Light and full cream milk

Milk is an ideal recovery food because it contains both protein and carbohydrate and it has the added benefit of calcium for bone strength.

One of the downers of full cream milk is the high level of saturated fat which can contribute to cholesterol and body fat and skinfold levels. To get all the goodness from milk without the extras that aren’t as useful, light milk is an ideal compromise.

Dairy foods are one of the easiest products to remove the fat without replacing it with anything else. The milk is not just watered down, it is pasturised to skim away the excess fat so that the remaining fluid becomes concentrated in levels of protein and calcium so it is actually higher in all the good things.

Small changes all add up. If you switch from one cup of full cream milk to one cup of light milk you will reduce your fat intake by four grams which equals 148kJ; maybe not much in one day but over a year it could save you a gain of 1.5kg of fat. 

Conversely one cup of skim milk as opposed to light milk will save you a further four grams of fat meaning would consume almost 300kJ less each day.