Tuesday, February 24, 2009

What do you need to know about milk and yogurt?

I had never thought of this before. Milk contains varying amounts of carbohydrate depending on its fat content. Skim milk has the highest number of carb grams. Followed by 1 per cent milk and next by 2 per cent milk. Lowest amount of carbs is in whole milk. In other words, the higher the fat content, the lower the number of carb grams. Next time you are in a grocery store, just check the labels.

I personally don't drink cow's milk or goat's milk. Milk by definition is lactose. Which sounds too darned close to glucose. So I stay away from it. Type 2 folks like us, who are trying to minimize the number of carbohydrates we consume need to be aware of many of these little nuances so that we can be as miserly as possible with the intake of carb grams.

For a while I was drinking soy milk more frequently than i do now. Here too, one has to be very careful. There are many different kinds and brands available in the stores. However, a quick glance at their labels will tell you that they all contain carbs and in many instances, sugar.

The only one on the market that I know of that will not affect blood sugar readings is the Westsoy Unsweetened Soy Milk. It comes in 3 flavors if I remember correctly - Plain, Almond and Vanilla. This is the only milk I will drink. With tons of flavored sugar-free DaVinci Gourmet syrup stirred into this milk. Pineapple or Chocolate or Strawberry flavored DaVinci syrup have turned a cold glass of soy milk into a dessert for me on many a nights after dinner.

The Westsoy Unsweetened soy milk is not cheap. Neither is the sugar free DaVinci Gourmet syrup. But hey....think of all the money you are saving not eating donuts, cakes, sweet rolls, candy,etc..

Let's talk about yogurt. Try a simple experiment. Next time you are in the milk and dairy aisle in your favorite grocery store, take a look at the carb content of Plain Dannon yogurt, Lowfat Dannon yogurt and Fat Free Dannon yogurt. You will see the Whole milk yogurt has the least amount of carbs, 12 grams to be exact in the larger tub. That is the one you want. Remember every little bit counts.

Going back to the question of what to add to tea or coffee, i.e. milk or half-and-half or what have you, the same logic applies. There are fewer carbs in half-and-half than there are in whole milk and there are fewer carbs in Cream....yes, Table Cream or Whipping Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream than in half-and-half. The choice is obvious.

One teaspoon or at most one tablespoon of cream will whiten the blackest tea in my experience. So that is what I use. Heavy Whipping Cream with Equal tablets in a freshly steeped cup of tea. And I continue to have 4 such cups of sweet-tasting, almond-colored tea every day with no effect on my blood sugar.

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