Gym Debate: Milk vs. Soymilk

I started back at the gym last week. There were a lot of fellow Pilate enthusiasts who lamented their weight increase over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Most people seemed to have gained 5 kg over this period. The conversation progressed from eating too much on Christmas day to a discussion on milk vs. soy milk.

My fellow gym buddies asked our gym instructor which is better: Milk or Soy milk? And she said that skim milk and lite milk are really bad for the body (I gasped silently). Her reason was that processing removes all the nutrients from the milk. She concluded that all milk was bad and recommended soy milk instead. 

Little did they know that they had a Dietitian in their midst (me!). If they had asked for my opinion, I would have said, "Don't be silly, milk is great! It helps you lose weight, rehydrates you and helps with muscle recovery."

Now, I totally understand that some people cannot drink milk due allergies or they are vegans. I get that! I personally drink both milk and soy milk. Both are nutritious and tasty.

But don't give up on drinking milk. There is room for milk and soy milk in our lives. 


More information here 
Michael Zemel's research on milk and weight loss
Zemel, M.B. (2002). Regulation of Adiposity and Obesity Risk by Dietary Calcium: Mechanisms and Implications. J Am Coll Nutrition. 21 (2): 146S-151S. 

Zemel, M.B., Thompson, W., Milstead, A., et al (2004). Calcium and Dairy Acceleration of Weight and Fat Loss During Energy Restriction in Obese Adults. Obesity Research, 12: 582-590. 

Zemel, M.B., Richards, J., Milstead, A., et al. (2005). Effects of Calcium and Dairy on Body Composition and Weight Loss in African-American Adults. Obesity Research. 13: 1218-1225. 

Dairy Australia link to the benefit of milk after exercise
www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Health-and-nutrition/Dairy-and-Health/Sportshub.aspx