cow milk alternatives??

zombiekookie

I'm told Hemp milk is mad good for you, and isn't hard on the digestive system like soy.

seansquared

im trying realllyyyy hard not to have cow milk but sadly im one of those people that is ADDICTED. i loovvveee milk ! but 1. its high in calories 2. its not all that good for you 3. hormones (because i would have holes in pocket if i bought organic every time) & 4.because the human species is the only one that drinks milk from other animals .

i tried the new coconut milk & hated it . im eeehhh about almond milk because of the nutty taste it has to it & i like soy milk but i dnt want soy on a regular basis in my diet


PPLLEEEAASSEEE HEEELLPP

Cow milk is actually amazingly good for you.

#4 is completely false as well.



Anyway... try soy, almond, or rice milk. Don't ask here - just go out and try them and see which you like best.

CoderGal

its scientifically proven that the "calcium" in conventional milk actually leaches calcium from your bones. (sorry to burst bubbles)

Most people do not have the necessary amounts of vitamin D to process the calcium that is in milk. Studies have shown that overdoing dairy consumption leads to greater bone density issues, especially in women. did you not get the memo??

Seriously? Yet you recommend almond milk, which is generally fortified with MORE calcium than cow's milk, but has LESS vitamin D. So, if "most people don't have the necessary amounts of vitamin D to process the calcium" (which is garbage, vitamin D deficiency is extremely rare, AS THE HUMAN BODY SYNTHESIZES IT,) then almond milk will leach even more calcium out of people's bones, and they would be much better off drinking cow's milk. Please try using some critical thinking and logic the next time you decide to go spreading misinformation and myths.

Roll eyes...I love how some people are jumping on the calcium isn't good for you bandwagon. You try doing without it and see how well you thrive. Most people should go outside more. And contrary to what you say, a lot of studies have shown that most people are not getting a sufficient amount of calcium in their diet. And as you've shown, they're not getting enough vitamin D, either.

Are you talking to me? I'm not anti calcium at all, the person I was responding to was making a ridiculous claim, and I refuted it. Her claim was that drinking cow's milk (which has 25% RDA of calcium) leaches calcium from bones because people don't have enough vitamin D to process it (never mind the logic doesn't even make sense there, but that was the claim.) She also recommended that people consume almond milk instead. Almond milk is generally fortified with higher levels of calcium than cow's milk, but is usually fortified to the same level of vitamin D. So, drinking almond milk instead of drinking cow's milk would lead a person to increase calcium consumption without increasing vitamin D consumption, which, if her original claim had any basis in reality, would mean drinking almond milk would actually be worse than drinking cow's milk.

Personally, I use both cow's milk and soy milk, depends on what I'm using it for. I'll use cow's milk for 99% of what I eat, but I'll usually mix soy milk in a smoothie, because I prefer soy milk to skim milk. I drink 2% or whole milk, generally, but my smoothies tend to be around 550 calories, if I used whole milk instead of soy milk, they'd be closer to 700.

Sorry I was talking to the person above...I meant to say exactly to your post lol.

nena902nj

For the same reasons as you, plus because I think I am somewhat lactose intolerant, I also switched from cows milk. I am drinking a thirty calorie almond. Since I don't like vanilla, I bought a zero calorie syrup in chocolate and add that to my almond milk. It really improves the flavor of the almond milk (I am also not crazy for the nutty taste it has). I have a glass 8 oz. every day which gives me the calcium I need.

leighdiane91

The Almond Breeze Unsweetened brand is AMAZING! tastes WAY different than the Silk Almond milk.

Also, Rice milk is not bad and is a lot less thick than almond, coconut and soy. GL

miasapearl

CONCLUSIONS:

In growing children, long-term avoidance of cow milk is associated with small stature and poor bone health. This is a major concern that warrants further study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12198017

I'll try to say this as simple as possible.

PPAR(peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors) have been shown to play crucial roles in regulating energy homeostasis including lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, inflammatory responses, and cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival.

PPAR agonists have the potential to prevent or ameliorate diseases such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and obesity,.

Milk increased human PPARalpha activity in a dose-dependent manner with a 3.2-fold increase at 0.5% (vol/vol).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19700678
[/quote]

Playing devil's advocate and analyzing the full articles mentioned above.

article 1:
If you look at the full article for the first one. It is sponsored by the milk industry therefore anything that counters what they believe will not be published. DEXA scan is a poor use to indicate bone density in children since they have increased development in their teenage years. Children are still growing during the age group that the article is studying. If you look at figure one in the article, most of the standard deviation overlaps. The DEXA is a number. For the ones that are statically significant, it does not mean there is a clinical significance when the kids hit puberty during which time their bone develops more. They also did not take into consideration of the height of the parents which would contribute to short stature of the kids, and not just due to poor calcium intake. Poor study.

Even when used in the elderly, DEXA is a poor study of indication of risk of fractures. It's a measurable number that does not translate to how the bone is actually doing, hence the controversy over the use of bisphosphonates in treatment of osteoporosis in the elderly.

article 2:
I can't say too much about it since the full article is not available to the public without purchasing.
- "The possible role in enhancing the activities of PPARalpha, PPARdelta, and RXRalpha, and the health benefits of cow's milk were discussed"... in the article which is not available to be analyzed. So who knows if that actually makes a difference.
- "Milk increased human PPARalpha activity in a dose-dependent manner with a 3.2-fold increase at 0.5% (vol/vol)." How much milk do you need to drink to increase it by 0.5% and does that increase make a difference?
- "Ice cream, butter, and yogurt also increased the activities of PPARalpha and PPARdelta, whereas vegetable cream affected activity of PPARdelta but not PPARalpha." They didn't talk about which PPAR subtype does what in the abstract.

PPAR α (alpha) - expressed in liver, kidney, heart, muscle, adipose tissue, and others
PPAR β/δ (beta/delta) - expressed in many tissues but markedly in brain, adipose tissue, and skin
γ (gamma) - although transcribed by the same gene, this PPAR through alternative splicing is expressed in three forms:
γ1 - expressed in virtually all tissues, including heart, muscle, colon, kidney, pancreas, and spleen
γ2 - expressed mainly in adipose tissue (30 amino acids longer)
γ3 - expressed in macrophages, large intestine, white adipose tissue.

nena902nj

@LeighDiane91: I have tried them both and I like the lower calorie one ONLY because it's 30 calories and not 60. I am not wild about the taste of almonds in any of those brands except for the almond coconut which is higher in calories, so that's why I bought the zero calorie chocolate syrup. It covers up that nutty after-taste and satisfies my dang sweet tooth. I have a cupboard full of extracts and am thinking about using them in there too.

rockymtnlove

we switched from cows milk to unsweetened almond milk about five months ago, and love it. it was a weird taste at first, but now we really like it and don't miss milk at all