Can you lose weight drinking soy milk instead of 2% dairy milk?

Yes, if you get the unsweetened kind.

Men should not drink soy milk, and women should be aware it is estrogenic, so not the best thing if you have a breast cancer risk in your family.

Almond Milk is better, especially unsweetened. There is unsweetened vanilla almond milk on the market.

Or if you prefer cow’s milk, buy organic, or at least rBGH free.

I thought almond milk was fattening. Nuts are fattening, right?

Read this.

Thank you very much for that article!!! I do hate skim milk. This soy milk is just the right sweetness. I’ll see how it goes. Hugs!

Nuts in and of themselves are not fattening, and almond oil is a healthy way to get fat that actually helps in the burning of glycogen from stored fat in your body. You don’t want to eat two pounds of nuts, but a dozen or so nuts are good for you.

Soy milk supposedly has hormones also. Soy and estrogen are related somehow. There are theories about treating hot flashes with soy.

I would say look at the calorie content of both.

I am always shocked when adults drink that much milk daily. But, I almost never drink milk at all, I put it in my cereal about twice a week.

By the way, organic ultra pasteurized milk tastes much creamier than regular skim milk, you might want to consider that as an option.

In general I do think the less dairy in your diet the better, but I also am not keen on the idea of lots of soy.

Can’t win.

@zenvelo Nuts are not fattening? They have a ton of fat. I think nuts are a healthy way to get some fat, but a lot is bad.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the milk unless you want to worry about all the other food.

@JLeslie According to the study I quoted below @zenvelo is right. I also just read the same information in my vegan magazine and there aren’t many overweight vegans unless they start out that way, being vegan is also a great weight loss and health program, just saying. We don’t need to mass produce animal’s for food they just kill the environment and take the food we could be eating.

Anyway,
This study says go for quality not quantity.

You can lose weight by eating anything if you eat the right amount.

@Aster Almond milk is really good also. There is also rice milk. These are the pros and cons of rice milk. :)

[Removed by Fluther: Off-topic]

You may want to vary the types of milk you are drinking – to continually drink soy milk may be too estrogenic, so long term that might not be ideal to have every day. I have found that flax milk (or flax seed milk?) is quite good, same with hazelnut milk. I did not care for hemp milk – but you will probably find more than one alternative milk that you will like – so that you can switch things up every so often.

[mod says] Please remember: This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.

@citygrlincountry I have never heard of flax milk. Do you know the nutritional value of it compared to other milks?

Btw welcome to fluther. :)

The best way to judge may be just looking at the labels.

Silk brand Vanilla Soy milk has 100 calories, 4 grams fat, 8 grams of sugar.

2% milk has 122 calories, 5 grams fat, 12 grams sugar

Almond Milk, sweetened, has 60 calories, 3 grams fat, 7 grams sugar.

Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk has 30 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 0 sugar.

Comparing these, I encourage you to choose an unsweetened soy or almond milk, far better for you if you are trying to drop some weight. Especially avoiding the sugars. Lactose is a sneaky sugar.

President Clinton now drinks only unsweetened almond milk, part of his conversion to a vegan diet after his second heart issue. He’s in better shape now than when he was in his 20s, and he ascribes it to both low fat and low sugar.

@zenvelo that is very true. I’m very label conscious. I look at labels all the time. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of flax milk. I’m willing to try them all, so next time I will look. I also like them all. I’m lactose intolerant so I choose not to have any dairy. So far I’ve had no weight gain on any of the non dairy milks.

I wonder if unsweetened vanilla almond milk is any good @zenvelo ? Not sure if they carry it here.

@Aster It’s delicious! One brand you can try is Engine 2, available at Whole Foods. Engine 2 is a diet structure, thay also distribute and sell healthy foods.

I love dairy and I drink a lot of skim milk, It’s never made me fat. I gained weight when I became inactive and started dipping cookies into my milk. There are studies that show milk and other dairy products may help you lose weight. Here is one source

I found the flax milk! It is only at one store in my town! lol. I am trying it in the morning. The one I bought is original and only has 50cal and 2.5 grams of fat per 1 cup but there is no protein, so it would depend if you want protein or not.

[EDIT] I just had to run upstairs and crack the the thing open.. ummm ya, yummy! I’ll be buying it more often. I’m going to try that with my smoothie in the morning, the best part is that it is not even vanilla flavored, almond milk tastes much better in vanilla flavor rather than the original although I am not sure what the unsweetened version of flax milk will taste like so, I will try it next time.

Look at both labels, count the calories and compare them. Losing weight is about caloric intake.