Milk: Cow vs. Soy vs. Almond

I think it will vary from person to person as to what's best. My doctor advised that I stick with cow's milk because I have hypothyroidism. Though the medicine helps, for me, foods that affect the thyroid can trigger symptoms. Unfortunately, soy and almonds can both limit the thyroid's function, so I have to stay away from products that use them (more unfortunate for almonds as I love almonds).

This. I'm also hypothyroid, diagnosed about 2 years ago. I grew up severely lactose intolerant, so my parents remedied the situation by giving me soy products instead... Who knows if that messed with my thyroid function. I just try to avoid milk in any form, if I can. Just my two cents.

Exactly! And for a healthy treat, the Dark Chocolate Almond milk is yummy. But it must be the Dark Chocolate - the other is not as good.

My son loves that stuff. I actually like it too. He loves to put the dark chocolate almond milk in his cheerios in the morning.

Cow's milk should be taken out of our diet completely, our bodies were not ever meant to have it! I can't remember everything by detail but here's a good article that I follow that helped me when I had the same question http://www.kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2011/12/06/common-diet-advice-thats-actually-bad-for-you/. You should check out the rest of her blog (Kimberly Snyder). Her book is good too.

I guarantee you that people have been drinking milk a lot longer than they've been drinking Glowing Green Smoothies.

Yes, some people are intolerant. Clearly they shouldn't drink milk. Of course you shouldn't eat milk if it makes you gaseous, bloated, or gives you heartburn. Others of us possess the evolutionary change which allowed us to digest milk as adults.

A hell of a lot of the other things she lists as 'myths' simply aren't generally true. Yes, you shouldn't force yourself to eat a hearty breakfast if you feel crappy while doing so. On the other hand, I'm *wrecked* without a decent breakfast and end up shoveling food from the vending machines into my mouth by 10am if I haven't had breakfast. According to her I should just have my Glowing Green Smoothie and suck it up.

Sorry for the sidetrack, but really, you shouldn't automatically believe everything you read. Go off how it makes YOU feel and whether YOU lose weight on it.

OP: I like cow's milk. I haven't found it slowing down my weightloss.

Cow:

have 'complete' proteins (google it). These contain an adequate proportion of all eight of the essential amino acids necessary for the dietary needs of humans or other animals. Some incomplete protein sources may contain all essential amino acids, but a complete protein contains them in correct proportions for supporting biological functions in the human body. - wikipedia. If you're somewhere like Canada, cow's eat grass, not hormones or antibiotics etc that some people seem to think is added to all milk. In Canada, and many other places, it's illegal.

Almond:

This is what I drink mostly. I find it tastes the best, and has very little sugar (I'm more concerned about health then calories...though they tend to add salt). I've tried unsweetened almond dream, natural something or others...and almond breeze. They all taste different. The worse part is it doesn't have the protein that cows milk does (it has nearly none). There's various additives that are different then what's in cows milk and some peoples stomach can't tolerate such as carrageenans (processed from seaweed), added salt, then there's tapioca that seems to be added to many of them or calcium carbonate I guess to give it a consistency similar to milk. Making your own is probably the healthiest. I'm not sure about the nutrients involved but I know that there are several that usually aren't listed on the box.

Soy:

Tastes nasty according to many people, and you probably get enough in your diet, it's in everything these days. Try to find a regular loaf of bread in a grocery store that doesn't contain it. It's in things such as breads, crackers, cakes, rolls, or pastries containing peanuts, peanut oil, soy flour Processed and "natural" cereals which contain soy ingredients, pasta, Soy beans, soybean sprouts, sauces, Fruit drink mixes, fruit toppings, coffee substitutes instant coffee, hot cocoa mixes, malt beverages, pork link sausage, deli/luncheon meats, commercially prepared meats (used as a meat extender), cheese substitutes, tofu, bean curd, natto, miso, textured vegetable protein, canned soups, commercial entrees, and combination foods, baked goods, such as cakes or cookies which contain soy flour, commercial ice creams and other frozen desserts, Hard candies, nut candies, fudge, and caramels, protein powders, margarine and butter substitutes salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces, or gravies, Commercial vegetarian products and meat substitutes Heinz® Worcestershire sauce, Lea & Perrins® sauce, fermented soybean pastes (miso and natto), soy sauce, tamari sauce, granola, or breakfast bars, Imitation bacon bits, Roasted soybeans or "soy nuts"...
http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/allergy/soy.html - Children's Hospital at Standford

There are many nutrients in soy that are wonderful, but it's added to so many of our foods these days, one hardly needs it added to their diet: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/consumer-centre/food-safety-tips/labelling-food-packaging-and-storage/soy/eng/1332437930120/1332437995901 It's to the point that it's a big deal to not have soy in your food, so they put a big bold label on the front.

Since my friend and doctor figured out that her life long health problems may have been due to soy, I figured I'll post. Here are some of the links I've found, I recommend reading all of them.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uIn2L90wA8&amp;feature=player_embedded <-worth watching

reads:
http://www.aquarianonline.com/Wellness/soy.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10763906?dopt=Abstract
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/09/18/soy-can-damage-your-health.aspx

There are also many books out there talking about the negative affects of soy...can't remember the popular one...I think it's called "The truth about soy" or something.

Also, it's not all soy that causes cognitive and hormonal imbalances (which you'll get if you read the links and video).

Coconut:

Coconut also tastes awesome, but it's high in fat. But keep in mind these are suppose to be the healthy medium chain fatty acids.

Rice:

tastes exactly like liquid rice, and doesn't have the nutritional benefit as the others according to most of the articles I've read.

Almond is the bee's knees. Tastes great and you can get a 30 cal per serving carton if you go unsweetened.

Cow's milk has more sugar but the calcium content is natural, rather than added. With soy and almond milk, most of the calcium is added so you are basically just taking a calcium supplement with your drink (which you could do with any drink).

Soy has a little more calories than almond milk, and usually more protein as most almond milk contain more water than soy milk.

Neither soy or almond milk contain lactose, so either is a good alternative for those with lactose intolerance.

There are mixed results on studies showing health benefits from soy. The most promising benefit seems to be with reducing menopausal symptoms in women.

It's pretty much an accepted fact that almonds are good for you, but you won't get a lot of those benefits from almond milk because of the low concentration of almonds.

I literally hate cow's milk. I haven't liked the stuff even when I was a baby. I like Almond milk for recipes and cooking. I don't like the taste of drinking it straight but it makes a darn good hot cocoa. I drink coconut milk in smoothies, milk shakes, etc because I do like the taste. I'm allergic to Soy so I don't know what soy milk tastes like.

Completely OT but I love your pug profile pic! We have a pug too.