You should follow your doctor’s advice and switch to skim milk for your low cholesterol nutrition therapy.
If you were to compare eight ounces of 2% milk to eight ounces of skim milk, the 2% milk has one teaspoon of butterfat homogenized in it and an extra 45 calories. One- percent milk has one-half teaspoon of butter and 20 calories more than skim. While this might not sound like much, multiply one teaspoon of butterfat times 24 days. That would equal one stick of butter every 24 days. Your blood cholesterol may not come down to recommended levels by continuing to drink 2% milk.
Two- percent milk has 18.3 milligrams of cholesterol per one cup. If you drank two cups of two- percent milk per day for one week (256 milligrams of cholesterol), you should still limit egg yolks to four per week including eggs used in recipes.
Skim milk is not watered down whole milk. Skim milk has 99 percent of the butterfat removed. Nutritionally, the only difference between 2% milk and skim milk is the fat content. The blue color you see is from the riboflavin content in skim milk which is not camouflaged by the yellow cream that has been removed from 2% milk.
If your doctor has advised you to follow a low cholesterol nutrition therapy only skim or cultured buttermilk is allowed. To reduce the cholesterol in your blood, you first have to reduce the amount of cholesterol and saturated fat you eat, including 2% milk.
In order to consume your RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) for calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D, drink three cups of milk per day or the equivalent in cheese (three 1″ cubes).
