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Comment by mft_ | Hacker News Reader

Any recommendations for a different good-tasting, ‘healthy’ milk alternative, then? Porridge or cereal with water is inedible...

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I've tried pretty much all variants of milk substitutes and found that they all disappoint me. The best way to enjoy porridge without milk is adding other flavors: mashed banana, raisins, cinnamon, grated apple, prunes, blueberries, cranberries, dried apricots... This goes for overnight oats as well.

Agreed. My general health tip is to stop contorting ingredients to reproduce other foods -- cookies made out of cheese, milk made out of nuts, cake without gluten, etc. Most healthy ingredients are tasty on their own terms, so lean into that.

Also, read up on other traditions for breakfast foods and drinks. Many are not nearly as high in carbs and dairy as the traditional American breakfast options.

Try applesauce for cereals, works for me. But all these foods are used in sweet meals that I feel I'd rather stay away from. Bacon & eggs is a better breakfast, salty nuts a better snack etc. ...

Quite the opposite. One just has to cook it over fire and add a banana, a bit of honey, agave or maple syrup. An cinamon, of course.

You probably haven't eaten buckwheat porridge. It's served in Russian jails. An acquaintance of mine who's been in such a jail claims it was quite good.

Same with hot chocolate drink made with water instead of milk. I had that served once and couldn't believe my eyes.

Coconut milk is the ONLY valid "alternative". It doesn't have quite the same nutritional profile (lower protein and sugar), but it's actually more favorable.

The best are without additive binders but some like gellan gum are safe in relevant quantities.

Almond Breeze almond milk, original flavor (don't get the unsweetened version).

That's way too sweet for my liking; for me, nothing comes close to Califia brand unsweetened original flavor.

I like soy milk, but I don't use it for porridge, I use it in my coffee.

I have to say though, if you can't compromise on the taste being different, then you'll have a very hard time switching.

Why doesn't soy milk work? There's soy milk and there's soy milk; the various brands taste quite different.

Thanks - I’ll give it a go.

The brand of soy milk popular for coffee etc. in Australia is Bonsoy (japanese brand), and it's worth giving a try. They did poison people a few years back, but that's a price worth paying for good tasting soy, right? In my travels I've found that most soy milk consumed around the world is pretty awful. I don't know why. There's a lot more variance in its taste than with most other cow's milk substitutes.

Milk is healthy, there is a reason they used to give it to school age children on a government subsidized program. The new wave of alternative milk is an ethical one even if it poses as a health one. You don't get skinny by having a soy latte instead of a regular one, you get skinny by reducing your meal size and or frequency and eating whole foods.

You might want to have a look at this:

Health Concerns About Dairy - by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

https://www.pcrm.org/good-nutrition/nutrition-information/he...

Saturated fat doesn't increase all cause mortality and yes if you are lactose intolerant it's bad for you, maybe even carcinogenic.

Also this article is an advertisement for a book "The cheese trap" another pop science, pop nutrition sensation I'm sure. Nutrition was better before everyone and their dog was trying to sell a book, diet plan or health product.

It's not an advertisement, it's listed in the further reading section.

And have you read the book?

But hey, I guess you know better than 12,000 physicians.

Physicians don't have time to keep up with the latest science:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4532752/

It's the only book in the further reading section, this is an advertising piece. Why would I read another pop science nutrition book by a physician? I trust a physician to sew my leg back on or treat my obscure rash but nutrition books are a racket, read the source material instead.

Not sure you can generalize physicians and claim they all have no time to keep up with the latest science.

Did you actually look at the fact sheet on that page? It's not just something some physicians pulled out of thin air.

And PCRM's team does include experts in nutrition.

And your meta study link wasn't really conclusive; yes the association is low but suggesting that more high quality studies are needed.

Fact is in modern western societies you don't need dairy products and plant-based milks are less resource intensive compared to diary milk, see:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46654042

i.e. health isn't the only factor why someone might want to reduce or give up dairy products.

Make your own oat milk. There are many recipes available online and the process is simple.

Personally I use nothing™

Califia unsweetened almond milk is a game-changer.

Coconut yogurt is pretty good and can work well.

what about just drinking water and eating berries? I kid you not, you will feel so much better.

Maybe I should try a serious comparison with berries specifically, but my personal experience is that I don’t get the same sustained slow energy release from fruit that I’d get from porridge or low GI cereal - I get hungry faster.

That's carbs for ya

Why berries? Any coffee-like effects that they have? Or just because they're unprocessed fruit?

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