MILK - SHALL I ??

Milk- The first food we ever happen to taste as soon as we are born:-)

And we do continue to have milk in our daily routine as we keep growing..

Being obvious that we all consume milk since childhood till oldage, do we really need to look into the health benefits of milk..What say, Friends!! I guess, not really!!

But, the reason I felt to share a few of them here in my blog is that the kind of bad reputation the poor, milky white, pure, a whole pack of nutritious supplement Milk is receiving nowadays..

So, let's just have a deep dive into what exactly the milk contains and how it effects the human body.

As soon as someone says milk, the thing, at an instance that comes onto your mind is Calcium, Right?

Yep, Milk is one of the richest source of calcium, easily and economically available and  good for your teeth and bones thus needed for you throughout your life. No wonder all our elders were back of us till we finish our glass of milk and we are behind our kids;-)

As shown in many TV commercials, though they show many sports men and women in advertisements related to Boost, Horlicks or whatever, but what exactly the main base is,. if you guys think logically is milk, and is the actual secret behind their stamina..Guess how?? Milk has a good amount of protein(whey and casein) which are important for building up strong muscles and keep them fit.

Loaded with minerals(Calcium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Selenium, Zinc, Magnesium, Iron, Iodine, Copper, Sodium, Manganese) and vitamins(Vitamin A, D, B2, B1, B12, B6) milk is a guarenteed nourishment for all, irrespective of age and sex.

The carbohydrate in milk is Lactose( a milk sugar) which helps in providing energy to your cells in the body, except for some who are lactose intolerant should maintain a little distance to the natural energy giving drink:-(

Here comes the culprit of all the bad reputation the actually pure and innocent milk is receiving- Saturated fat. Fat in milk constitutes mainly about 60% saturated fats, 30% monounsaturated, 4% polyunsaturated, about 4% of conjugated linoleic acid. But all the fats are actually not that bad when taken in moderate amounts and when we compare all the highly processed, low-fat but LOADED WITH EXCESS SUGAR foods, the extra amounts of cheese, fried snacks, excess trans fatty foods I feel our dear milk is always a dear to us with its loaded amount of calcium, protein, vitamins, and minerals.. Right?

With extreme modernisation, we are over analysing our foods introduced by our ancestors since years and actually trying to study them with a magnifying glass and what happens when you tend to observe anything with a  magnifying glass?? All things appear HUGE AND SCARY!! Right?
So, thats the same with the saturated fats picture in milk which is gaining extra importance and making us think twice before we have our glass of milk at least once daily, infact I know many who have stopped drinking milk just with the thought of excess fat in milk but they happily binge on other junk foods.

Any logic guys??

Ya, I agree, a glass of milk is loaded with more than 100 calories, but the calorie conscious people and people with high amount of cholesterol can limit their intake but all others can happily have milk.

In fact recent researches have shown that the excess fat in milk is known to increase even the good cholesterol(HDL) along with large LDL(bad) cholesterol and therefore provides us the stamina to fight with the bad cholesterol without any external help. The potassium in milk helps in reducing the blood pressure, prevents heart diseases, prevents you from stroke attacks.

Anyone suffering from insomnia(lack of sleep) and I guess most of your well wishers would have surely advised you to have a glass of milk before you go to sleep(Better have that glass of milk atleast 2 hours before you go to sleep).. Yes, the choline in milk helps in relaxing the muscles and also helps in transmission of nerve impulses and maintains the structure of cellular membranes, so that all cells function actively:-)

Milk also has certain antioxidants that help in protecting  from cancers such as breast cancer and colorectal cancer according to certain studies.(The naturally found fats like conjugated linoleic acid adds more value to milk)

The milk fortified with Vitamin D helps in the absorption of all the calcium we need and also makes you smile more and be happy, I mean the Vitamin D helps in increased production of serotonin a hormone responsible for relaxing effect and relieves us from depression and anxiety too..

A lot more about milk shall be discussed in my next blog- SKIMMED OR WHOLE MILK??
BUFFALO MILK OR COW'S MILK?? Want to know the answers?? Let's catch up in my next blog..

Till then, take care Friends:-)