Dairy milk the way it is in most places today, is bad for you.
Some 70% of dairy milk in the U.S. comes from pregnant cows, and we know that milk from a cow in her late stages of pregnancy, can have up to 33 times more estrogen than milk in non-pregnant cows (5 times more in the early stages of pregnancy).
Most dairy milk in the West nowadays comes from pregnant cows. Milk from pregnant cows can contain up to 33 times more estrogen than milk from non-pregnant cows.
Milk in most places in the West is also pasteurized. This means it is heat-treated to kill bacteria. Unfortunately though, the heat denatures and destroys the protein in your milk, and also kills off a load of its healthful vitamins and minerals.
The bottom line for me, is the fact that studies show drinking pasteurized dairy milk results in increased estrogen levels and decreased testosterone levels, an effect that lasted for 4 hours or more after participants drank around 4 glasses of milk in 10 minutes.
I personally noticed that my efforts to lose man boobs got a lot easier as soon as I stopped drinking dairy milk. I also lost weight, my asthma improved, and the stiffness in my damaged left knee (from a previous road accident) went away.
Sure, these improvements in my health had a lot to do with my low carb diet, but I know that quitting milk played a big role too.
So What Are Some Good Alternatives To Dairy Milk?
I told you in a previous article, about Brazil nut milk. In that article, I also talked about other healthy milks I had tried, including coconut milk and almond milk.
I've given up trying to find one single dairy milk alternative that can match dairy milk exactly. Brazil nut milk comes close, but it still has that creamy Brazil nut flavor. Brazil nut milk tastes amazing by itself, maybe even better than whole dairy milk, but when you add it to tea, it has a bit of an empowering flavor that I don't really want in my tea.
Today though, I'm really excited to be able to tell you about my new discovery, which is cashew milk.
Cashew milk is very mellow, I find it kind of bland when I drink it by itself, but that's exactly what I want it to be when I add it to my tea, because it means there's no over-empowering taste.
In fact, I'm being totally honest with you when I tell you that when I drink tea with cashew milk in it, no matter how much cashew milk I add, I cannot tell it apart from tea with dairy milk added to it.
Cashew nut milk (left), almond milk (middle), Brazil nut milk (right). The three milks together make the perfect replacement for dairy milk.
So now, my fridge has three bottles in it: one with almond milk, one with Brazil nut milk and one with cashew milk. I drink almond and Brazil nut milks straight from a glass when I feel like I want to drink something that tastes great and boosts my testosterone levels at the same time, and I use cashew milk in my tea.
These three nut milks together, leave me no reason whatsoever to crave or want any dairy milk whatsoever.
The Health Benefits Of Cashews
Cashews are an excellent source of monounsaturated fat, which help to boost testosterone. Like other healthy nuts, they're also known to help you lose weight.
They also contain healthy amounts of copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and vitamin K, along with lesser-known phytonutrients, such as antioxidants, tyrosinase, melanin, elastin, proanthocyanidins, and oleic acid. Each nutrient plays its part in providing bone strength and joint flexibility, discouraging migraines, improving memory, lowering blood pressure, and protecting against UV damage, heart disease, and cancer.
Why Cashew Milk May Be The Healthiest Nut Milk Around
Almonds, Brazil nuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts, are all great nuts that do wonders for your health, but which single nut is the best for your health?
I'll be damned if I know!
But what I can tell you, is that when it comes to nut milks, cashew milk is probably the healthiest of nut milks there is.
Why is this so?
This is because unlike with other nut milks, with cashew milk you don't have to strain the pulp from the liquid mixture, since the nuts blend entirely into the water. This means that cashew milk retains all of the fiber and nutrients present in the cashews!
So all that copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, vitamin K and testosterone-boosting monounsatruated fat, goes straight into your milk.
Since no nuts go to waste in the process, it makes this milk more cost-effective than others…
And by far the best thing about cashew milk is this…
It's 10x easier to make than other nut milks, and you can do it in a fraction of the time!
No straining through a cheese cloth or a nut bag means you put the stuff in a blender, then straight into a glass jar for storage.
It couldn't be easier!
How To Make Cashew Milk
Are you ready to do something seriously easy? Then let's get to it.
Please remember: since you're not separating any pulp out, you'll get a much higher volume of milk by using the same amount of nut. So if you were using 2 cups of Brazil nuts for making Brazil nut milk before, you might want to stick to 1 cup of cashews.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 3 cups water (can use more or less depending on how creamy you want your milk to be)
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 vanilla bean (optional, can use 1 date instead, or 1 teaspoon of honey)
- Pinch cinnamon (optional)
Equipment:
- Blender. You can either go for a blender with a glass jar like this one or a high powered plastic blender like this one. MoreYou might want to use a glass blender to avoid estrogenic chemicals like BPA from leaking into your milk. But it's not a big deal, because the milk isn't in contact with the blender for very long. A high powered blender would give your milk a better consistency, but unfortunately, high powered blenders are usually made of plastic. This is because at high speeds, the inside of a glass container may get chipped, and swallowing glass shards can kill. Ideally they'd make a high powered blender with stainless steel, but I'm yet to find one. So it's up to you which you choose. If you can afford it, then I would go for the high powered blender.
- Glass jar for storage. I recommend at least a 1 liter (33.75 oz) capacity, like this one.
Instructions:
- Soak the cashews and vanilla bean in water at least 4 hours in the refrigerator, or overnight.
- Discard soaking water, and rinse cashew nuts and vanilla bean until water runs clear.
- Blend cashews, vanilla bean, sea salt, cinnamon, and 2 cups of water in the blender. Start on a low setting and increase the speed until the cashews are totally pulverized. This could take 2 minutes in a high-powered blender or longer in a regular blender.
- Add in one more cup of water and continue to blend.
- Store the milk in a glass jar (or other covered container) in the refrigerator. It should keep for 3 to 4 days.
Extra Tips & Notes:
- You can still use a nut bag or cheese cloth if you like. Straining the milk will give you a more thin, grit-free texture.
Video Demonstration:
Here's a good video that shows you how it's done:
