 Today I am going to review all the milk alternatives and give you my professional opinion on which to use and which ones to avoid as a diabetic. Stay tuned to the end because I am going to tell you which milk I think the diabetic should use more of. Hi everyone, welcome to SugarMD channel. I am Dr. Ahmet Ergin. I'm an anachronologist and a certified diabetes educator and a milk lover. In my coffee only. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so so that you never miss any of our wonderful videos ever again. Let's get started. I am going to start with a review of the real milk first before I get into the alternatives. The whole milk is about 3.2% fat which is the natural amount of fat that milk has straight from the cow. Whole milk has about 8 grams of protein per cup plus you will get 25% of your daily vitamin D and 30% of your daily calcium. Now let's talk about the carbs. One cup of whole milk contains about 12 grams of carbohydrates with 11 grams of being pure sugar. If you think this amount of carb is just good and it won't spike your blood sugar because you like to not really have any other carb with it, go for it. But remember it is liquid. Anything liquid will get absorbed faster and will potentially spike your blood sugar faster as well. If you are making a smoothie you can add some avocado to slow down the absorption of the carbohydrates in the milk because of the fat content in the milk. Whether you're just drinking a glass of milk or using as a food addition make sure you're not consuming with a high carbohydrate food like cereal which is my least favorite food as you most know for a diabetic. I am starting with oat milk as the first alternative. Now lately oat milk has been such a craze. It made it all the way to the Starbucks menu. Everywhere I've been lately oat milk has been a future choice. So what is a nutritional deal? Original oat milk contains about 1.5 grams of fat none of which is saturated by the way which is good that's per cup and 2 grams of protein which is not that much and 20% of your vitamin D and 25% of your daily calcium. But a big but since oat milk is made from well the oats it is much higher in carbohydrates. One cup contains about a whopping 19 grams of carbs with 2 grams of fiber with a total net carb of 17 carbs. Even the plain oat milk has about four grams of added sugar. Yes it is creamy and it tastes amazing but overall oat milk is not the best choice for diabetics or people watching their carbohydrates. If added to a smoothie you can easily be over 30 grams of carbohydrates with only a few additions. Here are my top picks for anyone watching carbohydrates just like my keto friends or my diabetic or non diabetic friends trying to lose weight. Number one almond milk. Almond milk is one of the top-selling plant-based milks because of its rich texture and flavor. However since it's processed beverage you may wonder whether it is nutritious but also a safe option. Most milk substitutes whether it be almonds or any other nuts or oats are blended with water and then strained to remove the pulp to get the milk. Of course there may be some preservatives in the store-bought ones but making these milks at home isn't really that hard at all if you're concerned about those preservatives. So great thing about almond milk though it is creamy, it is sweet, calcium rich with 450 milligrams of calcium and it's lactose-free. One cup has only 40 calories and 0 grams of saturated fat and it's just 2 grams of carbs. It has a natural nutty flavor and it's great in smoothies or steamed with your morning latte. Just make sure you stick with the unsweetened one. Number two unsweetened soy milk. Soy milk is rich in calcium high in vitamin B12 and of course it's dairy-free. Soy milk has 4 grams of total fat and you know 0.5 grams being saturated, 7 grams of protein and only 4 grams of carbohydrates. Since the soy milk is smooth and has a natural taste this is also a go-to choice for many smoothies. Number three low-fat goat milk. You heard me right. If you're not familiar with the goat milk you may be thinking that that sounds gross but if you want an option a little closer to cow's milk each of the digest that's a good choice. It has 8 grams of protein and 11 grams of carbs per cup. It is rich in calcium and tastes great in milkshakes and smoothies. Just make sure to use a healthy sugar substitute like the stevia or monk fruit. If you haven't watched it already please check out my newest video or recent video on sugar substitutes. Number four unsweetened flex milk. This is not a very popular choice because it can be a little bit harder to find but you can find this in most health food stores. Flex milk only has 1 gram of carbs and 25 calories per cup. What makes this option amazing for anyone is that it contains around 1200 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids plus it is free of most allergens. Number five how about the coconut milk. One cup of coconut milk is about 7 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of carbs and 0.5 grams of protein which is great a lot of fat little protein but not much carbs. Now you need to like the coconut because it is a flavored milk. It will still be great for those doing the keto or if you are using it in smoothies as the taste will blend in a smoothie. You can add a full-fat coconut milk also to soups, to stews, to casseroles, to curries for that rich creamy texture. Unless you have a cholesterol issue oops. Nothing is perfect right? What else? Although regular full-fat canned coconut milk is great for a keto diet the other types may not be as good. For example the sweetened versions may contain way too many carbs to push over your daily carb allowance. So check the nutrition label to make sure you do not buy that sweetened coconut milk because sometimes they do not advertise that it's actually sweetened. So what is the verdict? My personal recommendation for diabetics or the carb conscious audience is almond milk. Like I said one cup has just two grams of carbs and only 40 calories. It is lactose-free, it is cholesterol-free, it is gluten-free and it's vegan and most importantly it is smooth and delicious. It also works well in most recipes as well as my morning latte. Not to mention it has 50% more calcium than the regular cow milk. Well that ends the video guys and hey if you enjoyed this video please remember to like, subscribe and share and stay tuned for the new videos to be released twice a week to three times a week. See you soon. Hey guys I hope you're enjoying this channel so far and I hope you subscribed already. If you didn't do it and if you did watch this video right there I think that will help you too.