[DuchessTergie]

I just wanted to add: The Brewer diet is not without pitfalls-- it largely ignores your food tolerances/intolerances, and the amount of over-all calories is really really high. I do not count calories (ain't nobody got time for that) but each body is going to expend calories based on their individual muscle mass, fatigue level, activity level, stress level, etc....

But, I think the Brewer's strength, or even anyone's-best-attempt-at-Brewer is this: it emphasizes protein, the building blocks of life, because you are actually building a baby. Yay! It also leaves no room for crap (and I don't count high-quality ice cream as crap, by the way). It also, for me personally, is very encouraging to see that milk and eggs are the foundation because for most people both of those foods are reasonably priced. I followed WAPF diet, transitioned to squeaky-clean Paelo, then back to WAPF because my grocery bill was unacceptable. (Luckily, I tolerate both dairy and eggs well.) There are so many discouraging things about pregnancy diets, and cost shouldn't be one of them.

 

[jodieanneanton]

Great thoughts, @DuchessTergie! Thank you!

 

[happyday8598]

Oi. All this talk about so much protein and I realize in my vegetarian diet, that amount of protein is probably just not possible...

 

[calico_aster]

Oi. All this talk about so much protein and I realize in my vegetarian diet, that amount of protein is probably just not possible...

I'm vegetarian, too, and just finished a month-long diet log where I specifically tracked protein. Most days I easily hit 60 to 70 grams of protein without even trying, and some days got up to 90+ grams of protein. 120 would probably be tough unless you had protein shakes every day, but there's plenty of vegetarian foods that have decent amounts of protein, like nuts, beans and whole grains (especially quinoa).

 

[Valerie11]

So, we have almond milk in the fridge for the kids and I'm looking at the protein content. 1g per 1 cup of milk. I thought almonds were nuts and nuts have protein. What in the world?!

 

[happyday8598]

I was told that soaking almonds changes their fats into proteins. Almond milk is basically almonds blended with water, then strained to take out all of the pulp of the almond, which would stop the soaking processes. Is the milk high in fat?

You could make your own almond milk by soaking the almonds overnight first (which would increase their protein content), then blending 1 c almonds to 4 c water and straining the pulp out with cheese cloth. Super fresh and VERY delicious, cutting out the other additives that may be present in the processed and packaged almond milk. When my boys were young I'd make up almond milk and then blend it with carob and honey to create a carob almond milk that they absolutely loved to indulge in. Hmmmm.... maybe I'll be making myself some of this real soon!!

 

[Valerie11]

I was averse to almond milk because of a child with peanut allergy, I didn't want to give him almonds, just in case. But one day my husband or someone gave him something with almonds (ice cream, I think), so he was fine after that. So now we buy almond milk since it usually has less ingredients on the label than coconut. I've always been meaning to make coconut milk from scratch, and I just keep putting off buying the cheesecloth. I also have a hard time finding coconut shreds that don't come from a factory that processed peanuts. But I would still like to attempt to make coconut and/or almond milk from scratch.

 

[happyday8598]

mmmm... coconut milk from scratch. Not 5 minutes ago I told my husband that ultimately I'd love to relocate to an area where coconuts fall from the trees. I love coconut everything so so much. I buy cans of coconut milk instead of the milk in the refrigerator section because of all of those additives. It may not last as long, but it's typically the only ingredient in the can, and when bought as full fat can be reduced down by adding water to make it stretch longer. My 13 year olds favorite meal of the house is coconut curry rice (weird! He just came in to my room asking if we can get a container for him to bring to school so he could bring coconut curry rice to school with him!)
Coconut milk as a coffee creamer? Holy moly goodness. I'm in love.

I've never made coconut milk, but can attest to just how simple almond milk is. I've used a tea strainer, too, but that can be more of a pain in the ass as the pulp tends to gunk up the strainer pretty quickly, so you have to rinse it often before pouring more milk in. Still doable, just a longer process.

How challenging to have a child with a peanut allergy. To be honest, that's one of my greatest fears for this child of mine. Such diligence is required in these days with the sharing of processing facilities.

 

[luckiest]

So, we have almond milk in the fridge for the kids and I'm looking at the protein content. 1g per 1 cup of milk. I thought almonds were nuts and nuts have protein. What in the world?!

My guess is that the protein is in the meat of the nut which gets strained out during the process (whether homemade or not). I'm really not sure how much of the nutrients of a nut make it through to the milk...my guess is not much, which is why commercial but milks have so many synthetic nutrient additives.


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[jodieanneanton]

luckiest is right. The protein is in the meat of the nut and very little makes it into the milk... whether it is homemade or not, almond milk, while a great replacement for animal milks in recipes(very little difference in final product quality), is nutritionally inferior. Nutritionally speaking, it is not a replacement for animal milks. Less protein, less of almost every nutrient except for what gets added in during the manufacturing process for commercial almond milk. I looked up nutrition facts of homemade almond milk and they are all over the board. There are a lot of websites that include the nutrition from the almonds (protein, calories, vitamins and minerals) and divide that among however many servings of milk is made. This is not an accurate assessment of the nutrition of almond milk as all of the nut meat is strained out of the milk!

I want to be clear that I am not bashing almond milk! It is good and fine. It is just important to know that a cup of almond milk cannot count as milk in the brewer diet because of the low protein content.

 

[Valerie11]

mmmm... coconut milk from scratch. Not 5 minutes ago I told my husband that ultimately I'd love to relocate to an area where coconuts fall from the trees...

How challenging to have a child with a peanut allergy. To be honest, that's one of my greatest fears for this child of mine. Such diligence is required in these days with the sharing of processing facilities.

I did buy a coconut once at the store to make the milk, but never got around to ordering the cheese cloth online. The coconut didn't cost much, either, it was $1. I'm sure if I really got into making it that I could get the store to order more.

I'm wondering if my son got his peanut allergy from the vitamin K shot at birth (the aluminum causes peanut allergy in lab mice) which is the only injection he's ever had so far, and he didn't have antibiotics and I didn't either at any time during pregnancy or delivery. There are a lot of theories floating around about what has caused the mass increase in peanut allergies (most of them vitamin k shot or antibiotics wiping out clostridia strain), It is really difficult because there are peanuts in almost every processed item of food.

 

[DuchessTergie]

One upside to almond milk is you can get a two for one: after soaking/grinding/draining the milk, you can dry the pulp, regrind it, and voila! Almond meal. I had time for that when I had 1 kiddo in the house, but now homemade alternative milks and their flour by-products are a pipe dream.

 

[murrelet]

So, we have almond milk in the fridge for the kids and I'm looking at the protein content. 1g per 1 cup of milk. I thought almonds were nuts and nuts have protein. What in the world?!

As far as I can recall, soy milk is the only milk replacement with comparable levels of protein per serving. 9g per cup in the brand I use.