Almond milk: the new dairy in my life

You can’t miss the attention plant-based eating is getting. Even former President Clinton has gone on record advancing plant-based eating as the x-factor in reversing his own heart disease.

I can feel the ground shaking already. Dairy has been a bastion of the American lifestyle, much like red meat. However, there is solid evidence that consuming animal products increases the risks of various diseases (see The China Study). Milk, along with cereal products, is fortified with things like Vitamin B12 and D and has been touted as the catchall savior to mask the many nutrients and vitamins that are missing in the American diet.

Almond milk is one plant-based option to replace milk. I imagined myself drinking glorious glass after glorious glass of almond milk, but how would my family accept this change? My husband, Paul, who will enthusiastically eat any and every food item served to him, balked the most. My partner-in-healthy-eating abandoned me when I needed him most. He was surely resting on his traditional laurels.

I wasn’t quite sure how even I would perceive this unfamiliar milk alternative.  I have always loved milk. I’m not a freak about it, like people who have to drink milk with fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies; however, milk was like my favorite pair of winter p.j.’s: warm, comfortable, and we knew each other well. My favorite evening snack is a bowl of cereal with milk. I ended up trying several varieties of almond milk, unsweetened, original, and vanilla, until I found one I liked. I was disappointed that the consistency was so creamy, but I had been drinking skim milk my entire life; what did I expect? Apple juice is thicker than skim milk!

I spent many a morning and evening laying it on rather thickly, escalating “ooohs” and “mmmms” heard over my cereal bowl with almond milk.  I wasn’t untruthful. I really did like it, but I desperately wanted Lourdes and Nelia to notice what a great life I was living, high off the fat of the land of some almond farmer in California.

Such good sports they were. My ploy worked and they were willing to try it. Nobody hurled or gagged. Just acceptance.  I now had two cohorts on board, and Paul eventually got in the action as well.

Our daughters are now split down the middle on variety. There are hotly-contested debates on the qualities of Original vs. Vanilla. Which makes me happy. No, makes me giddy! Passionate discussion means love. They love almond milk.

If you want to get in on plant-based goodness and can imagine your face on a carton of “almond milk,” dive in, my friends. If the strange names of whole grains like quinoa and kamut freak you out, start with milk. You have to model what you teach to get your family on board. Wait for your kids to get curious. If you have to beg, do it. Let them try a small amount with some cereal, hot chocolate, or some other favorite. If they hate it, wait, and have them try it again. Don’t be ashamed if you have to resort to some of my tactics here. I share them freely with other parent-partners-in-healthy-eating.