In Hindu religion, cow is considered holy and people worship the cow as they worship any other God.
The milk and even the urine of the cow are widely used and the latter is considered particularly holy. People in villages still utilize cow-dung for various purposes.
Let us look at milk and other dairy products from a nutritional and dietary perspective.
The most commonly used dairy products are – milk, cheese, butter, paneer, buttermilk, yogurt, curd. And all have a huge number of followers and lovers!
Who doesn’t love a bowl of sweet curd during a meal, or a glass of buttermilk after a meal!
Children love cheese! They will always prefer a dish with cheese over its regular version!
So dairy products are greatly loved in general. But so are potato chips!
We have across so many people whose domino food is potato chips, and that is not the only reason we hate them.
They provide you what we essentially call ‘empty calories.’
Let’s start with milk!
Milk is almost a superfood!
And already a superfood if you consider cockroach milk. Many people might find it gross but it is an interesting discovery.
Let us have a look at the nutritional value of milk.
Milk is a brilliant source of Calcium. Apart from calcium, milk is also rich in magnesium, Vitamin B-12 and protein.
Most of our calcium requirement comes from milk and it has been found that people who have had a poor intake of milk throughout their lives are more prone to ailments of the bones and joints as they grow older.
The lack of calcium in the body is called as hypocalcemia and results in diseases like osteoporosis. You will also slow growth of nails and hair, easy fractures if you are calcium deficient.
Moreover, ladies who are approaching their menopause should increase the intake of calcium. Simply meaning, increase you intake of milk.
Say ‘Cheese!’
Who doesn’t love cheese?
It’s impossible to imagine a sandwich or a pizza without cheese?
As lovable as cheese is, people have made it a notorious member of ‘weight gaining foods’ gang.
No matter how much you love cheese, it, like every other food in the world is a part of ‘too much is too bad’ food. Eating cheese in moderation is the best practice!
So eat cheese only in moderation! Too much is bad for you and the next paragraph will tell you too less can be worse!
A typical Indian diet is vegetarian. The problem with having vegetarian diets everyday is that they do not provide you with high quality protein!
Have a look at cheese’s nutritional value –
Protein!!
The only way for vegetarians to obtain that high quality protein galore is through cheese.
Cheese has so much high quality protein that while someone is clicking a photograph of you, you can simply say ‘Protein’ instead of cheese and no one would bat an eye! 😛
Curd
A typical Indian diet also consists of a bowl of curd. People just love sweet curd! How many of you ask tha chaat-wala bhaiya to make a ‘dahi puri meetha jyada?’ *HI-5*
Hung curd is so common in Indian households. The production of hung curd can easily surpass that of Amul or Mother Dairy.
Hardly anyone needs a motivation to eat curd but we will supply some anyway! 😀
Curd is like the Kapil Dev of foods, no?
That means, curd has got almost every nutrient in it!
But that is not the only reason why we have curd with every meal.
Curd helps a lot in digestion!
Curd owes its sour taste to organic acids, particularly lactic acid. The organic acids in the product stimulate the functioning of the digestive glands as well as the absorption of nutrients (such as various microminerals).
Paneer
*doing some bhaangda*
Paneer, bhaangda and vibrance – the three quintessential qualities of a quintessential Punjabi!
As they say, Paneer is the closest a vegetarian can get to non-vegetarian food! (similar is said about mushrooms)
Heck! Even hardcore non-vegetarians love a delicious Paneer tikka.
If eating curd needed no motivation, no motivation is enough to stop you from eating paneer! Not that we want you to!
Anyway, let us have a look at the nutritional goodness that Paneer packs!
You can hardly find any department where paneer is lacking and include deliciousness in it too! 100% delicious!
Honourable Mentions
Butter
Butter is also a dairy product that is loved by almost everyone! A butter pav bhaaji makes for a hearty meal, but not so much if there is not butter used!
There is a different debate altogether which pits butter against margarine, the low fat cheesey spreads that you find these days in market! To see who wins and also to understand the good of butter go here – Butter Versus Margarine.
Buttermilk
A glass of buttermilk can make for a superb and refreshing end of a (spicy) meal.
Buttermilk fights against acidity and considerably improves the digestion process.
Also, it is considered to be good for blood pressure patients and boosts your calcium intake.
Yogurt
Contrary to popular belief, yogurt is not ‘firangi dahi.’
It is a different dairy product which is prepared by bacterial fermenting of milk.
Interestingly, yogurt is invented by Indians! But still we continue to employ dahi over yogurt.
The main reason is you can prepare curd at home and yogurt is more of a processed product.
Both have their great benefits and one should not shy away from either of them!
Lactose Intolerance
I am sure every one knows at least one lactose intolerant in their life, if it is not herself!
Lactose intolerance is a condition in which the affected person is not able to completely break down the lactose present in milk and milk products and experience gas, vomiting, indigestion and similar problems when they consume a milk product.
Few people are completely lactose intolerant while the rest are partially lactose intolerant. This means some people can have a few products like curd or buttermilk but not milk directly.
We cannot imagine the lives of these people! They are missing out on so much nutrition and taste!
Even worse! What about vegetarians and lactose intolerants? What do they do for their required protein?
You have a way out. Check out the following links –
https://www.scientificnutrition.in/nutrition/whey-protein-benefits-2/
https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can-lactose-intolerant-people-drink-whey-protein-shakes-11706.html
So there you have it! Dairy products are good for you! So pick up that glass of milk and gulp it down! 😀