How does milk help us now that we're done growing? Why should we still get calcium and other nutrients provided by milk? I love milk, but stopped drinking it so much b/c I realized how fatty it is, even 2%.

The most important thing you get from milk, as you know, is the calcium. When you stop growing, you still need calcium because your body is always rebuilding. This is especially important for women and especially important once they hit menopause to prevent osteoperosis (which causes brittle bones).

here are a few useful pages about calcium and bones:
http://womenshealth.about.com/library/blmeno4a.htm
http://www.dietitian.com/calcium.html

This one explains how much calcium you need at different ages and gives some suggestions of what foods to get it from:
http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/1997/07jul/bones.htm
I personally love milk (I drink about a half-gallon every day), but there is plenty of evidence that too much milk isn't good for you, for more reasons than just the fat, so it's fine to get it from other sources, as long as you're getting enough. You should also make sure you are getting enough vitamin D (a nutrient which also helps bones and is added to milk).

Drink the lower fat milk like the 2% and it has the same vitamins jut minus the fat content that the others have..and the taste is about the same..

I drink skim which has the same nutrition but no fat. Skim Rich is a milk in our area which is fat-free with the body and taste of higher fat content.

I've been drinking fat-free milk since my heart attack in Oct of '98. Gotta keep those arteries clean and open. I want to live.

Calcium is very important for healthy bones and teeth.
Some points of interest that have not been mentioned:
If you are not menstruating, you may be losing bone density as well. Studies have shown that women who do not menstruate (due to bc, menopause, being a dancer, anorexia, etc) have substantially less bone density than women who do. So if you are taking birth control that keeps you from menstruating, or if you are going through menopause, it is more important than ever to get calcium into your body.
Just make sure you don't get too much calcium. My grandfather went all loopy and demented just before he died and tests revealed that he had abnormally high amounts of calcium deposits. He had been drinking milk and talking calcium supplements and drinking the orange juice with calcium. Now, this is NOT supported by any scientific finding (the Florida doctors were not really interested in finding out why he died) but you don't want to get too much of anything, either. So check with your doctor for the right amounts for you.

I do not drink a lot of milk but I prefer skim. I always had skim growing up and anything else tastes too thick. My husband likes 2% (you'd think we could compromise and have 1%, but nooooo) so we have that in the house and I use it on my mac&cheese. I just eat a lot of yogurt to make up for not drinking milk.