Traditional cow’s milk has become very controversial. Does milk do a body good as the dairy industry suggests? Should you drink whole milk, 2%, 1%, or skim? What about non-pasteurized milk? Of course all of it is out the window for people who are lactose intolerant.

I grew up drinking regular, mostly whole milk. Every once in a while my mom purchased powdered milk, and I knew the difference right away. I have an ingrained concept of what milk is and what it should taste like. This makes it hard to drink other types of milk such as almond milk or soy milk. Perhaps if I had never tasted cow’s milk then it would be easier to drink other types of milk.

My main problem with milk is that it’s a gateway food to bad eating. I cannot think of a “healthy” food that I would have with a glass of milk. It’s always something bad. Sugary cereal, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, cake, pie, cookies, etc. It boils down to the following:

Have milk–>eat something bad

When I go to the grocery store, I make it a point not to buy milk. If I have milk in my cart, it makes it easier to buy other bad things like cookies, rice crispy treats, nutty bars, etc. because I have the milk to go with them. No milk, no bad foods.

When someone has a birthday in the office, I can resist the cake because there is no milk to go with it. 

This realization is part of my goal to change my relationship with food. I need to understand my bad habits and make different choices that lead to different outcomes. Historically, in my case milk does not do a body good.