I'm getting ready to start my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. I have chocolate and vanilla Premier ready to drink shakes and I bought some Unjury unflavored powder - what do you mix with it .... Soy Milk or Almond Milk, is one better than the other?

Any recipes you'd like to share ....

Soy milk has a much stronger flavor than almond milk.  My favorite is unsweetened cashew milk (only 25 calories per 8 ounce serving).  It has a thicker, creamier, consistency and has a faint "dairy" flavor.

I like Almond milk better, but because I have a soy allergy.  

I liked Almond milk better than cashew milk, but I don't know why.  

And count my vote for soy!  I find the nut milks to be watery, and the soy to be creamy and rich.  I use unsweetened organic by Silk brand and also the a Kirkland unsweetened organic from Costco.

Soy milk usually has a higher protein value as well.

Seems like it is such a personal preference.  You probably have to try a number of different ones before you know your favorite.  

Note that different brands of Soy have different flavors, and different packaging makes a difference too.  For example, boxed shelf soy tends to taste different from the refrigerated soy.

 Almond milk, as long as it's unsweetened, is a good choice, but I prefer unsweetened cashew milk if I'm going to drink a non dairy milk. The flavor is more neutral compared to almond milk. Honestly, I would never use soy milk.

As far as protein shakes go, after surgery, make sure you use a protein powder or RTD shake made with 100% whey protein isolate. Premier doesn't contain it. We absorb that type well, and that is really important early out, when we're healing. There are quite a few brands. Sample packs ordered from various sites would be helpful to you, so you're not stuck with a huge tub of gross protein powder.

Good luck!

Nut milks (i.e. soy and cashew).

Soy has pytoestrogens (i.e. plant estrogens).  People used to think these (i.e. phytoestrogens were great) but others have suggested soy is linked to bloating PMS, water retention and weight gain.

http://www.rickosborn.com/soy-can-negatively-affect-your-wei ght-health/

Notably, I can only find woo-woo holistic sites such as the above that say this. I cant quickly locate article that agrees with the holistic people on pubmed.

My takeaway is this. You are doing the pre-op diet. The surgeon and the Nut are going to expect a certain amount of weight lost. If you are having "a reaction" to the soy milk and are bloated/retaining water, that scale isnt going to show a weight loss. This is one of the more critical times in your journey as what the scale says may indicate to the surgeon whether you are compliant with his diet/directions or not. If you are giving a FALSE NEGATIVE (i.e. you falsely look like you arent complying with the diet wehn you really are, your effort is hidden by bloat) you may needlessly raise a RED FLAG to him or his NUT.

So save yourself ONE fight and just go wiht a nut milk (provided you arent allergic to those)...

Maybe I need to rethink soy.  I never had to do protein shakes on my pre op diet.  I only use it for a creamer in my non-coffee coffee.  

I do a lot of research on natural remiedues - food and herbal.  As far as I know - THE Only really good soy products - really beneficial for us are fermented soy products. 

The soy milk and soy proteins - are very chemically processed by products of do it oil industry.  The make the oil and then left with the "grey -smelly stuff that they need to do something with" clean it with chemical (mostly caustic chemicals) and sell to lasers as healthy food..  

Soy sauce, miso, thempeth... - if you not allergic to soy - these may be great. Anything else... Ugh... Not so much... 

Btw: I used to believe in a whole soy hype in late 90's... It almost destroyed my thyroid, made me very anemic (heavy periods) and ...at the end I developed severe soy allergy. Soy is in so many things - from soy oil, soy lecithin, soy protein added to anything to increae the protein content (i.e meat and bread products) ... 

Just be careful people... 

I dont like the fact that you got sick from soy.

I like that you survived and can provide REAL HONEST TESTAMENT to soy.

You understand the processing of soy very well too.

HALA, every day, I grow more impressed with your knowledge base!

If a soy milk is labeled as "organic," would it still be processed this way?

Before my WLS, I actually was a real purist about my food.  I read all kinds of things and strived to implement clean eating, and did all kinds of elimination diets, thinking these impure foods were the cause of my weight issue.

After WLS, I find that, although still conscious about such things, I am not as uber-careful.  It is as if, I realized the problem all along was sugar, carbs, overeating. 

I have satisfied my worry be thinking I am doing OK if the soy milk is labeled organic.  Do you think that is still a problem?  I do not do protein shakes, but I do probably drink about 3/4 cup a day of the unsweetened organic soy.