Which milk ?: After heart attack and... - British Heart Fou...

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Which milk ?

KernowMal profile image
22 Replies

After heart attack and stent fit; now waiting for by-pass so following all the diet advice. Which milk is best for cereal and tea ? Semi or full skimmed milk ? What about Oat milk ? Any advice is very welcome. Thank you.

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KernowMal profile image
KernowMal
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22 Replies

I drink semi skimmed milk. I tried skimmed milk but gave up on it, it's tasteless, you may as well not bother. Apparently there is about 1g of saturated fat in 100ml of semi skimmed and I get through about 500ml milk in a day, so I am not the least bit concerned about 5g total. And I also eat butter in sparing amounts rather than those awful low fat spreads. But if you feel you can put up with skimmed milk go for it, if you feel you are doing the right thing.

Happyrosie profile image
Happyrosie

the NHS Eat Well Guide (Google it) suggests lower fat milk, but I’ve read a summary of recent research that says that a lot of the goodness in milk is removed when the fats removed. So if you are not trying to lose weight as well it might be best to to go full fat

RufusScamp profile image
RufusScamp

I use full-fat. I find I use twice as much semi-skimmed. Skimmed is pointless. The amount of fat in milk is tiny unless you have an all-milk drink with Jersey milk.

Rhinos67 profile image
Rhinos67

I've recently switched BOB milk. It's skimmed milk but it is creamier than normal skimmed.I switched back to skimmed yesterday just to see if the normal skimmed was as good and it's not.

I get it from Asda or Tesco, it has a yellow lid 😊

Calm2 profile image
Calm2 in reply toRhinos67

Yes I too have BOB milk tastes lovely and is skimmed, don’t drink anything else now

Full fat but I only use it for the odd cup of coffee or a hot chocolate at night. Depends on on your goals.

Brht profile image
Brht

My cardio nurse told me to have skimmed milk but you just might as well put tap water on your cereal. I'm sticking with my semi skimmed and my readings haven't been wildly out. If you can use the skimmed I'd use that it's probably better for you though.

Hrty profile image
Hrty

I use semi skimmed, skimmed milk is just coloured water, but I only really have it on cereal or in porridge as I mainly drink green tea. If I have "proper" tea I don't have much milk in it. After years on semi-skimmed, long before last year's event, I find full fat too creamy these days.

Noodlesalad profile image
Noodlesalad

I was told skimmed only milk is better than semi or full.

benjijen profile image
benjijen

I only use full fat. I rarely eat cereal as I'm far more concerned about additives in that than a little extra fat. I also don't have milk in coffee and tea.

gorillaqueen profile image
gorillaqueen

I use semi skimmed but only on cereal as don’t drink tea or coffee (do have a cappuccino when we’re out but decaf semi skimmed ) I tried oat milk recently and found it ok tastes creamy so will be trying that more. Have been using semi skimmed for years now and find I now prefer it to full fat. They put full fat on my cereal when I was in hospital and it tasted horrible just don’t like it now 😊X.

Silvertail profile image
Silvertail

I read that full cream milk is better for you. Just found this on Healthline.

A significant nutritional difference between milk varieties is the amount of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of fat that has been linked to many health benefits, including improved heart and brain health, as well as lowered inflammation. The more fat a cup of milk has in it, the higher its omega-3 content. And....

Full-fat milk may have three times the fat content but it also contains 90 times the amount of omega-3 fats as found in skimmed milk, and about twice as much as semi-skimmed, not to mention that the fat-removal process rids the finished product of a host of vitamins, such as Vitamin A and Vitamin D

We use light milk though, which is 2% fat over here in Australia.

FrankWillbe profile image
FrankWillbe

You have a good amount of advice and it does come down to your own taste and factors like needing to loose weight.The advice for me (one major part being high cholesterol) was to try oat milk, which I now have with cereal but for drinks I have semi skimmed as I just could not drink tea or coffee made with oat milk. I will try again now I am used to the taste.

BobbyB1962 profile image
BobbyB1962

I really don't think it matters, I use semi-skimmed just as I did before my bypass. Concentrate on diet & exercise 😊👍

Nobby92 profile image
Nobby92

Hi KernowMal, this is a good article that goes into detail about how we arrived at the current guidance around saturated fat, you may decide after reading it that saturated fat isn’t the demon it’s portrayed to be.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

CyclingTime profile image
CyclingTime

Skimmed, has all the calcium you would get in the others. Thankfully it now tastes the same as semi as well, it used to be like water years ago!

rizal profile image
rizal

I have very recently changed. Not for any health reasons though. I was chatting to my son about milk. Strange topic I know. He said he has started using Oat milk for the flavour. I decided to give it a go. I chose the unsweetened and I love it in my coffee, even had one glass of it on its own. If you like your coffee rich and creamy it is definitely the way to go

Efka profile image
Efka

Raw milk (unfiltered and non-homogenised) if any tolerance issues type A2 tends to be better also. Buy direct from local farmers or find a delivery service. Most commercial dairy milks are so processed the goodness is removed. For milk alternatives (oat, soya, rice) be very aware of fillers as many add oils and stabilisers which can upset gut health and cause wider health issues.

Qualipop profile image
Qualipop

I still use ordinary milk with some semi skimmed. We do still need calcium.

Jerrahem profile image
Jerrahem

for me I have been using plant based milk since I found out my tummy don’t tolerate well with cows milk. Less than a cup a day . Just for coffee and oatmeal

Weetabixie profile image
Weetabixie

I use Skimmed on my cereal where possible, simply because I find the others too creamy, has to be fresh though not the carton one. I use semi-skimmed or skimmed in coffee. Been told to have cheese and full fat milk by a gp for protein, but after having a heart attack in June seemed a bit odd advice, I couldn't stomach them anyway. However I too sparingly use butter as plant based spreads taste like water to me.

Outandabout profile image
Outandabout

Oat milk is lovely in coffee and the best of the vegan milks environmentally.

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