtest milkman. We seven kids grew up drinking Sealtest whole milk. We're all still alive and in general good health, with our ages ranging from 79 to 64. I married the daughter of a dairy farmer and have milked the cows myself on several occasions. Really, of all the things in life, it's unlikely that what eventually kills me will have any relation to milk. I have the feeling I would probably gag on soy or almond "milk."

alephnull said...
How small are the teats on an almond?
I've never seen them, but I've never looked.
Amazing tech out there to milk an almond.
But the poor baby almonds, probably just raised to be eaten.

Lol alephnull! Thanks for helping me get my day off to a good start.

My main source of dairy ~~~ a bowl of fresh fruit or mixed berries or strawberries ~ with vanilla bean YOGURT slathered over the top ~ made by Anderson-Erickson Dairy, which has been in business in Iowa for almost a century.

Delicious late night treat, before bedtime!

C-Y-C-L-O-N-E ~ # Iowa State University

Tried soy. Feh. Tried almond. Feh. Sticking with no fat milk aka white water. Someone once said that humans are the only species that drinks the milk of another species.

When I was diagnosed with PC, about the only risk factor I had was that I had been a life long milk drinker. I jokingly told one of my brothers that I was going to sue the Van Kampens, who owned the local dairy when I was a kid and got hooked. I never really liked the nut milks, and started making my own oat milk about 10 years ago, which was pretty good (as long as you shook the container right before consuming). Since then, I’ve switched to the Swedish brand of oat milk, and really like it on my cereal. I still buy whole milk, for a daily cappuccino, a splash in my coffee (coffee and an alternative milk have never been satisfying to me), and for homemade yogurt.

I used to be paranoid about drinking regular milk or even the 2% fat stuff due to all medical fear reports associating dietary fat to clogged arteries. Well, some theories in this regard have since been downplayed. Now we know that dietary fat (for most people) does not increase or decrease cholesterol blood levels, per se. From my understanding, in most of us the human body adapts to the amount of dietary fat we ingest, and either produces more cholesterol (or less) contingent upon the amount we put in our pie holes. Though genetic malfunction in some, dietary fat does increase blood level cholesterol in some people, but interestingly enough, not the type that attaches to the lining of the vessels and clogs the arteries. But there are a few of us (hand raised high!) that drew the wrong card at birth and produce the wrong kind of cholesterol that sticks to the lining of the coronary arteries (and others as well) that block the life sustaining blood flow and require medical intervention. I've been a heavy exerciser throughout my entire life and that did not seem to supersede my heart challenged genes. So I guess the moral of the story is to avoid heart disease is to be sure to pick the right parents. I'm taking cholesterol meds that dropped my LDL levels tremendously. Last blood test my LDL's were about 40. At one time, back when I was immortal and before cardiac intervention, my LDL's were as high as 192. So to all the young people, at some point all of us will die. If you have high LDL's - don't ignore it. Get it treated. It will likely help you prolong your time on the planet and your quality of life during your visit.

My cardiologist has never asked me if I drink whole milk or provided me with any literature advising me to avoid it. I drink it occasionally. But mostly I drink unsweetened almond milk. Every day, in fact. I like the taste and it helps keep my blood sugar down, which is a true achilles heal. I have no bones to pick politically with almond or dairy farmers. I wish both professions all the best and long prosperous lives. And I thank them for providing products in demand to the masses.

Regarding the issue of cholesterol, I come from a family where males drop dead of a heart attack or stroke in their mid-60s. When I figured this out (in a college biology class) I took on the study of diet, lifestyle, and genetics’ role in this. None of my family members exercised, most of them smoked, and they ate the standard American, high fat diet. At age 30 I was diagnosed with hypertension and initially tried dropping salt from the diet and upping the exercise (I didn’t smoke) but the numbers remained high. I went on a pill and have been on one for 40 years. I am now 70.

That is when I made a dietary change to vegetarian. I believe that one can eat a diet that includes dairy and meat but, for me, I find it easier to keep a check on my diet if I take on the discipline of vegetarianism. While I’ve tried to go off the pill several times over the years only to see my blood pressure rise, my cholesterol levels have stayed low, around 180.

I recently got a new PCP and he said that cholesterol numbers don’t mean much in current thinking and it’s your BMI, blood pressure, and age that determine whether one should be on statins. I looked into this and, yes, there has been a change and several of my friends said their doctors have recently told them the same thing.

My doctors said that my risk level is 14%, that is, a 14% of having a heart attack or stroke. Taking a statin would reduce it to 8%. That 14% number, as I understand it, comes from a study of the general population. Well, I am not the general pollination as I don’t smoke, I am a heavy exerciser (run and swim), have an excellent diet, and eschew the other bad habits. Plus, my BMI is different from the general population because, as an athlete, I have higher muscle density which the standard BMI does not account for. I declined the statins as the risk of side effects of taking a drug every day for only a 6% reduction in risk just doesn’t seem worth it.

Interesting discussion. Yes, genes are a most powerful determinant of our future health trends. Hard to fight that, although women with the bad family history and wrong genetic make-up can get a double mastectomy as a prophylatic.

I have a good friend. We met in 7th grade. So...maybe 63 years ago. Anyway, we both started smoking in the 7th grade. Nothing cooler than standing on the corner smoking, slicked hair, wearing our leather jackets, and calling ourselves "rocks." Somehow, I got bored with that by 9th grade and quit smoking and pursued academics. My friend already had a 1-2 pack a day habit, to this day. But he is tremendously healthy. I'm the one with PC. He does well.

I suspect he has some good gene that helps protect him from many (all?) of the harmful effects.

Mel