Dairy-Free Alternatives: Is Oat Milk Keto?

For many people, milk is a staple beverage. They use it in the morning to accompany their cereal or oatmeal. Or they add it to their protein shakes for a thicker, smoother drink. A glass of milk at dinner can also round out this late-day meal.

However, if you follow a ketogenic diet, you may be wondering whether certain types of milk are allowed on the plan. Specifically, is oat milk considered a keto milk? To answer this question, let’s take a look at what this milk is.

Oat Milk: What It Is & Nutrition Facts

As its name suggests, oat milk is made from oats. These oats are soaked in water, then blended. This mixture is strained to remove any pulp, leaving a milk-like beverage.

Often, oat milk is creamier than other types of milk. It tastes similar to cow's milk but with the flavor of oats. This makes it a good option for people looking for a dairy milk alternative that doesn’t stray too much in taste.

The nutritional content of oat milk can vary by brand. To get a basic idea of how it stacks up, here is nutritional information provided by the USDA. It is for one cup (240 ml) of OATLY! Original Oat-Milk:

• 120 calories

• 3 grams of protein

• 16 grams of carbohydrates

• 5 grams of fat

• 2 grams of fiber

• 7 grams of sugar

Is Oat Milk Keto?

A ketogenic diet is high in fat and very low in carbohydrates. To stay within the required ranges of this diet, you must count your net carbs. (Net carbs are total carbs minus fiber.) And, typically, these net carbs are limited to 50 grams or less per day. 

Since oat milk contains 2 grams of fiber, its net carbs are 14 grams. This number is almost one-third of your daily intake. So, oat milk may not be the best choice for this type of eating plan.

Pros and Cons of Oat Milk When Following a Keto Diet

If you’re not sure whether to include oat milk in your keto diet, it might help to consider the pros and cons.

Pros

Do you struggle to get any carbs in your diet? Although keto is low carb, there are benefits to including at least some carbohydrates in your diet plan. Carbs help with muscle growth, for instance. The body also uses carbs for energy. Drinking oat milk, then, can help you get an adequate carb intake. 

Another benefit of oat milk is that it adds fiber to your diet. Fiber aids in healthy digestive function. It also helps control cholesterol and blood sugar levels, even assisting with weight loss.

At 5 grams of fat per cup, oat milk is quite a bit higher than skim milk or other types of low-fat milk. On a positive note, only 0.5 grams is saturated. Saturated fat is unhealthy fat that can increase your risk of disease. So, this milk won’t greatly contribute to this type of effect.

Maybe you can’t have another milk substitute, making one made from rolled oats one of your only options. This could be the case if you are lactose intolerant, thus you must avoid dairy. Or perhaps you’re allergic to nuts. This removes almond milk and other types of nut milk from your choices.

It’s even possible that you simply enjoy the taste of oats. You make overnight oats in the crockpot regularly. Or low carb oatmeal is a common morning meal. Adding oat milk to your diet makes it possible to enjoy the taste more.

Cons

There are some cons of oat milk as well. If you enjoy eating carbs, you might not want to use your allotted daily amount on oat milk. This frees you up to have other carbs that you find more satisfying.

Milk made from oats is also not the best option if you typically come close to your max fat intake. Eating keto means that 60%-80% of your calories should be fat. If you stay at the lower end of the range, you get close to this amount with your other food choices. Therefore, a lower-fat milk can help you stay within your desired range.

If you have blood sugar issues, oat milk may present another big con. One reason is that each one-cup serving contains roughly 7 grams of sugar. People diagnosed with diabetes also benefit from eating low-glycemic foods. Research indicates that typically oats fall into this category, but more so when chewed in the mouth. Since this isn’t needed with milk, the glycemic index of this beverage is often higher. 

The Bottom Line

In the end, you may decide to include oat milk in your keto diet if you are willing to reduce carbs elsewhere. You might also take this route if you like the taste. Otherwise, a different milk alternative would allow you to use more of your allotted carbs elsewhere.

Ways to Incorporate Oat Milk into a Keto Eating Plan

Should you decide that this plant milk has more pros than cons, the next step is to incorporate it into your keto plan. Here are a few ways to do this:

• Don’t drink it every day. Only add this type of milk to your cereal or pre-workout smoothie a couple of times a week. On the other days, use your carbs on other foods you enjoy.

• Only drink a half cup. Cut the serving in half if one cup provides too much fat, sugar, or carbs. This gives you the taste without being “too much” of something.

• Plan in advance. Because of the high carb content of oat milk, you’d benefit from only adding it to your diet when you’ve planned for it. This ensures that you stay within the desired keto diet ranges. (It’s like how you meal prep to always have healthy foods on hand.)

How to Pick a Healthy Oat Milk

Different brands of oat milk can have different nutritional makeups. Therefore, it’s beneficial to read the labels of each one. Pay attention to how much fat, carbs, and protein they contain. Look at the calories too. If your goal is weight loss, you need to burn more calories than you take in. Staying within the desired range supports this effort.  

Also, see if the milk offers any additional nutrients. It’s not uncommon for oat milk to be fortified with vitamin D, for instance. Vitamin D is important for healthy bones, yet many people are deficient in this nutrient. Older adults, people with gastrointestinal disorders, and people who’ve had gastric bypass surgery are all at risk of a vitamin D deficiency.

Pay attention to whether the milk has added sugar as well. This is particularly important for people with blood sugar issues.

Oat Milk Alternatives for a Ketogenic Diet

Maybe you’ve decided that oat milk doesn’t fit into your keto diet. At the same time, you don’t want to give up milk altogether. What are your options?

Almond Milk

Almond milk is great for a keto diet because it has minimal carbs, if any. According to the USDA, one cup of unsweetened almond milk has just over 3 carbs. It also has about a half gram of fiber. This puts its net carbs at about 2.5. 

Almond milk also includes other healthy nutrients. Among them are calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. If you’re watching your sodium, keep in mind that one cup supplies roughly 189 mg. 

Other Types of Nut Milk

Almond milk isn’t your only nut milk option. If you’re not fond of almonds, you can use cashew milk, walnut milk, or macadamia nut milk. Each has a slightly different flavor. Mix them up to keep your taste buds satisfied.

You might also find that a particular type of nut milk works better for different purposes. Maybe you prefer the flavor of cashew milk in your cereal and a different one in your shakes. If you bake keto treats, nut milk can add a specific nutty flavor to them.

Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is another keto friendly alternative. The USDA shares that one cup provides a little more than 7 grams of carbs. This is about half that of oat milk. There is no fiber in coconut milk, so the net carbs are still 7 grams. Additionally, the carb content of unsweetened coconut milk is about the same.

Coconut milk is high in calcium. It also contains potassium, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and vitamin A. So, adding it to your diet helps supply these micronutrients.

Pea Milk

Pea milk is another consideration when following a keto diet. One cup of unsweetened pea milk supplies roughly 2 grams of carbs, according to USDA data. It is also rich in calcium, potassium, and vitamin A.

This plant based milk is good for smoothies. It can also be added to other recipes for a different flavor.

Flax Milk

Flax milk is a newer type of milk made from flaxseeds. The benefits of flax milk include being a good source of calcium and containing no cholesterol. It also contains no lactose, making it a good diary product alternative to regular milk. 

The USDA doesn’t supply nutritional facts for non-branded flax milk. But flax milk made by Good Karma Foods contains just under 2 grams of carbs per cup. That’s about one-third of the carbs in almond milk and coconut milk, making this a good keto milk.

Milk to Limit or Avoid on a Keto Diet

Just as it's helpful to know which types of milk are keto friendly, it’s equally as important to know which ones to limit or avoid. Milk that isn’t the best for this diet include:

• Cows milk

• Goat milk

• Rice milk

• Sweetened condensed milk

One Final Thought

When considering what type of milk fits into a keto diet, keep the big picture in mind. In other words, one glass of milk isn’t likely to make or break your diet. Instead, you might want to place more focus on eating more whole foods and less processed foods, for instance. 

If you’re struggling with the keto diet, remember that this isn’t the only option for weight loss or better health. Maybe you’d do better with the Mediterranean diet or some other eating plan. There is no one-size-fits-all diet. It’s more about finding the right diet for you.

Want to provide clients personalized dietary advice? You can do this with nutrition coach training. ISSA’s Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification covers a variety of diet-related topics, the keto diet included.

References

THE ORIGINAL OAT-MILK. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2019). Retrieved 6 April 2022, from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/719016/nutrients.

Zhang, K., Dong, R., Hu, X., Ren, C., & Li, Y. (2021). Oat-Based Foods: Chemical Constituents, Glycemic Index, and the Effect of Processing. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 10(6), 1304. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10061304

Beverages, almond milk, unsweetened, shelf stable. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2019). Retrieved 6 April 2022, from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/174832/nutrients.

Coconut milk. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2019). Retrieved 6 April 2022, from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/1097553/nutrients.

UNSWEETENED NUTRITIOUS PEA MILK. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2019). Retrieved 6 April 2022, from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/574668/nutrients.

FLAXMILK + PROTEIN. U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2019). Retrieved 6 April 2022, from https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/489435/nutrients.