I suddenly realized I don't like almond milk.

Stepping away from diet culture and honoring my preferences.

After my 28 things I wish I knew in my early 20s post many of you brought number 17 to my attention, “Almond milk is BLEH.”

“What do you mean almond milk is bad? Should I not drink it? Why is it bad? What do you mean by BLEH?”

Let me clarify. When I said "BLEH," I meant it as a personal observation. As I've grown older, I've found that almond milk just doesn't suit my taste buds. It's not my cup of tea... or coffee, in this case…

In 2014 I moved to the States and started studying nutrition and dietetics. I’ve talked on here before about gaining weight that first year away from home and feeling like I had to do everything in my power to conform to certain beauty standards.

Almond milk had a huge boom the following year and became “that girl.” Every time I went out with friends to Tatte or Starbucks or Pavement Coffeehouse, everyone ordered an almond milk latte or a cappuccino with almond milk. “It’s such an easy way to cut calories,” I remember one of my friends saying, and I didn’t even question it.

I went up to the cashier and gave them my fake Starbucks name “Ana,” because Gisela was misspelled one too many times, and I ordered my skinny vanilla latte with almond milk.

I started buying almond milk regularly at home, the unsweetened one with 30 calories, I know you know which one I’m talking about. After graduation, my partner started having his coffee with regular cow’s milk, and I noticed I gravitated less and less towards my almond milk coffees at home, and more and more towards going out for coffee and ordering it with regular milk. Until one day I bought my own cow’s milk, and my coffee tasted fuller, richer and more satisfying (to me).

I remember thinking about it a fair amount at that time and feeling guilty about my new coffee order. They told me we don’t need that much calcium anymore; they told me dairy will only lead to inflammation in my gut, that I’m not a child anymore, that my breakouts are caused by it and that it would only make me gain more and more weight. So why go back to cow’s milk?

Unless there’s a medical reason, or a preference, its high protein content and good balance of nutrients including calcium, magnesium, B vitamins, phosphorus, and vitamin D, cow’s milk is totally great! If you were to ask me which food group I love, I’d have to say dairy. There’s always some sort of cheese or yogurt or milk in my weekly grocery list. I genuinely enjoy dairy foods and never found an alternative I enjoyed as much, and 1-2 servings of dairy foods a day in an overall healthful eating pattern is a-okay.

Almond milk is lower in calories and protein and is still often fortified with vitamin D and calcium. Does this mean it’s not a good choice? Not at all! It’s very fit for those following a vegan eating pattern, have lactose intolerance, or genuinely just enjoy it. There’s been much debate on almond milk’s production and its use of water, but the same can be said about cattle and the production of greenhouse gases.

But I have no beef with almond milk, sometimes it’ll be there and if there’s no other option, I’ll still opt for my morning coffee with almond milk versus drinking it black. But we can’t just make decisions based on what others do, especially if it robs us from moments of joy (and boy oh boy did I rob myself from a nice cup of joe!)

To those coffee lovers out there, you know your morning coffee is ritualistic. You meditatively prep the coffee pot or ground your beans as you take out your favorite mug. You warm yourself up and wait for the caffeine to kick as you get ready. But diet culture doesn’t leave much room joy in rituals, if anything the rituals and food rules it promotes are restrictive and limiting, urging you to forsake pleasure for the sake of some elusive ideal.

But let’s pause and challenge that notion for a moment. What if, instead of succumbing to these rigid dictates, we embraced our morning coffee ritual as a celebration of flavor, aroma, and the simple joy of indulgence? After all, savoring that first sip can be a moment of pure bliss, a pause in the chaos of the day ahead. So, if almond milk wasn’t sparking joy, switching to cow’s milk felt like coming back to myself.

And many of you might be thinking “it’s not that deep, bro,” but to me it was. It felt like coming out of a shell, an act of rebellion and of self-care.

So, I urge you, when making food choices take into account your nutritional needs, specific health concerns, your goals, access, and budget but don’t ever forget your preferences and leave room for the tiny things that spark joy.

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Some questions for you…

1. Have you ever felt pressured to conform to dietary trends or cultural norms, even if they didn't align with your personal tastes or values?

2. How can you cultivate a more mindful and intuitive approach to eating, one that honors both your body's needs and your own individual tastes and preferences?

3. Consider the role of rituals in your daily life, such as your morning coffee routine. How do these rituals contribute to your sense of well-being and joy?