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.

Tip of the Week

I know it's only Monday, but there is no way any article can make me happier than this tip. I'm calling it the tip of the week, but to be honest, it might warrant tip of the year!

DID YOU KNOW: Calcium helps your body metabolize fat more efficiently by increasing the rate at which it gets rid of fat as waste (yes, that kind). Read a bit about the study that showed this here.

This means that milk after your pizza (or donut, or  fries, or hamburger, etc.) can help mitigate the damage caused by those foods!!!


Natalie Note: I wonder if ice cream counts as the calcium-rich food or the fatty food? Since I went for McDonald's reduced fat ice cream after eating crinkle-cut fries and a piece of buffalo pizza (Seriously, just one! I'm very proud of this - only 225 calories) during the Cowboys game yesterday, I'd like to think I put this theory to work.

Keep reading the Women's Health "article" for even more tips of increasing the rate you metabolize foods!

This one was also pretty eye-opening to me: "Knocking back the equivalent of just two mixed drinks (or two glasses of wine or two bottles of beer) puts the brakes on fat burning by a whopping 73 percent." WHOA. Good thing I just stuck to coffee (with milk - more calcium!) during the game!

I'm also going to add green tea to my afternoon regimen. This will be nice as the weather gets colder.  Right now I have a box of Chai tea in my study carrel at school, but it can easily be replaced with green tea. This is just one benefit to drinking green tea, by the way. It also has amazing powers to strengthen your immune system - something we can all use as we head into the winter season!