Why almond milk an acceptable alternative to soy

March 24, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

This was terrible.

My soy matcha latte is my daily reward for adulting.

And here I was hearing the barista tell customer after customer ahead of me, those dreaded words:

“We’re out of soy milk…”

My heart sank.

As I reached the register, I sighed, pinched my nose ridge, let out a heavy sigh, and dejectedly said, “Okay… Okay… I’ll try it with the almond milk.” It was like accepting defeat. I loved my soy. I even wrote a whole, biased, insufficiently supported article on why it’s better than coconut milk and almond. How was I meant to order this lesser accessory for my matcha, and then go on and write about weight loss? How could I do that with a clear conscience? How?

Easily.

Because while soy’s got a lot’ve healthful elements, it’s not got the monopoly. Not on a weight loss level. Sure, soy milk has higher protein content, less sodium, more B vitamins, more potassium, and more magnesium. And that’s all super crucial for health and weight loss goals alike. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can make you hangry or hold onto weight, while sodium makes you retain more water. (That’s a big deterrent for your beloved author here. Especially since the nut milk’s stuffed with 76% more, and excess salt makes me look like someone with a shellfish allergy after a Red Lobster binge.) However, pound for pound, you might weigh fewer pounds if you’ve gotta swap to almond milk more regularly like I begrudgingly did today. Why? Well, first it’s also brimming with minerals necessary for healthy weight loss. The stuff’s higher in calcium – and also Vitamin E and D (of which soy’s got barely any, save for trace amounts). But, more than that, it’s not got any of the bad fat (saturated fat) while soy milk definitely does. (Granted soy milk’s got less fat overall; but what the label fails to say is that it’s got more of the bad kind of fat, compared to its competitor.) And finally, on a caloric level, almond levels the soy competish with a mere 90 calories per eight ounces, while soy milk’s pushing 150.

Now, does this suddenly make soy the bad boy of the green creamers? Nope. This news doesn’t negate the fact that it’s still got all that other good stuff. It just means that maybe we can all be putting our favorite caffeinated additives (or beverage’ve choice, if you simply dig sipping it solo) on rotation. Alternate your almond and soy, to get the full health effect. Then again, they’re all gonna have added sugars and synthetic ingredients so long as they’re store bought and we’re not making them at home. So, whether we look at each as being “just as good” or “just as bad” is up to us. (And whether we look at it as a glass half full of vitamins and minerals… or titanium dioxide, carageenan, and guar gum.)

(TMW you look at a list of shiz that looks like it’d blow up if mixed together, and still ask for extra of it in your latte.)

Either way, I suppose I can alter my salty outlook on salty almond milk from now on.

And (occasionally) let it supplant my plant based “creamer” of choice.