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Any suggestions on alternative drinks please?

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onefooteight

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I drink between 4 and 6 lattes each day. I make them at home and use quarter of a pint of milk in each one. I'm guessing the sugar in the milk causes my blood sugars to spike, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Part of the reason I like latte is that I find it quite filling (probably the milk) so I think about food less in between meals. I've tried making it with almond milk which I didn't like. Right now I've got a cup made with soya milk and don't like that much either.

Think I'll have to give up on latte altogether. I do drink a lot of water, but is there anything else I could try which is hot and filling?
 
Sorry, I really don't have any suggestions as I'm chiefly a tea drinker - I'm sure some of our more inventive members can recommend something! 🙂
 
Sorry I can't help either, other than suggesting gradually cutting down on the milk. I don't like soya milk either.
 
Drinking lots of water/tea is said to fill your stomach and thus reduce snacking (not found that myself). So perhaps try find some other drink instead - or switch to americano which has much less milk.

If you have strips to burn, you could also try proving cause and effect by having two identical days in terms of exercise and food and having latte's on one day and none on the next. It's not impossible that it's not the milk that makes you spike.

You are drinking either semi- or full fat aren't you? Skimmed is best avoided as it doesn't have any fat to slow the carbs.

My consultant said to me to avoid Soya milk as he considered that worse then normal milk (not sure on what basis, I didn't press him).
 
I'm a really coffee lover and find cappachino has less milk and more froth. Not sure if you can make it at home. Otherwise a coffee with small amount of double cream is quite filling.
 
onefooteight said:
I drink between 4 and 6 lattes each day. I make them at home and use quarter of a pint of milk in each one. I'm guessing the sugar in the milk causes my blood sugars to spike, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Part of the reason I like latte is that I find it quite filling (probably the milk) so I think about food less in between meals. I've tried making it with almond milk which I didn't like. Right now I've got a cup made with soya milk and don't like that much either.

Think I'll have to give up on latte altogether. I do drink a lot of water, but is there anything else I could try which is hot and filling?
Click to expand...
Have you tried coconut milk? Not the stuff in the cartons but in the tins?
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've tried it today made with half soya milk and half normal milk and this was fine. Going to buy a stronger strength coffee as well to see if I can then up the soya milk a bit more. I believe there can be problems with soya milk when giving it to babies and children so I wonder if this is what the doctor above was referring to.

I have been using skimmed milk as it froths better. Had to have it today with semi-skimmed (this was mixed with the soya milk) and my sugar levels hardly moved. So might be the way forward. Don't want to give up my lattes if I don't have to 🙂

I've got some coconut milk in the cupboard. Will give that a go too, but might be a bit expensive to do it every day.

Thanks again.
 
What about cream? I always have cream in my coffee now.
 
onefooteight said:
Thanks for all the replies. I've tried it today made with half soya milk and half normal milk and this was fine. Going to buy a stronger strength coffee as well to see if I can then up the soya milk a bit more. I believe there can be problems with soya milk when giving it to babies and children so I wonder if this is what the doctor above was referring to.
Click to expand...

I seem to very vaguely remember something about soya and thyroid function. Can't remember what it was though so might be worth doing a search.
 
Trying it with goat's milk and its fine, but only marginally less sugar than cow's milk. I've read that Chinese women don't have as many menopause symptoms as Western women and its thought that its the amount of soya in the diet which helps them. Think soya has female hormones. Might be good for me as I'm 47 and feel things are already starting.
 
I love coffee with cream. Very low carb and you can add as much or as little as you like. 🙂
 
I used to drink a fair bit of coffee, usually the sachets but once I started to check the nutrition value of absolutely everything I was consuming I cut those out and now drink it with only a dash of milk but also found myself drinking flavoured green teas (and I'm not one for tea)
 
All I can suggest is cutting down on number of lattes per day, say maximum 3 per day, down from 4 to 6, and gradually cutting down on amount of milk per drink, say from 1/4 pint (5 fl oz) to 3 fl oz. What type of milk are you using? Full fat milk has relatively less sugar per litre, compared to 1%, semi skimmed or skimmed milk, but also the fat content slows down sugar getting into your blood stream. However, higher fat milk has higher calorie content, so it depends on your priorites.
 
Don't stop the lattes suddenly, you'll get caffeine withdrawal. For breakfast I have a large cappuccino using the steam attachment to froth full cream milk, and sprinkled with cinnamon. I don't pour the milk in, but just spoon the froth on to the coffee. It is quite filling. It takes a bit of practice to froth full cream milk, but now I can triple the volume of the milk. Hardly any calories, and it doesn't significantly alter my BG. The croissant I dunk does, though, but then I'm T1.
 
I'm not really sure why you're blaming the milk.

Semi-skimmed milk has something like 5g of sugar per 100ml. So if you have a quarter pint of milk, you're getting about 7g of carbs per coffee, which isn't exactly a massive amount.

More probably, what's causing the spike is the caffeine. Try decaf and see what happens.
 
Have you thought of a Dolce-Gusto machine they do both decaf and skinny versions of things like Latte Machiatto, they also do a few teas. Their website (https://www.dolce-gusto.co.uk/coffee-pods/frothy-latte/skinny-latte) give nutritional info.

Do watch the use by dates on Soy and Nut milks, when they go off they are revolting and they are not cheap. I used to make my own Oat milk, which is cheap to make once you have a good blender.
 
onefooteight said:
I drink between 4 and 6 lattes each day. I make them at home and use quarter of a pint of milk in each one. I'm guessing the sugar in the milk causes my blood sugars to spike, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Part of the reason I like latte is that I find it quite filling (probably the milk) so I think about food less in between meals. I've tried making it with almond milk which I didn't like. Right now I've got a cup made with soya milk and don't like that much either.

Think I'll have to give up on latte altogether. I do drink a lot of water, but is there anything else I could try which is hot and filling?
Click to expand...
@onefooteight. I've only just seen this and the DATE, but if you're still wondering if there's an alternative to milk then I can recommend one. It's called KoKo alternative to milk. Free from dairy, lactose, animal fats, artificial flavours, preservatives and colourings. Suitable for coeliacs, vegans, vegetarians and those with nut allergies. It's made with freshly pressed coconut milk. 1ltr carton. Ok hot or cold. I love lattè & cappuccino but I cheat and use Nestles sachets coz I don't have a machine to make it for me. I also drink between 750mls-1000mls water Daily. It fills you between meals & especially if you drink a tumbler full before meals so you can cut the portion size.
Wirralass Type2
 
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