52-Week Challenge: Week Twenty-Two

This week's challenge is entitled "Downshift Your Dairy."  I almost panicked when I read it; I REFUSE to give up my dairy!  I've seen a lot of diet plans that I thought I could almost be on-board with. . . until I saw that it involved removing dairy from my diet.  Nope.  Sorry.  I'd rather be fat.

Okay, that's not true.  But I still couldn't survive a plan that didn't include dairy.  Luckily, this week's challenge involves only changing from whole-fat dairy to low-fat (1%) or fat-free dairy.

Dairy is not inherently bad for you, as some health gurus may have you believe.  It's high in protein and loaded with calcium.  Unfortunately, it's also high in saturated fat which, as we learned earlier, is the "bad fat," and therefore gets an unhealthy rap.  This can be alleviated by simply switching to low-fat or fat-free.

This is an interesting fact from the book. . .

"A simple shift to low-fat milk from whole milk saves you almost fifty calories and six grams of saturated fat per glass of milk.  If you shifted to non-fat or skim milk, you'd see a savings of sixty calories and eight grams of saturated fat per serving.  If you typically consume a glass of milk a day, this would represent fix to six pounds in weight loss within one year, just by making this simple change."

How's that for incentive?  By doing this ONE THING, you could lose 5-6 pounds.  No exercise involved. ;)

I firmly believe that most people eat or drink the type of dairy they do because they are used to it; they've always consumed it so anything else tastes weird.  For example, I grew up drinking skim milk so, to me, whole milk or even 2% tastes gross.  However, I realize this probably isn't the case for most people.  So here's a few ideas on how to make the switch:

1.  Start Slowly.  Whatever type of milk you're drinking today, shift down to the next level of fat content.  For instance, if you're drinking whole milk, start the week by drinking 2% milk instead.  If you're drinking 2%, switch to 1%, and so on.  After you finish that carton or jug, go down to the next level, with the goal of eventually drinking milk that is 1% fat or lower.

2.  Switch to Low-Fat/Free-Free.  Some dairy products have virtually no change is taste when switching fat levels.  For example, it's pretty easy to switch to fat-free or low-fat yogurt.  If you miss the creaminess of full-fat, try fat-free Greek yogurt.  Same goes for ice cream.

3.  Watch Your Cheese.  Fat-free cheese is usually rubber and tastes. . . well, gross.  This is one area where it's okay to simply make the switch to reduced-fat or part-skim.

4.  Watch Your Coffee.  It's easy to over-look your full-fat coffee creamer.  I know I sure do. ;)  But this week, follow the same 'start slowly' principle:  step down to whole milk, then 2%, then 1%.  If you're like me and need to have flavored cream in your coffee (HELLO, Caramel Macchiato!), there are lots of fat-free varieties available as well.

Good luck!!