Milk has become confusing. A few years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find anything besides soy for a nondairy milk option. Now, it’s safe to say you will have choices to make, in the plant-based milk department, at any coffee shop.

We are fielding a lot of questions about, a new milk or “mylk” on the block, oat milk. Perhaps you have heard of  Oatly. Oatly was developed in Sweden, the recipe took 25 years to perfect. Many like Oatly because the creaminess resembles milk milk. Oatly has some buzz and has been featured  New York Times and Time magazine. However, as delicious as it may sound, oat milk is not for everyone. Just one serving of the original Oatly has 16g of carbohydrates and 7g of sugar per cup. Not to mention, added rapeseed oil, and not oats, is what gives Oatly its creaminess (hmm). Rapeseed oil contains high amounts of euric acid, a toxic fatty acid. A fun, or not so fun, fact: canola oil is derived from the rapeseed. Canola oil is almost always genetically modified and is not Foodtrainers-friendly.

On a personal note, I went on an oat milk kick when I first discovered it.  I didn’t know about Oatly, I was using a different brand. I gained 10lbs FAST, as I was using it my smoothies, chia puddings and coffee.  It is delicious. But oats (wheat and other grains) can cause an inflammatory response, and I felt that too. I had to nix my runs through Central Park because I had so much knee pain! No food or drink is worth that. Once I finally broke up with oat milk (and my boyfriend at the time who bought it by the case, ha), the weight fell off and I was running my usual miles again.

After oat milk, I discovered Califia Farms, Milkadamia, MALK and Not Milk. You can get Not Milk delivered. And it is so easy to DIY for almond milk. I have some shortcuts. I don’t even soak almonds. Add 2 Tbsp. of unsweetened almond butter to 2 cups of water, with optional additions of Ila vanilla extract and a few drops of NuStevia. The brands I mentioned and DIY mylk are all lower carb and lower sugar options (especially when you choose unsweetened). Our advice? Skip the oat milk and choose a nut-based milk alternative that is full of the good fat.

PS In addition to discovering new milks, I also found a better boyfriend.