To boil or not to boil?

I was at the doctor’s a few days back with an extremely painful neck and shoulder. Looking at my X-Ray he tut tutted all over it then pronounced ‘Cervical Spondilitis’ - which I believe is pretty common these days. He also found ‘abysimally low’ levels of Vitamins D and B.

He went on to prescribe, along with a bunch of medicines, more time outdoors (which I liked), swimming (which thrilled the kids since I’m never able to make time to take them swimming) and a bunch of medicines. He also asked me to stop boiling the milk that I had everyday. 

What? Not boil milk? Hasn't that been an intrinsic part of my morning routine? Just as it was my mom’s and her mom’s too.

However, what the doctor said made sense - If we are drinking pasteurised milk we don’t really need to boil it. Pasteurisation meant it had been boiled and cooled already, the bacteria had been taken care of. When we boil it again, he said, we kill the vitamins, specially those of the B Group.

A look at google pretty much confirmed what he said but confused me too. I had no clue there was so much science to boiling milk the correct way. I mean you put it in a pan, put it on the stove, watch it till it comes up then switch it off. Right? Wrong. I found a bunch of dos and don'ts and I got so confused that I wiped them clean off my mind.

I decided to do my own thinking. 

Here's why I felt I needed to boil the milk: 

1. The packets are often so dirty that it is difficult to believe the milk they contain is safe.
2. After boiling I could remove the layer of cream and get toned milk (the fight against fat, remember?)
3. The milk lasts longer once it is boiled.
4. And lastly of course - generations of habit.

I have now struck a mid-path to make sure I get my vitamins:

1. I wash the packets thoroughly before I cut them open. 
2. I switched to double toned milk. A friend suggested switching to cow's milk - I might do that - it's lighter on the stomach.
3. I try to consume it on the same day and boil only what I need to carry over to the next day.

It seems to be working fine as of now.

So do you boil your milk or was it only me all this while?


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