A Fantastic Alternative to Milk

I grew up believing I needed to drink a pint of milk every day to get enough protein and calcium. For the first few years at school, we were given a small bottle of milk every day and when we were older our lessons about diet were based on materials provided by the Milk Marketing Board.

My mom dutifully made me drink my daily pint and she did the same. Now she has osteoporosis and has had her hips replaced. She’s not the only one. It’s common for people in countries that consume the most dairy products to have rotte n teeth and weak bones, while people in African and Asian countries that don’t consume much milk often have strong teeth and bones.

I’ve read contradictory theories for and against milk, but the fact is that although there is plenty of calcium in milk, it didn’t help my mom. Perhaps there is something else in milk that stopped her absorbing it.

Milk is also mucus forming, so I’d prefer to get some of my calcium from vegetables and nuts.

I’ve just started making my own fresh almond milk. Almonds are particularly high in calcium and the recipe from Not Milk, Nut Milk, by Candia Lea Cole combines them with flaxseeds (also called linseed), which the author says can help to overcome hypoglycaemia, diabetes and heart disease. Flaxseeds are high in Omega 3 fatty acids and that’s a good reason to include them in my diet.

The recipe also uses lecithin - from soya beans - to make a creamier drink and aid digestion. My version of the recipe has less honey than the one in the book.

Ingredients
⅓ of a cup of organic almonds
1 tablespoon of organic flaxseeds
1 teaspoon lecithin granules (available from health food stores as a food supplement)
2 teaspoons of honey (or more if you like it sweeter)
3½ cups of warm water

Method
Grind the almonds and flaxseeds. (I use a Magimix).
Transfer the powdered nuts and seeds to a blender.
Add warm water and lecithin.
Liquidize until creamy then strain through a piece of muslin or cheesecloth.
Stir the honey into the liquid and pour into bottles. It should keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I use the leftover bits of nuts and seeds as ingredients for nut burgers.

I prefer this to cow’s milk, but so far I haven’t found a more delicious alternative for butter or cream so I haven’t given up on dairy products altogether.

Catherine