Almond Milk
Better understanding the pros and cons of Almond Milk
Over the last few years the trend for Soya, Almond, Oat, Coconut etc milk has exploded. Much surely has to do with the different flavours they bring to coffees and smoothies but presumably some is also to do with nutrients and calories.
I’ve tried with Unsweeted Almond Milk in a few ways. I don’t like it with coffee or on its own but it goes fine with All-Bran which is a broadly-tasteless high-fibre breakfast cereal.
The ingredients
The first thing you see is that this is 95%+ water. In the UK (and maybe elsewhere) ingredients need to be listed by % amount so if Almonds are 2% and most of the other things after the almonds muct be tiny amounts this means it is pretty much all water.
It’s incredible frankly that such a small amount of almonds can give it the different flavour and texture to pure water.
The nutritional information
Unsurpirsingly give this is mainly water it doesn’t have many calories — just 13kcal per 100ml
I found the table below online — it suggests that *Unsweetened* Almond Milk is pretty much the lowest in terms of calories. This is great to know and makes me want to try harder at enjoying it with coffee. Certainly compared to the large Oatmilk lattes I enjoy which are several hundred calories each, this feels like a far better option
It seems pretty low on all the other things we’re supposed to look out for such as Saturated Fat, Sugar and Salt. So it’s feeling positive
The vitamins are added. I’m still understanding the challenges with getting enough Vitmain E, Vitamin B12 and Calcium so am not sure if have 15% of RDA in 100 ml is specifically helpful or not. I do wonder if these are added to push back on people who say it lacks some of the nutrients present in Cows’ Milk.
Impact
A final thought on a potential problem of Almond Milk. Apparently — and don’t quote me — but Almond trees require huge amounts of water so in California where a lot of Almonds come from this is a big challenge as there is a real water shortage. I guess this is a point we should be considering — both in terms of our sustainability footprint but also in terms of whether it will become increasingly expensive.
In summary
Learning that Unsweetened Almond Milk is so low in calories and other things I’m trying to avoid makes me want to trying using it more instead of Oat milk of Cow milk
NOTE: None of this is advice. This is just me working things out for myself and sharing. You should do what’s right for you in consultation with the relevant experts and professionals
NOTE: At some point there maybe affiliate links on these posts which mean I can receive a small fee if you buy products via those links.
