Almond Milk for Weightloss?

Is almond milk better than normal milk for weight loss? Well really there is nothing wrong with normal milk, but if you were to to try almond milk in place of regular milk you can save yourself around 100 calories per day per cup of milk, and when looking at a weight loss diet I always try to keep as many of my favourite foods as possible, the fastest way to fail at any diet is to not enjoy it.

You can use it anywhere you would normally use regular milk and it's very easy to make.

Basically all you need to do to make almond milk is to soak some raw almonds in water for 8-14hours, drain the almonds and add 1 cup to your blender with 2 cups of water and blend at high speed until it turns white and the almonds have all become pulp. From here just strain through a strainer or cheesecloth or something similar (I just use a normal kitchen strainer - takes a little white as the pulp tend to block the strainer quite quickly). You can save the almond pulp to use for making cookies or anything else that calls for almond meal (haven't tried this yet as I'm not much of a cookie person).

So this is plain unsweetened almond milk, what I've found that works great in coffee is to add half a vanilla bean (split the bean and scrape the seeds out and add to the blender) and some stevia (a natural sweetener with no calories) before blending, this makes a great addition to coffee - tastes Great and helps with your weightloss plans.

Note: If you are not on a weightloss diet try sweetening with your favourite raw honey - yummmm!

On the subject of regular milk and its health properties, there are a lot of sites out there that tell you how bad cow's milk is for your health, well I can't say I agree with these sites in the case of those of us who's bodies can digest cow's milk with no problems. I've had milk all of my life and never had any sign of the many adverse health affects that many people claim milk causes.

I can fully understand the problems for people with low tolerance to lactose or milk solids, but I have to say I've never had any problems all of my life drinking cow's milk.

It might seem a bit strange starting this article with the benefits of almond milk and then stating that cow's milk is fine and causes no problems, but when you are trying to lose weight, it actually is a good idea to look at reducing your intake of cow's milk as it does contain quite a few calories and it has been shown that sometime it can slow your metabolism (i.e. warm glass of milk before bed) down which is not preferred when trying to improve you health and losing weight.

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Some Health Advantages Of Having Almond Milk And Real Cream, Rather Than Milk

One of the most widely held food laws that could use some reconsideration pertains to our belief that conventional milk is vital to our health and well-being, and therefore we should drink a lot of it.

What if this isn't sound practice? What if the experiences of many who have been avid milk drinkers were that they may have gotten fat from the high sugar content found in milk?

Remember if we look closer at the principles surrounding paleo (low-carb) eating we see that milk is not a recommended drink. Conversely, quite often real cream-based drinks or deserts are considered fine. The reason has everything to do with both sugar content and the insulin response of our body when we take in milk.

Remember It Is Not About The Calories As Much As It Is The Content

At first glance, it is a natural reaction to scoff at the notion that real cream is better for us than milk, but when we look a little deeper, the argument could be seen as reasonable. This goes right to the essence of why milk isn't so great and how we should reconsider the accepted rule that it is a necessity.

As is pointed out on many health and fitness training sites all over the internet, milk has a higher sugar content than we believe when we are drinking it. After all, it doesn't taste sugary. Beyond that, it causes the insulin levels in our cells to spike (just like with white bread, pasta, and other foods containing processed sugars). When insulin spikes, our cells retain more fat. When our cells retain fat, we get fat. Overall, real cream has about half the sugar content of milk and also lacks milk's dangerous insulin spiking properties.

In light of the growing discussions about obesity, type 2 diabetes, and also heart disease being triggered by over-consumption of sugar, this topic is about much more than the issue of physical appearance. Here is a great read about where the science is at currently regarding heart disease and sugar.

Almond Milk As An Everyday Alternative To Regular Milk

While there can be an argument about both the applicability and nutritional superiority of cream v. milk, there is a growing level of consumer support for almond milk as an everyday drinking and cereal alternative to old-fashioned cow's milk. These two uses are where a lot of our milk consumption happens so it worth closer examination.

Personally, I have enjoyed almond milk for a little over a year and I am hooked. I like the vanilla unsweetened variety. It tastes like a slightly sweet milk but with the same rich quality in texture. The cost for a half-gallon is about the same as a gallon of the regular stuff. Even better, is it keeps for weeks rather than days. I was skeptical at first, but it won me over.

There's even more to the story when you dig into the nuts and bolts of the health comparison. The good news is you are improving your health by making the switch. First, the issue of lactose intolerance is no inhibitor with almond milk. It is also gluten and cholesterol free. It is high in vitamin E, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, iron, fiber, zinc and calcium. We all know calcium is a huge promotion point for regular milk. In addition, almond milk also contains trace amount of sugars, while also being fat-free.

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