Almond Milk Manifesto

An article I spotted on Food Babe’s Facebook page got me thinking. (Fair warning: you will see me reference Food Babe a lot – she is my idol and absolute fave blogger. Plus she lives here in Charlotte!)

http://www.cornucopia.org/2013/03/gut-wrenching-tell-fda-to-ban-carrageenan-common-food-ingredient-linked-to-intestinal-inflammation-bloating-irritable-bowel-syndrome-colitis-cancer-and-more/

So do I understand correctly? My organic almond milk might have a known carcinogen lurking inside?! WTF! I have been pretty smug lately for recently switching over to organic almond milk. The latte froth is to die for. Plus the more I learn about cow’s milk and the US dairy industry in general, the more disgustoballs it all seems. I’m lightly toying with the idea of giving up dairy for a while to see if it helps my skin, but just not mentally ready to make the leap. I hear that Whitewash is a fascinating read – I’ll let you know.

Anyways, almond milk seemed like a good baby step. When Dylan turns one, maybe I’ll start her on almond milk instead of cow juice – more research to come on that one. So upon further inspection of my Whole Foods 365 brand – I am safe on the carrageenan. Excellent. Here is a shopping guide for products sans carrageenan. However, what are the other ingredients up in this mug? Lets check a few:
  

• Tricalcium Phosphate: A safe mineral additive which adds calcium to my sexy latte.
• Potassium Citrate: Stabilizing food additive which adds potassium.
• Natural Flavors: Ummmm SHADESTER alert!!! This could be literally anything. It could be wombat sweat. Come on Whole Foods!!
• Gellan Gum: Produced from algae fermentation, and used as a thickening agent – has a similar affect to carrageenan (silky mouth feel) with less safety concerns
• Sunflower Lecithin: A fatty substance from sunflower seeds as an emulsifier – gives a creamy texture. Generally quite safe and non-GMO. (Unlike Soy Lecithin)
• Xanthan Gum: Food additive which adds a gel-like quality – derived from fermented corn. Seems pretty safe unless you are hyper-allergic.

So not terrible I guess…more additives than I might hope for, but still better than hormoney udder juice. Through this research, I found a few recipes for how to make your own almond milk, which seems like the best answer. Here and here are a couple good methods, but it simply seems to involved soaking, grinding, straining. Plus you get to use something called a nut milk bag. Bahahaha.

Share your thoughts – do you have a favorite almond milk? Do you prefer soy milk, other dairy alternatives?