Almond Milk instead of Dairy Milk

Food Swap: Which Milk Does a Body Good?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Think any kind of milk is healthy? Think again. Sure, milk is a good source of calcium and has important vitamins, but it has a hidden, diet-busting ingredient: sugar. Just one cup of 1% fat milk has 13 grams of sugar! I recommend you eat no more than 15 grams of sugar in an entire day, which means that 13 grams in one cup is an excessive amount! Especially when there are great low-sugar options out there. Almond milk is my favorite - I drink it every day and use it in my cereal. You can find unsweetened almond milk in both vanilla and plain, and both of these flavors have ZERO grams of sugar. If you crave dairy and it's your preferred source of calcium, then eat cheese and yogurt instead. They have less lactose, which is the type of sugar found in milk (it's also called milk sugar). Try a plain yogurt (fruit yogurts have too much sugar!) and cheeses like Romano, ricotta, and Swiss, which are high in calcium. Also, look to vegetable sources such as arugula, watercress, broccoli, and spinach.