How many times have I heard someone say they cut out drinking all calories to lose weight (this “rule” however, never seems to include alcoholic calories – hmmm, but that’s a whole different topic). The big problem with this rule is that they often cut nutrients out at the same time. So, let’s talk about the nutrient-rich beverage you should be drinking to actually help you lose weight: milk.
A newly published study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that milk drinkers had a leg up, or maybe it’s “scale down”, with weight loss. Those who drank more milk, at least 2 glasses per day, lost more weight after 2 years than those who drank little or no milk. How much you ask? An average of 12 lbs. And, the more milk they drank the more weight they lost! Participants with the lowest dairy calcium intake lost about 7 lbs at the end of the 2-year period. In addition to dairy calcium being important, vitamin D was also an independent predictor of weight loss success.
Interestingly enough, this study started to put a low-fat Mediterranean diet in a face-off with a low-carb diet. However, milk came out the winner!