When people decide to reduce their fat intake – for whatever reason – they often eliminate dairy from their diet. This can be a huge mistake. Although eating excessive amounts is a bad idea, consuming less than the minimum recommendations can have a serious impact on our health.
As we age, our bones begin to lose their density and it becomes even more important to look after them. Whilst reducing your cholesterol levels or losing weight can be beneficial to your health, it is so important to achieve this in a safe way – and certainly not at the detriment of your bones.
It’s also easy to overlook how much dairy we are actually consuming in our diet. After breaking my back by slipping on the floor in my house, tests showed that I was suffering from Osteomalacia (brittle bones). Osteomalacia is a precursor to Osteoporosis, a very painful bone condition. As my own mother suffered so badly with this and as I myself was just post-menopausal, I knew it was vital to look very carefully at my own diet. I was honestly surprised at just how little dairy I was consuming on a day-to-day basis. I had milk in my 1 or 2 coffees per day and that was it! I’ve never been a huge fan of cheese – I don’t mind it, but it wasn’t something that I ate very often.
I became very disciplined and began to make sure that I had the recommended amount EVERY day. When my next Dexa scan was due 3 months later, it showed that my bone density was back to normal. It was honestly that easy, and an excellent excuse to experiment with some lovely gourmet French cheeses.
So, what are the recommended allowances?
250ml Milk
200ml pot of Yogurt
30gm Cheese
You need to include 3 portions of these every day. It doesn’t need to be one of each, but it must be 3. So, you could have 2x30gm of cheese and 250ml of milk. Or 3x250ml of milk. Or 2x200ml of yogurt and 30gm of cheese. You can choose the combination that suits you, although I did choose one of each every day. If you are…
Nikki Elphick, Nutritionist. Tel: 97735354
Website: naturalfeelgoodeating.com
Email: [email protected]
