The Dish

2%, 1% and skim milk are all considered low fat so no need to switch. The difference between 1% and skim per cup of milk is only 1 gram of fat or 9kcal. Remember some fat is necessary in our diets, we need it to help absorb fat soluble vitamins and it is a dense source of energy.

I contacted a local producer of Paneer, Nanak Foods to get their product’s nutritional information.

Every 30g of Nanak Paneer has 90 calories, 6 grams of protein, 1 gram of carbohydrate and 7 grams of fat. However, 5 grams of that 7 are saturated fat (the one we want to try to limit). See the label below. You can see that 30grams gives us a quarter of our recommended intake for saturated fat, that is high.

Paneer has more fat than cottage cheese and the above mentioned serving size is very small, 30grams is about ¼ cup. A 30g serving of a 2% cottage cheese only has 26 calories and less than 1 gram of fat. “2%” refers to milk fat, just like 2% milk. Nanak Paneer is made whole milk (3.5% fat).

Sorry for the delay in responding to your question, I received it just before my holiday break. But interestingly enough, I brought paneer for lunch today:) It’s a sometimes food for sure, enjoy in moderation.

Thanks to Nanak Foods for the information.

I never used to drink milk as a kid, in fact I hated it. Maybe that is why I never grew as tall as my sister. But now I love it. And when you make your choice in the grocery store, you have tons of options: organic, micro-filtered, skim to 3.5% fat and flavoured. I often get questions about hormones in milk as well. Check out a new, short, humorous video clip which explains that Canadian milk is… just milk, pure and simple. It has been produced by BC Dairy Foundation, BC Milk Producers and Dairy Farmers of Canada. Enjoy!

You can watch it on You Tube or at the BCDF website:

Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWw_P_CH638

BC Dairy Foundation
http://bcdairyfoundation.ca/persona/new-stuff

I just looked up the nutritional information for the brands you asked about and I would say both are comparable to a store bought vanilla or plain yogurt. The big difference is price, you probably pay the same for a single serving at these outlets as you would for a large tub at the grocery store. I am not sure if the fruit used at these outlets is sweetened or not. Unsweetened frozen fruit would be ideal. Also, in terms of serving size you will likely get more at a yogurt outlet versus what you would serve at home. According to Canada’s Food Guide, a serving of yogurt is ¾ cup. I recommend choosing plain yogurt and adding your own fruit at home.

The key marketing feature with yogurt is probiotics, active bacterial cultures that can benefit our digestive tract and immune system. The thing is all yogurts contain probiotics, active cultures are added to milk in order to make the yogurt semi-solid. Some brands promote that they have particular strains of bacteria but often the research that is done on these strains is sponsored by the company themselves! Research does show that probiotics can withstand freezing which is good. I would keep Yogen Fruz and Qoola as a sometimes food. Having yogurt packed with probiotics is great, but hopefully it is still part of balanced, healthy eating.

You can get calcium from other sources but it is hard to equate what is in milk. For example, a cup of milk has about 300mg of calcium. You would have to eat about 10 cups of raw spinach to equal the amount calcium that is in a cup of milk. It’s also important to get enough Vitamin D to make sure you can absorb the calcium. If you choose other milk substitutes such as rice or almond milk make sure it is “fortified” – that means the calcium and Vitamin D are added. The recommendations from the food guide remain the same if you are choosing equivalent products.

Please see the answer to the other question on calcium and I would recommend speaking to your doctor or pharmacist. Soy milk doesn’t contain lactose so I wonder what you are actually reacting to. Depending on your symptoms after drinking milk, you may get relief from products such as LactAid pills. They help you digest the lactose in dairy products.

For other suggestions for managing lactose intolerance click here.

Thanks for your comments. Here is the dish on cheese. The thing is, it is a higher fat food. When you see different cheeses look for the %MF on the label. This is the percentage Milk Fat. Many cheeses are up to 35% MF, so about ten times the fat of homogenized milk! But you wouldn’t eat as much cheese as you would drink milk, that just helps put things in perspective. So if you can choose one that is 15-20%MF that is great if you tend to eat a lot of cheese. Many mozzarellas come made with part-skim milk which lowers their fat content. But do not go for the “light” or “low fat” products as they usually have a lot more sodium in them. That being said, enjoying a high quality cheese is pleasurable as well as provides us with a source of calcium. As you mentioned I’m all about balance, so in moderation regular cheese fits into a healthy eating pattern. A serving from Canada’s Food Guide is 50grams or 1.5 ounces. To help visualize what that looks like imagine the size of 6 dice.

Also, as adults we need to have 2 servings from the Milk and Alternatives group per day but Canada’s Food Guide also recommends that we drink 2 cups of milk every day so that really takes care of all our servings from that food group. This can be somewhat contradictory. The recommendation for number of servings in each of the food groups is based on a sedentary individual. So if you are more active, additional servings in any of the food groups is warranted ie. having cheese as well as your 2 cups of milk. Make sure cheese isn’t replacing your milk intake because although cheese contains calcium it isn’t fortified with vitamin D like milk is. I am definitely a friend of cheese as well. Just about to have my cheese and veggie sandwich for lunch!