Its not so much the total sugar i'm concerned about. it's additives that make me distrustful of a food at the store.
From a 'Whole Foods" perspective, naturally occurring sugar in cow's milk is ok to me. The problem i have with cows milk though is that i think i may be mildly lactose intolerant, or some other how sensitive to dairy foods. So i have been pondering milk substitutes.
I'm wary of foods that are made as substitutes for other foods in general, bc if you read the ingredients , they are mostly additives. ei, immitation chicken nuggets, immitation meats of all kinds. Just bc something is marketed as a healthier alternative does not make it a whole food in my view.
making my own almond milk does appeal to me though, where i can control what sweetner is used, if any. and i just got this recipe emailed to me the other day if anyone is interested:
http://drbenkim.com/almond-milk-recipe.htm