Wow, I'm surprised that many people chose soya. Surely it's the worst for you out of the whole lot?
I think if you make a comment like that you have to back it up. What's so bad about soya milk? If you want to argue about soya I'm sure there's a thread in the health section somewhere.
I like almond milk, specifically unsweetened Almond Breeze, if I drink it at all. Very occasionally I will drink rice milk or hemp milk, once in a great while Oat milk just to try something different. I have made my own almond milk and also my own coconut milk and both were wonderful. Almond milk works well for me in baking. I think soy milk works well for baking some things and for making a "buttermilk" because of it's higher protein content. Although I also like soy milk, I take medication for hypothyroidism and soy milk interferes with it. I was once drinking soy milk daily in an institutional setting (I was an omnivore at the time but lactose intolerant and this is what was offered to me) and I started feeling horribly tired and achy with sore breasts. I had my thyroid levels routinely checked and my TSH was over 14 (normal range .3-3). When I stopped drinking soy milk and had it retested 3 months later it was within normal range. I still enjoy soy yogurt a few times a month or a high quality organic tofu a few times a month and tempeh does not seem to bother me at all eating it once or twice a week but I stay away from using a lot of soy only because of my thyroid meds. Some people argue that soy is an intensive GMO crop that is heavily processed however not all soy is made this way and not all soy products are equal. The same could be said of many foods. Some also argue about the "estrogenic" effects of soy because it is a phytoestrogen but it seems there are an equal number of studies showing beneficial and harmful effects and no real conclusions from what I have seen. For those reasons I think soy has a worse reputation than it deserves.
I think if you make a comment like that you have to back it up. What's so bad about soya milk? If you want to argue about soya I'm sure there's a thread in the health section somewhere.
There's tons of information out there. Google it or something. I just haven't read or heard anything negative about any of the others and I've heard plenty of negative things about soya. Cancer, osteoporosis, increases nutrient deficiencies, Alzheimer's, problems conceiving...
I didn't want to argue about soya. =) You were the one who started arguing. =P
I gave up soya milk some time ago, purely because I found that I preferred the taste of rice and coconut milks. Now, for me at least, there is nothing that comes close to the new Alpro hazelnut milk, although I keep a couple of cartons of the new Alpro almond milk in reserve for any relatives, friends or visitors who want "milk" in their tea or coffee.
There is a chapter in the excellent, recently published "Vegan for Life", written by two vegan, registered dieticians, titled "Is It Safe To Eat Soy", and I thoroughly recommend this book as essential reading for all vegans, and for anybody who might be considering converting to veganism. From what I have read in this book, I have no reservations about eating soya products, but I am not a great lover of tofu anyway, although I find tempeh a bit more palatable, and I am still hoping that Quorn will eventually go "egg-free".
Lol..yeah Google,the source of infinitive wisdomsorry but if you walk through life like that you'll probably miss out on a lot of important information (as a direct comparison: if you Google "is milk healthy for you?" you will probably find a lot of sources that say yes) .. everything in moderation.all my Chinese friends eat good amounts of tofu and drink lots of soy milk and are perfectly healthy...and you will also find loads of info that contradict the sources that say that soy is the new asbestos...
There's tons of information out there. Google it or something. I just haven't read or heard anything negative about any of the others and I've heard plenty of negative things about soya. Cancer, osteoporosis, increases nutrient deficiencies, Alzheimer's, problems conceiving...
I didn't want to argue about soya. =) You were the one who started arguing. =P
Actually, I have heard bad things (although I am not sure about the validity of the concerns) about carrageenan, Xanthan Gum, and soy lecithin, ingredients that are often found in many plant based milks as well as other products. At one point I was making my own almond milk with just water and almonds thinking that was safer until I learned that most almonds in the United States (where I live) are processed using some pretty dangerous chemicals unless you spend a lot of money on organic ones and all almonds in the U.S. are required to be pasteurized (for those on a raw food diet this is of interest). I guess with any food you can find risks, especially in the world we live in today. I'm still going to enjoy my processed almond milk and leave it at that for now.
I think that there is a lot of information that both supports soya consumption and a lot that says its bad, but I have yet to see any actual proof that it can cause health issues. I continue to use soya milk/soya products although do rotate other products/milks as well for variation.
There is quite a lot of information on other threads about this issue: Is soya bad for our health - and do we actually need soya? Is soya bad for men? Is Soya poisoning us? soya, depression
I'd originally chosen the "I don't feel a need to replace..." option, but the new alpro almond and hazelnut milks are actually nice enough to drink on their own (which I never felt with cow's milk!). I also finally got to a Tesco selling their new free-from range this weekend and tried their chocolate coconut milk which is rather nice. Still have an unopened carton of their normal coconut milk to try too.
I'm so glad we're getting more and more options in the UK. I'm still going to stick to Sainsbury's value soya milk for most situations where I need to use something of this nature though.
<br><br>It's the easiest way for you to access information. I can't list all my sources because I don't know where I've heard it all. I was making the point that it's a recurring issue in various mediums... And if you Google it, you'll most likely find information instantly on the problems with soya I was talking about. <br><br>We all eat soya and are perfectly healthy. I eat soya. In my original post I asked if it was the most unhealthy milk out of all our vegan milk options, which I still think it is. I'm surprised people choose the most unhealthy option when there's barely a difference in taste/consistency. (It's cheap, though).<br>
I don't think in anyway it's the most unhealthy milk. For instance the hazelnut and almond alpro milks seem to be full of sugar. I perfectly happy to drink it, I can't afford to buy the others at the moment although if I could I'd probably buy rice milk as well. As far as I understood it most of the negative research regarding soya was done by the dairy industry. (I thought I read that on this forum). Soya milk sales have really grown in the last few years. I'm sure if everyone went over to drinking some other type of milk we would soon see negative reports about that too.
As far as I understood it most of the negative research regarding soya was done by the dairy industry. (I thought I read that on this forum).
While it's true most of the negative stuff on soya was funded by the dairy industry, that just means they only looked in to the negative aspects of it instead of the beneficial ones, it doesn't actually make it wrong like a few people on this forum seem to like to think.
It's the same as if we did any research on drinking cows milk, we'd look at the negative health aspects and largely ignore the positive ones, which do still exist however we'd like things to be. Everyone sees what they want to. Just saying, do take it with a pinch of salt, yeah, but don't entirely disregard it, there's still a factual basis in there somewhere, even if it is stretched.
Last edited by AaronM; Mar 19th, 2012 at 08:09 PM.
For taste, I definitely think that almond milk is the nicest, but I tend to stick with oat milk as my regular milk replacer of choice. Its healthy, its not as overpriced as some of the other alternatives, and it has a light, grainy flavour that goes nice with my breakfast muesli! Yummy.
I’ve got nothing against soya, but I already eat so much tofu that I’m scared that I might have some sort of soya overdose if I start relying on it for my milk as well, lol.
I use coconut milk in cooking but don't really use any other milks in the same way that people would use cow's milk. I'm curious, do you drink the milk as a drink itself or mostly add it to cereals and tea/coffee etc?
I rarely add milk alternatives to tea or coffee but I do make lattes/use them with cereal or porridge and drink them on their own. I don't think its necessary to have a milk alternative, I just like the taste and its an easy way to get some vitamins
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Kara coconut milk: great on cereal and for baking tend not to drink it straight. Would put it in tea/coffee if I'd no soya milk
Alpro almond milk: great all-rounder, cereal, baking, coffee, drinking straight. Haven't put it in tea, I think it would overpower it
Alpro hazelnut milk: like it in coffee & baking but prefer other milks for cereal/tea
Oatly/Oat Dream: both taste the same, use them for baking, porridge and sometimes cereal. Too thin for coffee/tea
Provamel rice milk: love it in porridge, but not really much else, maybe baking or cereal if I'd nothing else. It was the first milk I used to buy regularly after going vegan (when I tried soya milk first I thought it was too bitter and wouldn't buy it for months- I later realised that I had tried unsweetened!)
I like to make myself a macchiato in the morning I always use soya milk, I froth it with a hand blender. Do other milks froth so you can make cappuccino's and macchiato's? I really like the way it acts like cow's milk. You can make custard, white sauces etc. what are the other milks like for this?
I think hemp milk might, but the downside would be that it tastes like hemp milk.
I find Alpro almond milk to be a similar consistency to soya milk (I made custard with it last week) but other types of milk IMO are too thin (rice/oat/Kara coconut).
Ah yes, hemp milk, I went for coffee with a friend a couple of weeks ago. The coffee shop didn't have soya milk but they did have hemp milk. Neither of us could finish our coffees they tasted vile. Wasn't sure if I could get away with complaining that they'd made our coffee undrinkable, so we ended up just leaving. I'll give the almond milk a try is that the fresh stuff?
Hi, I'm new on here. Been vegan for two weeks but feeling so much better already. Much more energy and I seem to be sleeping better.
i love Alpro Light. Tried unsweetened almond milk this week which I enjoyed as well. Fancy trying rice milk but Alpro definitely my favourite.
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This article tells Jane's story if you're unfamiliar with her... http://www.rense.com/general35/av.htm
Almond milk is the alternative of choice in our house. Though on occasion I use soy and coconut milk. I have a flax seed and a hemp that I want to try just to see what those are like.
I seem to be the oddball that REALLY LOVES rice milk... Rice Dream (unsweetened and fortified) is my fave, and it just has a nice sort of semolina kind of taste. I can't stand soy milk at all! :P
Forgot to add, although I eat Tofu and some soy containing products, one of my reasons for not wanting to have soy milk was also that I'm quite an allergic type of person, and I can usually avoid any allergy if I have something in moderation, plus I find rice milk very easy to digest (being a bit of a IBS type person too)...
"For in this life not one is pure, but to learn and grow is my destiny, I'm sure."
@Peabrain That's really cool though, it's fun to like weird stuff.
I drink soy milk, sweetened usually because it comes with added nutrients. I'd prefer it not sweetened though, and I get that sometimes. (I don't get vanilla anymore.) I noticed almond milk is getting pretty popular. I tried it, but it's not for me. It has a nutty taste that I just don't like, never been a fan of eating nuts. Rice milk is too think for me, and not really my flavor either. So for now I still drink soy milk, but I'm open minded.
I don't need a replacement for animal milk, I'm just used to the culture of having something like it around.
"There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle." -Robert Alden
I like rice milk too ! Usually i drink sweetened soy milk (for the added calcium, which i really need), and i use my mother's lactose free milk to cook. The main issue i have with milks in general is the amount of sugar inside. Even in soy milk i find great differences in terms of quantities, and in others like oat milk, it's even higher. I'm trying to loose weight so i really want to control the amount of sugar i get in my daily meals.
Oh yeah, I also want to say that strawberry flavored non-animal milk is something I've been waiting for. Still none on the shelfs here, though we have some chocolates.
"There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle." -Robert Alden
Re: Favorite vegan milk alternatives
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sorry but if you walk through life like that you'll probably miss out on a lot of important information (as a direct comparison: if you Google "is milk healthy for you?" you will probably find a lot of sources that say yes) .. everything in moderation.all my Chinese friends eat good amounts of tofu and drink lots of soy milk and are perfectly healthy...and you will also find loads of info that contradict the sources that say that soy is the new asbestos...
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