How to Choose a Plant-Based Milk
We often get asked which plant-based milk is best. It’s a great question since there are so many to choose from and it can get overwhelming! If you’re intolerant to dairy, or just trying to incorporate more plant-based practices into your lifestyle, choosing an alternative milk is often the first step. Let’s think through which plant-based milk works best for you.
Source of the milk
One of the first points to consider is the source of the milk. This may sound obvious, but rice milk is made of rice and almond milk is made of almonds. Rice is a starch that breaks down into sugar, so in milk form it will be sweeter and contain more carbohydrates. Almonds are nuts that are made of mainly fats, protein, and fiber. While many nutrients are stripped during the process, this is essentially what it breaks down to. Therefore, thinking about the source of the milk is key to deciding which one works best for you. Typically, nut and seed milks inherently have the least amount of carbohydrates, such as almond, cashew, macadamia, coconut, flax milk, and hemp milk. On the other hand, rice and oat milk will have the highest amount of carbohydrates. Carbs aren’t bad, but when in liquid form (such as milk) they are essentially pure sugar – and that’s certainly not what our body wants first thing in the morning.
What about soy milk? The origin of soymilk is from soybeans (thanks again captain obvious) and while soybeans are high protein and low sugar, we don’t usually recommend them due to the high level of phytoestrogens which have been implicated in conditions like cystic acne, hormone imbalance, and tumor growth. Yikes.
Nutrition label & ingredients
The next thing to look at: the nutrition and ingredients label! Does the milk have added sugar such as cane sugar, agave, or coconut sugar? Does it have ingredients that you don’t recognize? Does it have more than one added filler or gum? I know – these questions are not very intuitive. One rule of thumb is always making sure the container says “unsweetened”. Then check the nutrition label and make sure there are 0g added sugars. Next, look at the ingredients label. Is the list huge? Or are there less than 3 or 4 ingredients? Long ingredient lists typically indicate more than one filler or gum added to make sure the milk doesn’t separate. Some of these may cause GI upset, so it’s best to stick to a milk that has only one, such as acacia gum, xanthan gum, or lecithin. Try to avoid carrageenan as it’s been shown to disrupt our microbiome.
LET’S RECAP
The 3 things to check are (1) source (i.e grain or nut/seed), (2) added sugars, and (3) preservatives/fillers. We recommend limiting oat milk and rice milk, and sticking with almond, cashew, macadamia, walnut, coconut, flax, or hemp milk. What about brands that avoid sugars and fillers? Elmhurst is an affordable and “clean” brand that you can find at your local grocery stores or online on Amazon. As well as the Simply Almond from Trader Joes. If you like splurging on your milks, then opt for MALK or Three Trees. MALK is DELICIOUS.
How to make your own milk
Cashew milk is the easiest plant milk to make at home, since you don’t need to strain it. All you have to do is soak raw cashews overnight in water. Drain and rinse the cashews, and blend with fresh filtered water and acacia fiber (to prevent separation). Add vanilla extract and any other spices you want, such as cinnamon. Enjoy in coffee, smoothies, as a base for chia pudding, or on its own!
What’s your favorite nut milk? Let us know in the comments below!
