Shopping the Soy Milk Aisle: What to Look for When Buying Vegan Milk
I was flipping through old issues of Natural Health magazine recently and have decided that it is an extremely vegan-friendly publication. One issue in particular had a long article all about cow milk alternatives. It analyzed and explained nut milks such as soy and almond, and grain milks such as rice.
I already knew plenty about a vegan’s milk options, but I did learn the importance of being picky when selecting your soy milk.
1. You should always buy organic soy milk. Regular, non-organic soy bean plants are very heavily sprayed with pesticides. Also, 85 percent of soy beans manufactured in the U.S. come from genetically modified plants. (source for these stats: Quamut)
2. You should buy soy milk without added sugar for most of your milky needs. The occasional flavored soy milk is fine, just consider it dessert because a large portion of the calories in soy milk with sugar added come from sugar. It’s not just the chocolate that’s a culprit here though, plain soy milk often has just as much sugar in it.
3. If you are drinking or using a lot, switch it up with other milk options once in awhile. There is still plenty of controversy and debate over whether or not we can take in too much soy, since it contains phytoestrogens which can cause a hormonal imbalance. I decided to pick up something other than soy this week and, as luck would have it, Acme has both rice and almond milks on sale!
4. Buy fortified soy milk. Although it naturally has lots of low-fat protein, all nine essential amino acids, and plenty of other healthy stuff, it is not a natural source of calcium or B vitamins. You should look for milks that have both of these added in.
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