Many books, blogs, and websites about living and cooking frugally suggest the use of skim milk (or nonfat powdered milk). Personally, I think the stuff tastes awful but, taste aside, is using skim milk truly thrifty?
Most people who are drinking skim milk while attempting to drastically cut costs are still drinking the milk for the sake of the calcium in it. What most of them don’t realize is that our bodies require fat to effectively absorb calcium. The percentage of the calcium in the milk which is actually absorbed by the body is roughly proportionate to the amount of fat in the milk. Thus, the body utilizes about half as much of the calcium from 2% milk as from the same amount of whole milk (which is just under 4% fat) and skim milk – well, let’s just say that if you’re drinking it for the calcium you’re wasting your time and money.
[…] get them from a whole foods diet, we don’t usually have to worry too much about this, because synergistic nutrients tend to occur in tandem. But when we need to supplement (which most of us do, as a result of the depleted soil and other […]