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Iced Chai Latte

By August 14, 2013September 26th, 2023Drinks, Vegetarian

ICED CHAI LATTE

Who doesn’t love an iced chai latte from your local coffee shop?

But a Grande at Starbucks can load 315 calories and 37g sugar in 16 ounces! Even a Grande using soy milk is 203 calories and 25g carbohydrates!

Iced Chai Latte

Prep Time 1 minute
Cook Time 5 minutes
Course Dairy Free, Drinks, Egg Free, Nut Free, Vegetarian
Cuisine American
Servings 2
Calories 30

Ingredients
  

  • 1 bag chai tea bags
  • 16 ounces unsweetened almond milk (or boxed lowfat coconut milk)
  • 4 tablespoons Natural Sweetener (or liquid stevia to taste)
  • ground cinnamon optional, for garnish
  • ground nutmeg optional, for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Warm almond milk until soft steam (not boiling). Add tea bag and sweetener and steep. Place in fridge to cool.
  • Pour over ice, sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg if desired and serve. (Or serve hot).

Nutrition

Calories: 30 | Fat: 2.5g | Protein: 1g | Carbohydrates: 0.5g | Fiber: 0.5g | P:E Ratio: 0.4

SOY MILK FACTS

For those of you who think you are doing yourself a favor by drinking soy, think again. Many people are becoming aware of the health problems connected with pasteurized dairy products, so a lot of people are turning to milk substitutes like soy and rice milk. But they both have some issues too.

Soy and rice milk often contain polyunsaturated vegetable oils which contributes to an imbalance of essential fatty acids in your body. A chronic imbalance of these fatty acids caused by regular consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils is a major cause of cardiovascular disease.

Polyunsaturated fats that contribute to this harmful imbalance are found in corn, soybean, sunflower, and cottonseed oils…pretty much everything on the grocery store shelf. Some brands of soy and rice milk also contain rice syrup, evaporated cane juice, or some other natural sweetener. Natural or not, most sweeteners put significant stress on your pancreas and liver. They also raise your insulin levels, which significantly increases your risk of suffering from unhealthy weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, premature aging, and several other negative side effects. While small amounts of fermented forms of soy like miso, tempeh, and natto can be okay choices for some people, non-fermented soy products can cause a variety of health problems if consumed in large quantities on a regular basis, including changing our estrogen levels. A jail was recently in big trouble because they were feeding the prisoners soy meat, milk, soy butter…you name it, they were trying to decrease the testosterone in the prisoners!

You can make a rich and creamy alternative to cow’s, soy, and rice milk with raw almonds and a good blender.

All-Natural Almond Milk

1 1/2 cups of raw almonds, soaked in water overnight
4 cups of filtered or spring water

Blend 1 ½ cups of raw almonds that have been soaked overnight in 4 cups of water. Blend with pure vanilla extract if you like your milk with a hint of sweetness. Strain once to remove almond granules. The result is a delicious, creamy milk that is free of harmful vegetable oil, and sweeteners. It can be stored safely for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Testimony of the Day

“Dear Maria, My husband was diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (aka Type II Diabetes) ten years ago. The diabetic counselors gave him a meal plan for 60 carbs / meal, including a 60 carb snack at night to keep his blood sugars from spiking throughout the day. Eight years later, he suffered a heart attack, survived the ordeal with two stents placed. Fast forward to 2013. A visit to the cardiologist in February 2013 was a disaster. The doctor did not like his blood pressure, his weight, his cholesterol numbers, his blood sugar. John was despondent for weeks.

In March, we had an appointment with our holistic physician who encouraged us to read “The Wheat Belly” by Dr. Davis. That opened our eyes to the evils of grain. Within a month, John’s blood pressure and blood sugars were much improved, triglycerides had gone down 500 points. But while there was some weight loss, he wasn’t seeing the results he had hoped for. Via Dr .Davis’ blog, we found a link to your site. While Dr. Davis put us on the grain-free path, you opened our eyes to the low carb, medium protein, high fat diet. John’s insulin intake has dropped from 120 units/day to around 30 – 35 on a bad day.

I can’t wait to see his lab numbers, as well as the reaction from the cardiologist at his December appointment. We learned that not all fruit is created equal, and we were previously equating fruit to vegetables. The weight is coming off, joint pain is non-existent, our skin looks and feels healthier. John noticed that he had forgotten to take his inhaler (he is an asthmatic) for weeks, it just wasn’t necessary. He is down 30 lbs currently from his March weight. What I’ve discovered is that even though I’m only down about 10 lbs, I’ve gone down at least 2 sizes in slacks, soon to be 3.

Our arms are firmer, we have more muscle definition and this is without exercise. We now equate carbs to sugar. With some friends of ours, we took a road trip to attend your Metabolism 101 class this past Sunday, travelling 300 miles one way to attend. It was worth the trip. We are now the proud owners of all your books, autographed by the author and editor/photographer J. Not only did we get to personally meet you & Craig, we were able experience your knowledge, your enthusiasm, your sharing and caring attitude. What can I say? You are just amazing. Thanks so much!”

If you want to get started on a path to health and healing, click HERE. You will not regret it!

Iced Chai Latte

Anti-Aging Tips: Fructose and Glycation

Do you complain of sagging skin or cellulite? One of the big contributors to the aging process and development and perpetuation of degenerative diseases is Advanced Glycation End Product (AGEs) glycation. Glycation is where a chemical reaction occurs between proteins and either sugars, lipid peroxidation products (free radicals from oxidative damage), or the breakdown products of sugar. So sugar plays a big role in glycation as does oxidative damage (think PUFA oils and sugar inflammation).

Glycation is the forming of sort of a crust around our cells. Many different studies have shown that this crust contributes to a wide range of diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, asthma, stroke, cataracts, glaucoma, PCOS, autoimmune disease and much more.

So what role does fructose play here? Studies have shown that fructose enables glycation reactions ten times more rapidly than glucose!

A high carbohydrate diet causes this glycation, in which the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form harmful new molecules called advanced glycation end products, AGEs. The more carbohydrates you eat, the more AGEs you develop. As AGEs accumulate, they damage neighboring proteins in a domino-like manner. Collagen and elastin are the protein fibers that keep skin firm and elastic are most venerable when you are eating a high starch diet. Once the damage has been done, the supple and strong collagen and elastin become dry and delicate, leading to wrinkles and sagging.

AGEs deactivate your body’s natural antioxidant enzymes, leaving you more vulnerable to sun damage. Adding in 400 to 600mg of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) can help repair the skin from your past years of being a sugar burner. If you are going to spend the money on ALA supplements and serums, make sure to get it from a quality source from Germany. Chinese ALA is processed with harsh and toxic chemicals. Click HERE to find the oral supplement I prefer.

Maria Emmerich

Maria is a wellness expert who has helped clients follow a Ketogenic lifestyle to heal and lose weight for over 20 years. She has helped thousands of clients get healthy, get off medications and heal their bodies; losing weight is just a bonus. She is the international best selling author of several books including "Keto: The Complete Guide to Success on the Ketogenic Diet.".

55 Comments

  • Lucy says:

    I LOVE almond milk. Personally I can’t stand the taste of soy. I tried a couple different brands of soy before saying “Forget It!” and soon afterwrds found almond milk-YEA! With only 1g of sugar (store brand you have listed), it doesn’t affect my sugar level at all and is perfect is my protein smoothies or just plain (ice cold-mmm).

    I haven’t tried making my own…yet.

    Thanks for the recipe!

  • Rebecca says:

    I’m really excited to make this. Do I blend the almonds in the same water they were soaking overnight in, or do I drain and replace with fresh water, and then blend? I’m sorry if I’m making such an easy recipe more complicated, I just don’t want to mess it up.

  • Yep, use the same water. Good luck!

  • France says:

    How does this work Maria? You soak the almonds in water to remove the to eliminate phytic acid, doesn’t it go in the water the nuts have been soaked in or is it one of those reactions that just eliminates the acid altogether?
    I have always used fresh water to blend my soaked almonds, even rinsed the almonds first. This would be a good step to avoid. Thanks for any insight.

    • As far as I know this eliminates the phytic acid. But I don’t think a lot of research has been done on it so I will let you know if I see something to the contrary. 🙂

  • I love Panera’s Chai the best but they were using Republic of Tea’s Chai concentrate so know of any brands close to that taste and have a recipe for hot chai? 🙂

  • France says:

    Your recipe for nut milk is Yummy. the other one I tried before was too watered down. I love yours and can’t wait to see if it froths in the coffee machine at work (I haven’t given up on coffee completely yet!)… also I think I’m going to try to make breakfast cereal (your crunchy cereal type) with the leftover meal, unless you have better ideas?

    • Thank you! I think that’s a great idea! 🙂

    • France says:

      The ever so slightly wet almond pulp turned the cereal recipe into cookie batter! I’ve done a bit of research and though I would love a recipe to use the pulp as is from making milk, a few people suggest to dehydrate it (dehydrator or low oven) and turn it into almond flour. When I make myself a protein smoothie, I’ll just not bother draining the almond milk, and use the extra fibre as part of the smoothie.

    • Thanks for letting me know. 🙂

  • Anonymous says:

    Just an FYI the tea pictured contains (non-fermented) soy.

  • Nicole says:

    I too have just started making my own almond milk, and dehydrate the pulp to use as a flour (I sure don’t want to waste all that!). I have only tried one recipe of yours using my own almond flour, the cheese it crackers. I had made them before with a store bought almond flour and loved them. With my almond flour not so much :). Could this be because my flour was made from unblanched almonds? Do you have any suggestions on which recipes might do better with homemade almond flour? As always, thank you for sharing, I am really enjoying your recipes (and my husband loves that you use bacon as a starter for some recipes ~ I can get him to eat anything with bacon!!!)

    • Thank you! I think home made almond flour has higher moisture content. So look for recipes where you can add less liquids to offset this. 🙂

    • France says:

      However Maria, wouldn’t *dehydrated* flour made from leftover from almond milk have less moisture? When I dried my almond pulp in my low temperature oven, it was quite dry but this was an oven, not a dehydrator, so I’m not sure of the results. I’m interested in a dehydrator… eventually.
      However if you just use the pulp without dehydrating it, it’s very very wet (used that in cookies once, and the dough was very wet, had to adjust dry ingredients) — so yep, you just need to adjust your recipes to the right consistency. Maria usually states when only blanched almond flour should be used.
      I’ve used dry almond milk pulp in some of the “HEALTHIFIED” CEREAL recipes. I’m very interested in this topic for the same reasons as Nicole, don’t like to waste.
      I’ve found some unsweetened almond milk (no agave, no this, no that!) at the local shop finally (Blue Diamond, I think that’s what you use Maria) so I’m less inclined to make my own since my good blender is broken at the moment 🙂 Nicole, if you do use your pulp successfully, please come let us know, so I can benefit from our experience :o)

    • Yes, If you dehydrated it that should help. I’m not sure what the difference would be from dehydrated vs. store bought. I actually use the unsweetened Silk almond milk. 🙂

    • France says:

      Oops, Thanks for the correction about the milk! 🙂

  • Nicole says:

    What brand of almond milk do you use? I noticed that Almond Breeze contians carrageenan, which I thought was a bad thing. Any suggestions? Thank you!

  • Anonymous says:

    Someone said today that Almond Milk is highly processed, so they just use cows milk…..What are your thoughts. I usually use the Silk Brand like you, but in my fridge right now is a Trader Joes brand, and there is quite a bit of ingredients besides almonds and filtered water.
    Thanks.

    • It is no more processed than the vast majority of milk out there. Here is a description of the process used to make skim milk from my metabolism class. Yuk!

      – Butter-fat is in milk for a reason
       Without it, cannot absorb the vitamins and minerals
      Synthetic vitamin D, is added to replace the natural vitamin D
      – Non-fat dried milk is added to Skim, 1% and 2% milk
       Dried milk is produced by forcing skim milk through tiny holes at high
      temperatures and pressures which damages its nutrients.
       Unlike the cholesterol in fresh milk, the cholesterol in non-fat dried milk is oxidized and this rancid cholesterol promotes heart disease
      – All spray dried products (non-fat dried milk) has a high nitrite
      content
      – Precious enzymes are destroyed in the pasteurization process
       Without them, milk is very difficult to digest
       The pancreas can’t produce these enzymes;
       stress of the pancreas = diabetes and other diseases

      As for almond milk, I use the Silk brand and the only thing in the ingredients is water, almonds, thickener (like guar gum which is harmless) and vitamins. You can make your own at home where you just soak almonds in water. 🙂

    • Anonymous says:

      Thanks Maria! I did read your post the other day too about Whole Milk. It is amazing to read this stuff. It’s like we’ve been “brainwashed” for so long with fat is bad…fat is bad….that it is amazing to read a lot of your posts and see your successful clients stories. It is for sure proof that what you say works. 🙂 Thanks for all the great information all the time!
      Thanks!!
      Jan

    • Thanks Jan. My clients are always amazed that they more fat they eat, the more they lose. They even start saying “I am so full through the day that sometimes I skip a meal”. Really changes how we eat. 🙂

  • Anonymous says:

    jtlyk, Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Original & Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk has 0g carbs! this is an amazing recipe, though!
    have a nice day 🙂

  • Crystal says:

    hey, how would you make a low-carb iced coffee latte?

  • Debbie says:

    I love chai latte made with my keurig coffee maker. I have the filters to use regular coffee, but I need to know how to make my own healthy chai lattee mix that I can use my filter and coffee maker. Don’t want sugar in commercial brands. Thanks

  • Christine says:

    I have seen so many awesome recipes substituting almond milk or almond flour but I’m allergic to almonds. Is there something I can use instead or am I just sorely out of luck?

  • Roni says:

    I am interested in making this Chia tea but I am questioning the amount of the Swerve. Its only 16 ounces of liquid and you are saying to add 4 Tablespoons os Swereve. Is this correct?

  • KathyM says:

    Could you just use almond meal/flour instead of the whole almonds?

  • Michelle says:

    Did you use coconut milk for the photo? that looks so super thick and creamy, much thicker than any almond milk I have ever had. I cant wait to make this one again!

    • cemmerich says:

      This is just almond milk with some ice cubes in it.

      • Linda Ponzetto says:

        What is the size of the motor in your mixer? Mine is only 1500. It dosnt do a very good job of grinding and mixing. It’s just a cheap NINJA. Any ideas to really grind up the almonds better? Would a food processor work with only a little water at first, then move to the mixer with more water??

  • Lori says:

    How do you strain the almonds? Is there a special machine? I have a ninja. Would that work? :-/

  • linda says:

    I just made some homemade almond milk. Wow…it was goood. I love the idea of dehydrating the pulp that is left. I really would hate to through it away. Would the nutrient breakdown be the same as the unsweetened Silk almond milk?

  • How did you make that beautiful foam at the top?

  • Meme says:

    Love your website and thanks for the recipe, especially the almond milk one.

  • Beatriz Feteira says:

    Hi, Maria,
    Do you use blanched or unblanched almonds to make the almond milk ?
    Thanks.

  • Amanda D says:

    Hi Maria,

    I’ve eaten low carb since 2002, and discovered your blog yesterday through Facebook after my brother-in-law commented on a post. I already owned a ton of low-carb recipe cookbooks, but upon checking out your website I was really impressed by all of the great recipes. I immediately bought one of your books and look forward to checking out more. I just ran into the recipe above, and was intrigued by the note on ALA supplements. The link to your favorite ALA supplement is temporarily unavailable. What is the brand you recommend?

    Thanks! Amanda

  • Amanda D says:

    Haha! I just scrolled back up and saw a picture of an ALA supplement staring me in the face. I’ll check out Pure Encapsulations. Thanks for all of the great recipes and info!

  • Tamara says:

    I love regular lattes and would like to try a chai latte. I’ve tried almond milk lattes, but just don’t care for them, so I’ve been getting them with whole milk. Someone recommended that I try cashew milk because it is creamier. What are your thoughts on cashew milk? Thanks!

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