Dairy 3-A-Day™ - Your Dairy Do's - Big Y® World Class Market®

Healthy Reasons to Get Your 3-A-Day™

How do you “do” dairy? Do you have a cup or two of milk with your morning cereal — and that’s about it? Maybe some cheese with your Friday-evening glass of red wine? Or have you stopped doing dairy all together, either because you think you should skip it (you’re sure you read that somewhere) or maybe because you don’t think of it at all? Time to think again and make sure dairy is a “do” in your daily diet. Yes, dairy products help build strong bones, but that’s not all. You’ll be helping yourself to some other incredible health benefits. Getting the recommended three servings of dairy a day may help keep your blood pressure down, lower your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, lower your risk of colon cancer, and so much more. Here are the top seven healthy reasons to make sure you get your three servings of calcium-rich dairy products every day.

The keys to strong, long-lasting bones are dairy (your body’s best source of calcium) and exercise.

Osteoporosis
It’s no secret that dairy products are loaded with calcium, and that calcium is essential to keeping your bones strong and healthy. So it stands to reason that the key to preventing osteoporosis — a weakening of the bones that increases the chance of fracture — is making sure you incorporate plenty of dairy products into your everyday diet. Loading up on healthy, low fat dairy foods like milk, cheese and yogurt can help keep your body from losing precious bone density, which can help prevent the onset of osteoporosis. An important note: Most of your body’s calcium stores are in place by age 20, so it’s crucial for kids to get plenty of dairy products every single day. Kids who get enough calcium in their diets will grow up to be adults with a significantly lower chance of developing osteoporosis.

High Blood Pressure (hypertension)
High blood pressure is a “silent” illness; it doesn’t have any symptoms you can feel on their own, and many people don’t even realize they have it until it causes other health problems down the road. That’s what makes it particularly dangerous. Are you getting plenty of low fat dairy products in your healthy diet? Good. Sit back with your strawberry yogurt smoothie and relax. The calcium, magnesium and potassium found in abundance in most dairy foods are all nutrients that have been shown to help keep blood pressure down, reducing the chances of developing hypertension by as much as 15 percent.

Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke
A heart-healthy diet is low fat, low sodium and includes plenty of fruits and vegetables — at least five servings a day. But a heart-healthy diet also includes at least three servings of dairy products every day. Your three servings a day can help reduce your chances of developing heart disease by up to nine percent — and help lower your chance of stroke by almost 30 percent. How? By helping to reduce the amount of “bad” cholesterol and homocystine (an amino acid that has been linked to heart disease) in your blood, while promoting the development of “good” cholesterol.

Obesity
Recent studies have highlighted a possible link between weight loss and eating dairy products. No, you can’t drop pounds by guzzling chocolate milk shakes with extra whipped cream, but adding your three daily servings of low fat dairy products to an otherwise healthy diet and/or weight-loss plan may help your weight-loss efforts. What’s more, continuing to get your three servings a day may help you keep the weight off.

Insulin Resistance/Type 2 Diabetes
Some research indicates you may be able to reduce your chances of developing insulin resistance syndrome (IRS) — a precursor to type 2 diabetes — by up to 70 percent, just by enjoying dairy products. The key is to have at least five servings of dairy every day. Even if you don’t load up quite that much, you’ll still do your health a huge favor. In a recent study, even those who had at least one dairy item each day had a 40 percent lower chance of developing IRS than those who did not.

Dental Health
Calcium kills cavities. Just as it works to keep your skeleton strong, it keeps your teeth tough. If you’re a fan of cheese and milk, this is great news for you, because it seems that cheese in particular is quite effective in helping to prevent cavities. No, you can’t skip your morning date with your toothbrush in favor of a few bites of cheddar with a glass of milk. But the calcium, protein and phosphorus found in these foods can help keep your teeth strong and stop the development of cavities.

Cancer
Add low fat milk, cheese and yogurt to your anti-cancer arsenal. It seems that these dynamic dairy foods contain plenty of calcium, vitamin D and compounds called “milkfat components” — which may help fight both breast and colon cancer. One study showed that women who ate plenty of low fat dairy options had a 44 percent lower chance of developing breast cancer than those who didn’t. And the calcium-vitamin D combination of milk and cheese is particularly powerful against colon cancer, working to prevent the growth of precancerous cells. Good news for those who have recovered from colon cancer as well: This same combination has been shown to be effective in preventing a recurrence of the disease.

What You Can Do
Because calcium is so important to good health, it pays to know how much of it you and your family need every day to ensure that everyone stays strong and healthy throughout their lifetime.

Calcium for Tots (ages 1 to 3)
What they need:
500mg of calcium or two 8-ounce glasses of milk

Calcium for Kids (ages 4 to 8)
What they need:
800mg of calcium or one 8-ounce glass of chocolate milk and 4 slices (approximately 3 ounces) of cheese

Calcium for Tweens and Teens (ages 9 to 18)
What they need:
1,300mg of calcium or two 8-ounce glasses of milk,
1 cup low fat yogurt and 1 cup of pudding made with milk

Calcium for Adults (19 and older)
What they need:
1,000 to 1,200mg of calcium or 2 cups cottage cheese, 1 cup frozen yogurt and 1½ ounces mozzarella cheese

How Does Dairy Measure Up
So now that you know how important calcium is to you and your family, it’s a good idea to know what a serving of dairy looks like. Each food listed below counts as 1 serving of milk, cheese or yogurt.

• 1 8-ounce cup yogurt
• 1 1/2 ounces (approximately 2 slices) hard cheese, such as cheddar, mozzarella or Swiss
• 2 ounces (approximately 3 slices) processed cheese, like American
• 1/3 cup Big Y shredded cheese
• 2 cups Big Y cottage cheese
• 1 cup pudding made with milk
• 1 cup frozen yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups Big Y ice cream
• 1 cup Big Y milk

As you can see, adding a variety of dairy products to your daily diet does so much for your overall wellness. So the next time you’re enjoying a tall, cold glass of milk or your morning yogurt, rest easy with the knowledge that you’re helping yourself to a big serving of good health.