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Used alone or combined with other ingredients, dairy products — such as milk, cheese and yogurt — are both versatile and nutritious. A cup of milk to make muffins, a little sour cream for the avocado dip, and ricotta cheese in your lasagna. You probably don't realize how often you eat dairy products. What makes dairy products so great, anyway?
Many foods contain calcium, but dairy products are the richest source. Your body uses calcium to build strong teeth and bones. And your heart, muscles and nervous system need calcium to function properly. A calcium-rich diet may help lower your risk of a variety of diseases, including the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
That's the good part. The bad part, though is that whole-milk dairy products are high in fat — especially saturated fat — and calories. But back to the good news: Fat-free and low-fat milk products provide the same nutritional benefits without the excess fat and calories. When you shop, look for reduced fat (2% fat), 1% fat and fat-free milk. Every step lower on the fat scale is a help for your diet—and the calcium is a help for your health!
Here are easy ways to incorporate low-fat dairy products into your diet. * Choose skim milk, reduced-fat cheeses and lower fat milk desserts, such as ice milk or frozen yogurt. * Top your potatoes with fat-free or low-fat yogurt, sour cream or cottage cheese. Or top with shredded, fat-free or low-fat hard cheese, such as cheddar cheese. * Puree fat-free or low-fat cottage cheese and evaporated skim milk with lemon juice and rosemary to make a light pasta sauce. * Substitute fat-free or low-fat sour cream — or plain yogurt — for full-fat sour cream in your recipes. You can use pureed low-fat cottage cheese in recipes that call for sour cream. This will add a little extra protein and have less fat.
Published 04/25/08
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