Dairy options

MILK

If you can't take fat free milk, my advice is: get used to it! 

For the first few weeks, mix your regular milk with fat-free milk and use that.  You can start with a 75% regular milk and 25% fat free milk, for two weeks, then move to 50%, then to 75% fat free, before making the final conversion.  If it takes you longer than 2 weeks before you make the next move, you will still get there.

Home brand skim milk is (April 2011) $5.99/10 litres from Woolworths &/or Coles. 

It weighs only one kilo to take home, doesn’t go off, you do need to make it up in advance.
I usually check every evening and make up 1.5 litres at a time. 

I don’t restrict how much skim milk we drink, as it is still a good source of calcium, pretty cheap at 60c/litre and easy to store (dry form).

CHEESE

Don’t get me wrong, I loved every piece of cheese that ever went into my mouth.  But my serious recommendation is: Learn to live without cheese.

You can do it gradually.

Use all the cheese in your house and don’t replace it.

Don’t use it all up one the one day, spread it out, do not add cheese to any other protein (such as bolognaise sauce, fish, chicken dishes).

Cheese is on average 30% fat, not just fat, but cholesterol too.  So, learn to live without it.

YOGHURT

Read the labels of the choices of yoghurts, select the brand(s) with the lowest calories/kilojoules per 100mL.

I recommend that you get the yoghurts in individual serves, such as Yoplait Forme no-fat 170/175g tubs in six packs, two packs or individual serves.  This is because if you buy the 1 kilo tub, you have to measure the serves and you probably won't do this.  If you open one serve, eat it, you probably won't eat two serves.

Read the labels, because what looks like a similar sized product and kilojoiles per serve, may be misleading because the label will say this (same size tub) serves 2, instead of serves one.  That yoghurt choice would mean that the 200g tub you open will need to be shared between two people or eat half and save for another occasion. As if.