I Heart Almond Milk

I like to keep my Tennis Fixation fans in tip-top shape so here's a quick tip on how to reduce calories while still enjoying your morning cup of joe.

It's no secret that I'm a huge coffee fan. I think this is evidenced by the many times I've posted about it on this supposedly tennis blog. And I take my coffee with milk which means that I probably drink 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk each day just based on my coffee consumption.

Well, somehow I got it in my head that I needed to cut back on dairy. I'm sure you've all heard the same “rumors” I've heard – reducing dairy will help you cut calories, give you luminous skin and make you feel much less phlegm-y (assuming that is a word or a condition). Thinking I needed to try some alternatives to my morning skim milk, I first gave soy milk a whirl. But the taste was too strong and definitely not a good substitute for skim milk. I went back to dairy for a while. After a few months, I decided to put almond milk to the test. And now it has become my go-to coffee additive. Here's why I like almond milk:

1. It does not have the strong flavor that soy milk seems to have. That is assuming you get an unflavored and unsweetened variety as almond milk, like soy milk, comes in plain, vanilla and chocolate and can be sweetened or unsweetened. And that is also assuming you get the “Almond Breeze” brand, pictured in the photo above. I have tried other brands and have found that some have a stronger taste than others. I've settled on “Almond Breeze” as the least detectable flavor.

2. It has a lot less calories than milk – even less than skim milk! While a cup of skim milk has 90 calories, which seems pretty low, a cup of unsweetened almond milk has only 40 calories. So follow me here as I prove that almond milk is the miracle diet I've been looking for:

• If I am drinking 1/2 cup of milk in my coffee each day, that's 3 1/2 cups per week.
• If I use skim milk in my coffee, at 90 calories per cup, that adds up to 315 calories per week.
• If I switch to almond milk, at 40 calories per cup, it's only 140 calories per week.
• That's a savings of 175 calories each week.
• And that adds up to a savings of 9,100 calories each year!
• You have to burn 3,500 calories to burn a pound of fat.
• So, theoretically, I can lose 2.6 pounds in a year simply by switching to almond milk.
• Theoretically.

There's probably more to it than that but is sounds good, doesn't it? If you're switching to almond milk to reduce your calories, just make sure you get the unsweetened, unflavored variety. You can see in the photo above that the “Almond Breeze” carton has “unsweetened” and “40 calories” printed on it – be sure and check the calorie count on your almond milk.

3. Almond milk lasts a long time. This is a pretty big  deal in my house as I'm the primary user of milk. I used to find that my skim milk often went bad before I used it up. I switched to organic skim milk because, besides being better for me, it has a longer refrigerator life than non-organic skim milk, maybe 4 to 5 weeks. But I find that almond milk has an ever longer refrigerator life – something like 7 to 8 weeks, meaning I never throw it out and can actually stock up.

I should probably warn those of you who take your coffee with regular milk or even cream – if you hate skim milk in your coffee, almond milk is probably not going to make you happy. It really does not have the richness you're looking for. But as someone who switched to skim milk long, long ago, I am very happy with my new friend – almond milk. And when the pounds start melting away, I'll be ecstatic!

© Kim Selzman 2012 All Rights Reserved