Soy/rice/almond Milks

[burdee]

I just tried soy milk (Silk unsweetened soy milk variety) for the first time this morning. YUK!!!!! Perhaps I should have used a variety with more sweetening (rice syrup?), but I wanted to start with the original, unflavored and go from there. It's okay in coffee with sweeteners, since it has a creamy 'aftertaste', but just straight it tastes like really watered down skim milk. I've been using 2% lactaid milk on cereal, so I'd like a creamier kind of milk substitute. I've seen rice milks, almond milks and many varieties and brands of soy milks. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MILK SUBSTITUTES? I only plan to use those on cereal (cooked and/or cold) or in decaf coffee, so I can sweeten it for either of those uses. I really didn't want to use a soy 'creamer', because even the unsweetened variety seems creamy (and I did shake the carton before pouring). BUT ARE THERE ANY MILK SUBSTITUTES THAT DON'T TASTE WATERED DOWN?

ALSO, I'm still having reactions, even after 24+ hours dairy free. I started reacting (cramping, gas and urgency) AFTER drinking soy milk in coffee and having a couple of spoons of Silk Soy Yogurt (which I really liked--very close to real milk yogurt). COULD I BE REACTING TO THE SOY? I used isoflavone soy protein before, but that was back when I was using gluten cereal and lactaid milk. Would my reactions to soy be similar to my reactions to gluten and dairy? Maybe this is the peak day of my reactions ... I always have the worst symptoms 48 hours after I ingest gluten. I know I haven't ingested gluten, just 1/4 c. of lactaid milk yesterday morning. 36 hours later, I'm still having symptoms. I'm ready to give up any cereal and drink black decaf. This is frustrating!!

BURDEE

[tarnalberry]

lol! I would have said unsweetened Silk. :-) That's my favorite. You may find the regular Silk more to your liking. (I never thought of the unsweetened Silk as tasting watered down (I presume you shook it, of course), but I otherwise drink skim all the time, and think 2% milk is FAR to thick/rich for my tastes. ;-) The almond milks that I've tried (Almond Breeze and Trader Joe's) have both tasted even thinner to me than Silk, so I don't know if that'll do any good. But I do recall the regular Silk being creamier than the unsweetened variety.

[gf4life]

Rice milk tastes too bland for my liking and the vanilla Almond Breeze was nasty, but I drink the regular Almond Breeze (Blue Diamond) and use it in my cereal. The chocolate flavored Almond Breeze tastes very close to regular chocolate milk, my kids love it and so do I. But then I haven't had regular milk in so long I can't really remember what it tastes like.

They are a bit thinner than regular milk, but if the alternative is feeling sick or having nothing, then you learn to like it. My reaction to milk is similar to what you described, only very bad. More painful for me than a gluten reaction, but it ends within 48 hours, whereas a gluten reaction for me can last up to a week or two.

You could also try Mocha Mix. It is gluten and dairy free. I use the regular Mocha Mix and water it down to the consistancy of about 2% milk and use this for either cereal or for baking. It would work fine for coffee as well and it is cheaper compared to the other alternatives and can usually be found in any grocery store. 1 part Mocha Mix to 3 parts water is my usual mixture. It has a bit of a different taste. A bit chemical tasting at first, but I have gotten used to it. The taste does not come out in the baked goods like the soy and almond milks do, and it works better than rice milk for baking. The Mocha Mix ice cream is good, too. Once you get used to the taste it really is nice to be able to have a bit of "ice cream" every once in a while without the pain!!

God bless,

Mariann

[Wish]

Hi!

There are definitely some great non-dairy beverages on the market. My favorite ones are made by Pacific Foods and are actually marked gluten free on the front of the box. I have tried the Original almond, vanilla almond, hazelnut, and vanilla rice milks. The hazelnut milk is my absolute favorite. It's flavorful and sweet, but not sickeningly sweet. The vanilla almond milk is also very good...just not quite as good as the hazelnut (in my opinion). The vanilla rice milk is a bit too sweet, in my opinion, and the original almond milk is not sweet enough (although it tastes fine if you add it to a sweetened cereal or mix it with fruit to make a smoothie). I know that Pacific foods also makes soy milks, but I have never tried them because soy tends to cause problems for me. I have found Pacific foods beverages at WholeFoods and Giant Eagle (I don't know if you have stores from these chains near you) and also at health food stores. Oh...and the Pacific products are all fortified w/vitamins A and D and calcium, so nutritionally they are fairly similar to cow's milk. I hope this helps!

~Wish

[gf4life]

I forgot to mention that YES you could be having a problem with Soy. I avoid soy because I am allergic to it, it makes me very itchy all over my body, but it is possible to be intolerant of any food. Soy is a common one to cause problems.

[Guest Libbyk]

i LOVE the Almond Breeze Plain almond milk for smost things, but it did taste terrible in a latte I made the other day. Just no substitute I have found for 1/2 and 1/2....

SO, cereal, smoothies, drinking staight, almond breeze yes

Coffee, sadly no

Lib