When you are on the keto diet, and we’re sorry if you already didn;t know this, but normal cow milk (as well as any other animal’s milk) is not ketogenic.
If this has just ruined your prospects of being a ketovangelist, then don’t fear; there are many other dairy alternative milks out there which are super healthy, milky, and can be a healthy alternative to dairy milk anyway.
While you may already know that coconut milk, almond milk, and cashew milk are already ketogenic – what about oat milk? Oats seem like they could be carbohydrate based in some way, so many people will think they can’t be part of a keto diet, so what about their ‘milk’?
In the following article we will explore what oat milk is, as well as if that makes it keto or not, so keep reading to learn more about oats, as well as the keto diet!
How Is Oat Milk Made?
Each oat is meticulously milked, then… No, don’t worry, we’re joking.
Oat milk is actually made really easily and simply, insofar that you can actually make it at home with two ingredients and one piece of equipment if you wanted.
Yet, it should be clear that the companies which make oat milk don’t necessarily make it this exact way, it is often more removed and involves other processes.
With that said, if you soaked oats overnight in water and then blended the water and oat mixture up until the oats were completely milled into a fine powder, then you would have oat milk.
This mixture is then filtered through some very fine cheesecloth to try extract undesirable plant material from the liquid, but this is very much it, it’s really simple.
More commercial creation of oat milk involves more specific extraction of the oats with water, but relies on the same concept.
You can often buy oat milk which is naturally sweetened or even oat milk that is flavored with vanilla extract or something similar. This can be desirable as oat milk, while really healthy, is often quite watery and doesn’t taste of much.
As this process is so simple, oat milk is renowned as being one of the most cheap milk alternatives out there, although, just keep reading to learn how much nutrition it packs into the carton.
What Is In Oat Milk?
Well Oat Milk is often just oats and water, in this case it can be very simple to figure out the nutritional facts. However, most commercial oat milk is often fortified with other minerals and vitamins to make it more substantial and healthy.
Oat milk has pretty rich protein at around 4 grams per 8oz, great for those veggies and vegans, while also being naturally rich in stuff like Vitamin B12, riboflavin (B2), calcium, and phosphorus.
Moreover, oats are full of a unique nutritional fiber known as beta-glucan which has a lot of nutritional advantages such as lowering cholesterol, fortifying your immune system, and also lowering appetite.
Otas, and their extracted milk, are full of B vitamins like B12 and B2 which help your immune system, mental health, as well as your skin, nails and hair – great!
With this said, as we mentioned most of the nutrition is extracted from the oats, but a whole oat is still got way more nutrition than oat milk will.
This is often why oat milk will be fortified with other vitamins and minerals so we can reap the most nutrition possible from the humble oat.
So there additionally be many micronutrients which can really help with many things. We’re talking iron, calcium, potassium, as well as many different vitamins, and other goodies we love to consume.
Oat milk has a pretty low key taste, it is more savory than other milks but is often noticeable when using it to replace milk in cereal or in tea, vegans love it for these reasons too.
Is Oat Milk Ketogenic?
With all these nutrients pointed out, unfortunately those on a ketogenic diet cannot enjoy the nutritional benefits of oat milk. Why? Well let’s explore this.
Within around 8oz of oat milk there is commonly around 80 calories, 1.5g fat, 4 grams protein, as well as 14 grams of total carbs 12 of which are net carbs, the bad carbs.
While this is annoying as oat milk has many health benefits and is really nutritious, these net carbs amount to around 240ml which means that this is more than half of the ketovangelist’s daily net carb allowance.
This means if you are looking for something to drink while you are on the keto journey, you should consider another dairy alternative. So don’t lose heart just yet, there are lots of plant milks out there which can provide the feeling of milk without any carbs.
So, no, it is clear that oat milk is not appropriate for a keto diet.
Oat milk unfortunately has around 14 grams of carbohydrates overall, a good 12 grams of these are net carbs which will affect your ketosis strongly.
These net carbs mean that consuming oat milk could lead you to drink more than half of your daily net carb allowance.
However, for those who follow a less strict keto diet that you might call a ‘low carb diet’ a small amount of oat milk in your coffee or something similar won’t send your diet too far out of whack.
The good thing is that if you have bought some oat milk, there is no reason to fear as these dairy milk alternatives are often really shelf friendly.
This means that they can often sit on your shelf even unrefrigerated for a long time. As oat milk is so healthy there’s no need to throw it away, simply wait and drink it on another day when your net carbs have stopped mattering.
Hi, I’m Aubrey, and I have been a chef for close to 8 years. Cooking has always been a passion of mine, as long as I can remember. I loved my play kitchen when I was a kid, and would offer my parents my own (albeit gross) cookie recipes to taste!
Here at ButterandSaltGatherings, I want to offer a wide range of ingredients, flavors, meals and recipes so that you can start living each day to the fullest, and enjoy only the best food.
