Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Milk Scam

And another problem I have with the nutritionists: The Milk Scam.  Milk is a total scam.  They tell us to drink lots of it, but it’s worse for you than soda.  Sure, it’s got vitamins and stuff.  But lots of things have vitamins.  You can get vitamins in a pill these days.  And sure, those aren’t “real” vitamins, but some of the vitamins in milk aren’t real either.  It’s “enriched” with vitamins A, D, and E.  So what’s the big difference?

In fact, the nutritionists have pimped milk to such an extent that they don’t even have to cover-up the fact that it’s bad for you, but rather will boldly lay the truth out in front of you and almost dare you to doubt what they’re saying.  I’m at this pro-milk website right now, and they’ve got a section saying:

How does milk stack up?
See how various beverages compare to milk for calories, total fat, carbs, sugars and nutrients, and you’ll learn why milk is a superior beverage choice.

And under that they’ve got a chart comparing 1% milk with six other beverages.  But if you actually look at it, one thing is clear: Milk is the worst drink on the chart.  They act like they’re bragging, but of the seven, milk has the most calories, the third most carbs, the second most sugars, and is the only one with fat.  Fat…in a drink.  And they don’t mention it, but it’s got 1.5 grams of saturated fat.  Saturated Fat!!!  The same fucking stuff in bacon!  The cola looked much better in comparison, yet they tout themselves as the “superior beverage choice”.  What a scam!

And that’s only 1% milk.  Drinking just 8 ounces of 2% milk gives you 3 grams of saturated fat.  And they recommend that you drink 24 ounces a day, giving you a whopping 9 grams of saturated fat, on top of the 390 calories you just consumed.  Coca-Cola, on the other hand, only has 291 calories for that same quantity, and no saturated fat at all.  You could have an extra serving of Coke and still be better off.  And don’t even get me started on whole milk, which is just horrible for you.  Or the whole lactose intolerance issue.  It’s like a mammalian boobytrap if I’ve ever seen one.

Even skim milk (which is my milk of preference) isn’t all that great for you.  Sure, they’ve gotten rid of the fat, but it still has 90 calories per serving, and that’s almost as much as Coke’s 97 calories.  So if Coke’s so bad for you, then why the hell am I being told to drink milk?  Diet Coke is a huge, huge money maker, yet no one would even consider coming out with Diet Milk; and that’s where they really need it.  If anything, Coke just needs to add vitamins A, D, & E to their drink and start touting itself as the healthy alternative to milk.  Perhaps they could have coupons for calcium supplements on each bottle.

Damn the Nutritionists

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not anti-milk.  I happen to drink milk almost every day and use it in my cereal.  And without cream, I couldn’t have coffee.  And without coffee, I couldn’t live.  So I’m clearly a pro-milk person.  But I’m also a pro-beer person.  And pro-wine and pro-soda.  I drink all kinds of stuff that’s not so great for me.  But nobody’s pushing that stuff as a health food.  Just the milk, like it’s some miracle drink that doesn’t have saturated fat floating in it.

In fact, study after study has shown that moderate alcohol consumption is better for you than no alcohol consumption, yet the health freaks continue to downplay that fact, believing that we’re all too stupid to handle such knowledge properly.  And that’s my whole beef with the nutritionists.  They’re lying to us and they just don’t care.  New facts come out, yet they keep pimping the same old facts.  It took them years to finally admit that maybe carbs weren’t so great for you, and even now aren’t entirely honest about the whole thing.  No wonder everyone’s so fucking fat.  

On my previous rant against nutritionists, one commenter mentioned how we shouldn’t necessarily trust new “miracle” foods, pointing out that margarine was once touted as a healthy butter substitute, despite that it was loaded with trans fat.  But it wasn’t just the margarine; those idiots thought trans fat was the healthy kind of fat, rather than the absolute worst kind that nobody should ever have.  And who was it that thought that?  The fucking nutritionists!   So why the hell does anyone listen to them?  They’re not scientists.  They’re puritanical voodoo doctors.  It’s all sham and superstition with those people.  And milk is perhaps the biggest sham of them all.  

I’m not suggesting that people stop drinking milk, but for god’s sake, they need to stop acting like it’s a miracle drink.  Especially whole milk, which has 5 grams of saturated fat per serving.  5 grams!!  By contrast, three pieces of cooked bacon has 4 grams of saturated fat; and if a whole milk drinker takes the nutritionists’ advice, they’d be gulping down 15 grams of saturated fat every day.  And remember, even drinking the recommended amount of 1% milk still gives you more saturated fat than three pieces of bacon.  Ridiculous!

Yet where are the warnings?  Everyone knows that bacon’s not good for you, but how many fatties are still gulping whole milk completely unaware of the damage it’s doing to them, or that they’d be better off drinking Coke?  Lots.  Most people don’t even like skim milk and think it tastes weird.  I, on the other hand, have problems drinking that weird heavy stuff with fat floating in it.  Just the idea of it’s somewhat repulsive.  And that’s what other people need to be told.  Drink your 1% milk, if you must.  But anything over that’s just bad for you and no amount of vitamin enrichment can fix that.  Got bacon?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Milk in my world is purely an ingredient for delicious foods. I never consume it by itself and only rarely (3 times a year) on cereal.

I do eat light nonfat yogurt from time to time, and cheese more often than I should. But never milk.

I also never, ever, ever drink soda, though I will have tonic water with my gin.

-MH, Austin

Mumphrey O. Yamm, III said...

¡Go milk!
I love it (2%).
¡Love it, love it, LOVE IT!

Mumphrey O. Yamm, III said...

Cheese, too...