My mission in life is to be my healthiest and happiest self. So you might think that this means that I am crazy about counting my calories and buy low-cal, low-fat everything....not even close. I am a firm believer in the benefit of whole foods. All of the processing that a food has to go through in order to become low-fat or low-calorie, really takes away the things that make it a good nutritious option in the first place.

For instance, milk. You will definitely not find skim or low-fat milk in our house. Instead you'll find two different options: organic almond milk and whole, vitamin D enriched milk. Yep you read that right... whole milk. I've done a lot of reading on the different types of milk and have found a lot of research that states skim or low-fat milk is not beneficial to us. What do we get from milk? Why do we drink it and insist that especially our children drink it daily? That's right, calcium and vitamins. The interesting thing is that the vitamins that milk provides, mainly vitamin A, are fat-soluble. That means that an adequate level of fat has to be present in order for our bodies to absorb those vitamins. Therefore, no fat = no vitamin absorption. So what's the point of drinking the milk in the first place? Sure you might see a skim milk label that says "fortified with vitamin D" but think about what that means. In order to become skim milk, that milk has to first have all of the fat taken out (along with all the naturally occurring vitamins) and then that vitamin D has to artificially be added back in. What's wrong with that, you might be asking yourself. Our bodies don't readily absorb those artificial vitamins as well as the naturally occurring ones. And I personally would rather take in the naturally occurring vitamins over those that are made artificially, wouldn't you?

You might be wondering about the calorie content. Yes, whole milk does have more calories than skim milk because fats account for more calories. But what do we know good fats give us? Increased satiety. They make us feel full quicker and longer, therefore we eat less. And I don't know about you, but I am about the last person to grab a glass of milk to drink. It's not my thing. I'm not lactose intolerant but milk just does not make me feel well. I will only have it in cereal, in coffee, on oatmeal, or with the occasional cookie, so it does not account for much of my daily calorie intake.

Don't just take my word for it, do some research of your own. And the next time you are at the grocery store, think about your milk. Compare labels, do some checking, and decide for yourself what's important. For me, vitamins trump calories every time.