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Comment by ImprovedSilence | Hacker News Reader

I don't know what it is, but I frickin love milk. It's one of my 4 main liquids (water, milk, coffee, beer) I put down a gallon about every 4 days. In college, I'd drink a half gallon a day. Usually when I eat anything that makes me thristy/is a little salty, like red meat, I"ll crush the milk too. Pasta? it's so carby, I've got to have milk to get some protein to level out the glucose release. Hungover? not only does milk rehydrate me, it gives me much needed calories/energy. Why I'm so dependent, I have no idea. Friends and family know to stock up on extra milk when I visit. It's like water to me. I can't explain why, or how I got to this point.

edit: Growing up, we always had 2% in the house. From college on I drink skim, occasionally (once every few months) I get 1 or 2%, just to up the fat content (I'm a runner, not terribly concerned with weight gain, more or less trying to maintain body mass...)

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I'm the same way. I just turned 40, and have been drinking tons of milk my entire life. It's really bad when I travel for business and don't drink much (or any) milk. I go on a binge until my body says "enough." I think I drank 1/2 gallon today alone.

And, just like you, I grew up on 2% until college, when I switched to skim. In the college dining hall, I would fill 3-4 glasses of milk with nearly every meal. My wife has teased me about it for years. :).

Why did you convert to skim? I don't have any viable sources, but I thought skim was not only tasteless, but not any more healthy than other milk. At least one study has shown skim increases cardiovascular plaque.

I don't really like to stand on the stump of "nutritional science," but I always find food choices interesting.

Skim isn't tasteless, though it tastes less. and many people believe high fat diets cause arteriosclerosis.

In general, reducing fat (especially the animal kind) is good for modern people, since we tend to get too much of it.

What you said was gospel in 1990, but nowadays there is much dispute over the role of fat in a healthy diet.

Agreed, I thought the optimal ratios of calorie intake is 30% from fat, 30% from protein, and 40% from carbs. fat is 9 calories/gram, and 4 calories/gram for carbs and fat. At least that's what I try to go by when backpacking. but still, at the rate I drink milk, I'd be consuming way too much fat if I upped it to whole...

I believe that the 30/30/40 ratio comes from the zone diet. To my knowledge there hasn't been any scientific verification on why this is the desired ratio. I've seen lots of other people claiming different ratios work better (e.g. some people claiming that 60%+ fat is best). I'm of the opinion that the ratios don't matter nearly as much as food quality. Does anyone have studies/references that can prove me wrong?

Eating non-sick/happy animals and animal products just seems to make more sense to me. Garbage in garbage out.

Reducing fat means it takes more of it to get the feeling of being full. The milk is also full of growth hormones and carbohydrates which we get too much of, so drinking more of it is potentially worse than a bit more fat.

Agreed. Regular milk is only 4% fat, I believe, and skimming it removes most of the fat-soluble vitamins from the milk.

In college I was all about being "ripped" and having a six pack (sexual selection and all that...) So I cut out the fat in my diet pretty well, which is surprisingly easy in an all you can eat food commons. I still ate heavy on the carbs though, as I was working out regularly, and with intensity. Then I got in the habit of drinking it like it's water, at which point it having no taste is almost a good thing for me.

> Pasta? it's so carby, I've got to have milk to get some protein to level out the glucose release.

How does that work? You get twice as much sugar (lactose) than protein from milk. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=milk

The fat from the milk will slow down the metabolism, "leveling out" the release of sugar.

Also lactose takes time to break down...

The wolfram alpha link shows 18g sugar per cup, other sites (and the 2% label in my fridge) show 12g. And 8g protein plus whatever fat.

Milk does have a low glycemic index, so it would reduce the average from the pasta: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_gl...

Protein slows down the release of that sugar though, giving a more level energy supply [1], important for a runner that likes to carbo-load before races. I'd usually try to get some chicken in the pasta, or in my rice and beans as well (The actual effectiveness of carbo-loading is debatable, yes)

1. http://www.livestrong.com/article/500047-what-factors-slow-t...

You don't need milk, you're just used to it.

It only takes a couple of weeks without it for you to no longer crave it. Go long enough, and the taste of milk will actually put you off.

What's the point of this comment? Why should the author give up milk so that the taste puts him off? What benefit would that be to him? And finally, [citation needed]. Milk contains fat and sugar, two things that the human brain is programmed to like. It seems unlikely that not drinking milk for a while would make that stop happening.

Anyway, if the OP likes milk, he should drink it. The "obesity epidemic" is not from people having a glass of milk with their dinner. If you don't like milk, then don't drink it. But getting all high and mighty on some comment site about what tastes other people should experience is just plain irritating.

>What's the point of this comment?

Good question, you seem to be just trying to stir up an emotional argument for no reason. Nobody said he should give it up. Someone simply pointed out that he doesn't need it like he claims he does.

>It seems unlikely that not drinking milk for a while would make that stop happening.

Try it. Taste isn't just a case of "this contains calories so it tastes good". I like the taste of broccoli, and it has very little sugar and fat. Many people have the experience of not consuming milk for a while, then finding they don't like it any more.

You might want to be careful with this. I have heard that if you fully eliminate dairy from your diet for prolonged periods you will actually become lactose intolerant. That said, don't take my word, but I advise doing a little research before giving it up completely. It would suck to confirm that after the fact.

I think that's what happened to me. I can consume milk products except for liquid milk which will make me sick. (I haven't had much trouble when I use it in cooking though.) This is after going on soy for a year, where before that I could drink milk in the truly heroic quantities being discussed elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure if I tried to copy ImprovedSilence's habits now, I would die. I know I would wish for it :-)

I used to be able to say this, then I went on soy for about a year. Didn't have any liquid milk. Now if I have more than a cup I get sick.

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