Originally Posted by Jayde:
I was not referring to the body's ability to absorb the calcium from soy milk. I was referring to so many other foods (many which I see listed in the post just before this) that are rich in calcium that we should be eating in abudance anyway.

I guess I was confused because you had said that the body absorbs calcium better from other foods than from milk and then you stated that you drank soy milk. I thought you were counting soy milk as one of those other foods.

And yes, the foods listed in the post above yours are rich in calcium, but a serving of most of them contains less than a third of the calcium found in milk, making it hard to get the RDA of calcium by only eating non-dairy sources.

You can get calcium and protein from other foods. I couldn't imagine just drinking a glass of milk- ugh. But that's just my preference.

I agree the original poster is no way lactose intolerant. I can't explain why you're getting sick, but I'll bet it's half-mental and half something else. If you've recently started watching what you eat, that can cause your body to react in different ways. You may be connecting your grossed-out mental feelings of milk to the way you feel when really they aren't connected.

I used to drink fat free milk every day growing up and became lactose intolerant as a teen. I don't miss the milk much, and I'll use lactose-free stuff occasionally for mixing into things (pudding, or if on a rare occasion I bake something) and since the ones I've found don't come in fat free, they only come in 2% it seems ungodly creamy if I try just a little by itself :D I remember when I was a kid thinking ff milk was gross, but really you do get used to it. Anyways, I was going to say that now that I can't drink milk (well, I can drink *a little* in certain situations, like 1/4 cup or so in starbucks and places like that) that I miss the other items more: cream cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese - things like that that have a really high protein count, but that you can buy low fat (and sometimes no fat) for a tasty, filling, protein-filled snack. Cereal is just carbs to me and I don't eat it even with lactose-free milk. Take advantage of your dairy tolerance and try some low-fat/no-fat cottage cheese and yogurt, maybe with some fruit, it'd be a much better snack than cereal.

Mummy Tummy took the words right out of my mouth. No other mammal drinks milk past weaning. Lots of other places to get calcium, protein, vitamin D.

BTW, I do consume dairy...yogurt, cheese, skim milk with cereal. But drinking milk as a staple of my day...no thanks. The Dairy Council has a lot of $$$$ to spend on encouraging Americans to think milk and milk products are necessary for good health.

Originally Posted by aphil:
I agree that you are not lactose intolerant-or you would not be able to drink whole milk, either. If you do not like skim, then try 1% (Yes-they do make this, for the person who asked...) which is what my family drinks. They like whole and 2%, and I prefer skim, so this is the "happy medium" for us all.

My dairy aversion is quite different than yours...I cannot drink whole or 2% because it is the "creamy thick" part I don't like...I can only get it down if it is watery and doesn't leave the creaminess in my mouth. ICK.

Same here! I couldn't ever have anything higher than 1% because I would gag from the creamy-ness of the milk.

Originally Posted by 1TiredGradStudent:
And yes, the foods listed in the post above yours are rich in calcium, but a serving of most of them contains less than a third of the calcium found in milk, making it hard to get the RDA of calcium by only eating non-dairy sources.

True, that milk has more calcium but the body can not efficiently use the calcium from milk. The body is actually better able to use the calcium from other sources. And it is easy to get the recommended daily allowance of calcium by eating non dairy sources. Most cultures in the world do just this.

Originally Posted by Jayde:
True, that milk has more calcium but the body can not efficiently use the calcium from milk. The body is actually better able to use the calcium from other sources. And it is easy to get the recommended daily allowance of calcium by eating non dairy sources. Most cultures in the world do just this.

YUp, increase your magnesium and folate intake from veggies and you'll absorb the calcium better.

I have been using the 8th Continent Vanilla Light soy milk which I buy at WalMarts or other grocery stores. It is great on cereal.

Originally Posted by veggielover:
YUp, increase your magnesium and folate intake from veggies and you'll absorb the calcium better.

Folate too? I only knew about the magnesium..

I make an effort to get plenty of magnesium from veggies for other health reasons too. Thanks for the info about folate.