Which milk is healthier - cows, almond, coconut, soy or rice milk?
I had a conversation about this topic with a good friend of mine today and it reminded me of how many other people always have this same question...
The problem is that we've established (as you know from the thorough details in my Fat Burning Kitchen ebook) that regular pasteurized/homogenized milk is horrible for you...
We're talking about the regular milk (no matter whether it's skim, 2%, or whole) that you get at the grocery store -- which is almost ALL from factory farms where the cows are kept in horrendous conditions, poor health, and fed the wrong foods.
Even if you find milk that is "organic" at your grocery store, it still has the problem that the homogenization process renders the fat molecules unhealthy within your body, and the pasteurization destroys beneficial enzymes that help the proper digestion of milk proteins and lactose.
But we've also established that raw whole milk from grass-fed cows raised in a healthy manner, fed the correct foods, and treated right, is the ONLY source of healthy cows milk.
And no, despite the propaganda you've been fed, raw milk is NOT dangerous... not when it comes from a clean grass-fed farm operation certified to produce raw milk and with healthy cows.
I'm living proof of that fact... I've been drinking hundreds and hundreds of gallons of raw whole milk for about 8 years now, and never once have gotten sick from it. Nor have any of the families and friends I know that have also been drinking it for years. Certainly, if raw milk was "dangerous", we'd all be dead by now or at least have been sick multiple times by now. Nope, not once!
But the fact that raw milk is the only healthy milk is a problem for many people because they simply can't find a farm in their area that supplies raw milk. By the way, you can search your area on realmilk.com to see if any farms deliver in your area.
So I've come up with a possible healthy alternative if you can't find raw milk and want a good cows milk alternative...
First of all, stay FAR, FAR away from soymilk! It's a straight-up junk food. There's an entire article on my website dedicated to this topic of why soy is pure junk...
What about Rice Milk?
No! Way too much sugar and total carbs and almost ZERO protein. If you want to shoot your blood sugar through the roof, rice milk will do the job, and will pack on the blubber just as fast.
Here's one of the best options I've found...
It's a new "Coconut Milk Beverage" that I've seen recently in the grocery stores here in the US. It seems to differ from the "coconut milk" that you see in cans simply that it's diluted down with water more than canned coconut milk which usually has more of a thick coconut cream consistency.
Side note: try the thick creamy canned coconut milk (organic of course) in your coffee for a healthy creamer alternative... delicious!
Now as you know from reading my books and newsletters, coconut fat is one of the healthiest fats you can consume... Yes, it's saturated fat, but research has proven that it is a very healthy form of saturated fat, and is mostly medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) including lauric acid, which supports a strong immune system.
If you want more info about why saturated fat is actually healthy, here are 2 articles on my site to make sure to read:
Why saturated fat is not so bad after all
The truth about saturated fat (written by a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry)
Back to the healthy milk alternatives...
The flavored "coconut milk beverages" do have some added sugar, but still only have 9 grams of carbs per 8 oz, which is less sugar than a glass of cows milk.
But they also have an unsweetened version, which only has 1 gram of carbs.
The only problem is that this "coconut milk beverage" only has 1 gram of protein too. This is one place where this milk lacks nutritionally.
So here's my solution... get a good quality vanilla whey protein, preferably grass-fed whey protein (sweetened with stevia instead of typical artificial sweeteners) and mix 3-4 scoops of whey protein into the entire half gallon carton of "coconut milk beverage"... possibly in a blender and then transfer to a new pitcher or container of some sort.
Now you have a milk alternative that's high in healthy fats (MCTs in this case) and also quality protein, with only 1 gram of sugar per 8 oz serving!
I still won't give up my raw whole cows milk for this (since I do have access to a good raw milk farm)... but this coconut milk mixture would be one of the only options that I would actually drink if I couldn't get my good raw milk.
What about almond milk?
Actually, I don't have a problem with almond milk as long as it's not heavily sweetened with added sugars or artificial sweeteners. I've seen almond milk brands that have unsweetened versions and only has 1 gram of sugar per 8oz, just like the coconut milk. These unsweetened almond milks are actually pretty tasty... I think a bit better tasting than the coconut milk drinks in my opinion.
The only problem with almond milk is that it is very low in protein similar to the coconut milk drinks.
Adding the whey protein to almond milk would make a great mixture too and make it more balanced as a good healthy milk alternative. I actually think the best tasting mixture might be to try mixing unsweetened almond milk with unsweetened coconut milk and then blending in a few scoops of vanilla whey protein in the blender to the whole mix.
By the way, one of the best whey proteins out there is this raw grass-fed whey protein with ZERO artificial sweeteners. This is the brand that I use personally.
Feel free to pass on this email to friends and family that may be interested in today's article on milk.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
TruthAboutAbs.com | BusyManFitness.com | AvalancheSkiTraining.com
The problem is that we've established (as you know from the thorough details in my Fat Burning Kitchen ebook) that regular pasteurized/homogenized milk is horrible for you...
We're talking about the regular milk (no matter whether it's skim, 2%, or whole) that you get at the grocery store -- which is almost ALL from factory farms where the cows are kept in horrendous conditions, poor health, and fed the wrong foods.
Even if you find milk that is "organic" at your grocery store, it still has the problem that the homogenization process renders the fat molecules unhealthy within your body, and the pasteurization destroys beneficial enzymes that help the proper digestion of milk proteins and lactose.
But we've also established that raw whole milk from grass-fed cows raised in a healthy manner, fed the correct foods, and treated right, is the ONLY source of healthy cows milk.
And no, despite the propaganda you've been fed, raw milk is NOT dangerous... not when it comes from a clean grass-fed farm operation certified to produce raw milk and with healthy cows.
I'm living proof of that fact... I've been drinking hundreds and hundreds of gallons of raw whole milk for about 8 years now, and never once have gotten sick from it. Nor have any of the families and friends I know that have also been drinking it for years. Certainly, if raw milk was "dangerous", we'd all be dead by now or at least have been sick multiple times by now. Nope, not once!
But the fact that raw milk is the only healthy milk is a problem for many people because they simply can't find a farm in their area that supplies raw milk. By the way, you can search your area on realmilk.com to see if any farms deliver in your area.
So I've come up with a possible healthy alternative if you can't find raw milk and want a good cows milk alternative...
First of all, stay FAR, FAR away from soymilk! It's a straight-up junk food. There's an entire article on my website dedicated to this topic of why soy is pure junk...
What about Rice Milk?
No! Way too much sugar and total carbs and almost ZERO protein. If you want to shoot your blood sugar through the roof, rice milk will do the job, and will pack on the blubber just as fast.
Here's one of the best options I've found...
It's a new "Coconut Milk Beverage" that I've seen recently in the grocery stores here in the US. It seems to differ from the "coconut milk" that you see in cans simply that it's diluted down with water more than canned coconut milk which usually has more of a thick coconut cream consistency.
Side note: try the thick creamy canned coconut milk (organic of course) in your coffee for a healthy creamer alternative... delicious!
Now as you know from reading my books and newsletters, coconut fat is one of the healthiest fats you can consume... Yes, it's saturated fat, but research has proven that it is a very healthy form of saturated fat, and is mostly medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) including lauric acid, which supports a strong immune system.
If you want more info about why saturated fat is actually healthy, here are 2 articles on my site to make sure to read:
Why saturated fat is not so bad after all
The truth about saturated fat (written by a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry)
Back to the healthy milk alternatives...
The flavored "coconut milk beverages" do have some added sugar, but still only have 9 grams of carbs per 8 oz, which is less sugar than a glass of cows milk.
But they also have an unsweetened version, which only has 1 gram of carbs.
The only problem is that this "coconut milk beverage" only has 1 gram of protein too. This is one place where this milk lacks nutritionally.
So here's my solution... get a good quality vanilla whey protein, preferably grass-fed whey protein (sweetened with stevia instead of typical artificial sweeteners) and mix 3-4 scoops of whey protein into the entire half gallon carton of "coconut milk beverage"... possibly in a blender and then transfer to a new pitcher or container of some sort.
Now you have a milk alternative that's high in healthy fats (MCTs in this case) and also quality protein, with only 1 gram of sugar per 8 oz serving!
I still won't give up my raw whole cows milk for this (since I do have access to a good raw milk farm)... but this coconut milk mixture would be one of the only options that I would actually drink if I couldn't get my good raw milk.
What about almond milk?
Actually, I don't have a problem with almond milk as long as it's not heavily sweetened with added sugars or artificial sweeteners. I've seen almond milk brands that have unsweetened versions and only has 1 gram of sugar per 8oz, just like the coconut milk. These unsweetened almond milks are actually pretty tasty... I think a bit better tasting than the coconut milk drinks in my opinion.
The only problem with almond milk is that it is very low in protein similar to the coconut milk drinks.
Adding the whey protein to almond milk would make a great mixture too and make it more balanced as a good healthy milk alternative. I actually think the best tasting mixture might be to try mixing unsweetened almond milk with unsweetened coconut milk and then blending in a few scoops of vanilla whey protein in the blender to the whole mix.
By the way, one of the best whey proteins out there is this raw grass-fed whey protein with ZERO artificial sweeteners. This is the brand that I use personally.
Feel free to pass on this email to friends and family that may be interested in today's article on milk.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
TruthAboutAbs.com | BusyManFitness.com | AvalancheSkiTraining.com
posted by Mike Geary at
2:34 AM
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