Got Milk?

My grandmother hated milk. Absolutely hated it! While she was in the hospital the last year of her life, the nurses would bring her Ensure and as they walked out of the room, she promptly poured it into the nearest plant.

Why does this matter? Because I maintain that her hatred of milk led to her death.

First, she fell and broke her shoulder. My grandfather didn't have the strength to take care of her Because of this, she went into a nursing home for a few weeks. She was bummed, a bit depressed, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  Until, three days before she was set to go home, she fell out of the bed and broke her hip. With that, and the long months of rehab and recovery ahead, she also broke her spirit.

Things began to rapidly decline and she passed away after choking on a drink of water that went down the wrong tube (and led to eventual pneumonia). Sure, it's a very bizarre story and would not stand up under the proximate cause standard in a court of law: But I maintain that my grandmother's brittle bones killed her. And the cause of this is that she didn't drink enough milk in her 20s.

This is why I am now adding calcium to my list of nutritional concerns. And once I started looking at how much I'm consuming, my eyes totally bugged out all Roger-Rabbit-style.

According to Sparkpeople.com, I should be consuming between 100-150 units of Calcium. For the past week, I've consumed: 76, 68, 111, 181, 42, 105. A couple of weeks ago, there were days when I only consumed calium amounts in the teens! And my calories were way over my usual limit on those days. Is this a possible factor in the munchies that were clearly affecting me? C'est possible!

Since one cup of milk is 30% of the calcium units needed, it makes sense that this should become a staple in my diet (I know, common sense considering all we've learned from the "Got Milk" campaign).  Why hasn't it? Because even nonfat milk is still 86 calories. But thanks to the Tip of the Week and my new fascination with calcium, I am making it a point to drink more milk. Sure, I eat string cheese everyday and have a cone from McDonalds (10% of our needed calcium!), but there is no reason I can't prioritize milk into my calorie budget.

Hmm, there is always the Chocolate Milk Diet ... I don't know about drinking a glass of chocolate milk three times a day, but once a day- since it's so good for me - isn't much of a sacrifice. Hehe.