September 19th, 2023

Coach Kayla

Have you always assumed the best option when consuming dairy is to opt for low or non-fat products? Growing up I have always heard that high fat diary is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. I have been buying low-fat diary for myself for years thinking it was best for my health and best for fitting into my macros.

Current research has actually been indicating the OPPOSITE! I’m not sure why this came as a personal surprise to me.. we know that research has shown that healthy fats are not the enemy (they are fantastic for our health) and dairy is no different. Recent studies are finding no real correlation between full fat diary and an increased risk of heart disease, weight gain, inflammation or diabetes.

Here are some advances of consuming full-fat diary:

– Less processing: without the extra processing the dairy is able to retain more of it’s original nutrients.

– More satiety: the fat content helps to keep us full longer and also signals to our brain when we have had enough. Studies show that people who consume only low fat dairy consume more overall.

– May be beneficial for overall blood sugar regulation.

Moral of the story —> While more research is being conducted on this topic, current research shows that full-fat diary may not be the “bad guy” many of us grew up believing. Wether you opt for low or full-fat diary comes down to personal preference! Personally, I’ve started incorporating a mix of both depending on the meal. I find that low-fat options are still helpful to me in recipes that already utilize other healthy fat options.

If this is interesting to you and you would like to study further on this topic, I linked the articles I found below.

https://www.verywellfit.com/how-full-fat-dairy-keeps-you…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6743828/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/…/is-it-time-to-stop…