Oat milk is great for weight loss due to its nutritional balance and lower number of calories compared to regular milk. Oat milk is high in protein and calcium, both of which aid in weight loss.
In the rest of the article, we’re going to explore why oat milk is good for weight loss, see how it compares to regular milk, and learn about calorie deficits.
What Are the Benefits of Oat Milk?
Oat milk is a valuable ingredient to have in your kitchen if you’re losing weight as it has fewer calories than regular milk while still being quite high in protein and calcium, both of which are helpful for weight loss. Also, because oat milk is fully plant based, it’s great for vegans who might be struggling to find foods that fit their weight loss diet.
Oat Milk Has Fewer Calories than Regular Milk
Oat milk is significantly less calorific than regular cow’s milk. Where an average cup of normal milk will have around 260 calories, oat milk typically has about half of that. This means that you can drink the same quantity of oat milk while increasing your calorie deficit or alternatively, drink double the amount without harming your calorie deficit.
Oat Milk is High in Protein and Calcium
Oat milk has a very good nutritional balance if you’re trying to lose weight. Specifically, it has a decent level of protein, which can fill that niche if you don’t eat much or any animal products, and a very high level of calcium. Calcium is already associated with milk, and this is no less true for oat milk, which is even higher in calcium than regular milk.
Protein is helpful to weight loss for two reasons. The first is that the reactions it causes inside your body tell your brain that you’re feeling full faster. If you’re drinking a glass of oat milk with your meal, you might find yourself finishing sooner, and if you have it as a snack, it’s more likely to end your food cravings for that moment on its own.
Protein is also good for weight loss when you consider the effects of diet induced thermogenesis. In simplest terms, your body needs to use energy to process the food that it’s taking in, even if it’s taking it in to give it energy. Protein needs the highest proportion of energy to be broken down, with up to 30% of the calories being used up in this process.
The very high calcium content in oat milk is also a boost to your weight loss. While calcium is not often associated with gaining or losing weight, studies have shown that fat cells with higher amounts of calcium stored within them will burn off fat faster than those with less calcium under the same conditions.
Oat Milk is Plant Based
If you’re vegan or otherwise trying to avoid animal products, oat milk is a great substitute for cow’s milk. Incorporating oat milk into your diet will liven up your meal variety loads without having to compromise your ideals or values.
Even if you’re not a vegan, the plant basis for oat milk comes with a lot of other nutritional benefits. Compared to cow’s milk, oat milk has significantly less fat, fewer carbohydrates in the form of sugar, higher vitamin D content, and no cholesterol whatsoever!
Is Oat Milk Healthier than Regular Milk?
Because oat milk and regular milk have such vastly different nutritional profiles, it’s difficult to say which is overall healthier than the other, but if your main focus is on weight loss specifically, oat milk is healthier than regular cow’s milk due to its lower fat and carb levels and higher calcium levels.
From a different perspective, regular milk can be healthier than oat milk due to its significantly higher levels of protein and broader range of nutrients, including potassium, phosphorous, niacin and vitamin B12. This greater variety will give your body a more well-balanced diet, which is beneficial to good health in the long run.
How Do You Lose Weight with a Calorie Deficit?
We learned earlier that many of the different ways that oat milk helps you lose weight is by ensuring a calorie deficit, but what exactly does this mean and is oat milk necessary for it? A calorie deficit is simply defined as your body burning more calories in any given time period than it takes in through food and drink.
While oat milk is helpful for this, you can create a calorie deficit with any combination of foods. To achieve this, you need to burn up more calories throughout the day, eat smaller quantities of food or less calorific food, or some combination of both.
Burning More Calories
Everyone burns calories throughout the day even if they don’t realize they’re doing it. This is known as the basal metabolic rate, and it’s why you need to eat regularly to stay alive. To burn more calories, you need to increase your body’s activity. The fastest way to do this is through exercise.
If you want to lose weight faster, intense aerobic exercises like running and swimming can double the number of calories your body burns throughout the day in the span of only a few hours. If you don’t want to put too much pressure on yourself, even walking can increase your calorie output significantly, so consider that next time you’re about to drive to somewhere within walking distance.
Eating Fewer Calories
The other half of the equation is reducing calorie intake. One effective way to do this is to get into the habit of eating fewer meals per day, thus making use of your stomach’s physical capacity to limit your food intake. If you would prefer not to do this, eating smaller meals will have the same effect.
Another useful way to reduce your calorie intake is to pick foods and drinks that are less calorific. The nutrition labels on foods will help you plan meals and snacks that won’t have a negative impact on your weight loss goals.
Conclusion
If you were wondering is oat milk good for weight loss, you’ve now learned that it is because it’s low in calories and high in protein and calcium. You also now understand how calorie deficits lead to weight loss and how they can be achieved with or without oat milk.
