Currently: feeling bad.
Why?
Welllllll, I FEEL SO BAD WHEN I’m not fully informed on a subject I blog about.
( AKA that one time I blogged about sugar-free whipped cream— OUCH ! ).
Even though I feel crappy when I realize ‘oh shit, I didn’t know about THAT in (insert food/drink)!’, I know that’s part of life & obviously I don’t know it all.
So. Almond milk.
I just recently posted about Pure Almond Milk ( remember the DIY Frappacinos? ). WELLLL, I won’t be ever drinking Pure Almond Milk again.
Here’s why: there’s this nasty-ass ingredient called ‘carrageenan’ in it:
Hold up. We all know I’m super fussy with ingredients…so let’s dissect: this source says: “sometimes eating something natural isn’t good for you. A completely unnecessary ingredient derived from red seaweed hides out in a lot of your favorite foods, causing inflammation, gut irritation, and potentially, cancer. Many food manufacturers—even some makers of commercial organic foods—are adding carrageenan to foods like yogurt, chocolate, soy milk, and even ice cream to give the foods a thicker consistency and to make low-fat versions taste fuller. It’s often added to beverages to keep their ingredients from separating; you’ll find it in many nutritional shakes, milk products, and milk replacements. The ingredient even crops up in certain frozen dinners, soups, and commercial broth products.”
According to another source: “carrageenan, a heavily discussed additive in the world of alternative health, is an indigestible polysaccharide that is extracted from red algae, and is most commonly used in food as a thickener or stabilizer. Carrageenan-containing seaweeds have been used for centuries in food preparations for their gelling properties, but the refined, isolated carrageenan found in modern processed foods has raised concerns in the health-conscious online community.”
There’s been A LOT ( like, A LOT, A LOT ) of studies that show that sick-o carrageenan gives people gut issues too.
Hmmmm…
BT dubs, “the concern over food-grade carrageenan isn’t new. Beginning in the 1960s, researchers started linking the ingredient to gastrointestinal disease in lab animals, including ulcerative colitis, intestinal lesions, and colon cancer.”
Like, no thanks! Pass!
My advice? Well, really I can’t take all the credit; I watched a video featuring Food Babe ( love her! ) & she found a brand from Whole Foods called 365 that doesn’t have the fishy additive. So point: drink 365 if possible!
Let’s be real…I wish I could like, oh ya, I totally churn my own almond milk on the reg! But that’s just not practical with my active, busy lifestyle. It’s just a reality I’ve recently had to come to terms with. So when in doubt, I reach for the Whole Food’s brand 365.
I love almond milk in green smoothies, raw cereal, tea, & my AM cinnamon coffee ( as shown ).
All in all: you do you. If you don’t care about drinking almond milk with carrageenan, then by all means DRINK IT!
I mean, there’s definitely things I compromise on. For instance, I love In & Out milk shakes every once in a while ( the half chocolate, half vanilla though ) but when it comes to something I drink daily & the taste isn’t compromised, you better bet your ass I’m reaching for the lesser of two evils.
What’s your stance? Would love to know!
TATA, x Lauryn
{ straws found here }
Comment
look up food babe.com for info regarding this nasty ingredient! She is amazing!!!
LOVE Food Babe. She’s a killer investigator. I have a lot of respect for her. x
completly agree!!! Crazy scary ingredients in our food! Thanks for doing the research and helping to inform your fans! Xoxo
Yay! Glad you liked the info!
Have you had this almond milk in their lattes? It’s pretty incredible – LOVE IT!
YUMMMMM. Trying this ASAP.
It’s literally amazing – do a latte with the vanilla if you can – you will need NO sweetener, and it gives the latte, especially the iced latte, a really nice creamy quality without tons of calories!
Great post! Don’t feel bad there are so many crazy ingredients hidden everywhere! I feel proud after I have learned something and then something is saying an opposing side. Thanks for the information!
XO Chloe
You’re right! I should feel proud I learned something. Thanks Chloe!
Thanks for this info I had no idea! Just went through my fridge and tossed out food with this sick ingredient!
Yay! This makes me so happy!
What’s wrong with that whip cream? I use the 365 brand no sugar added fat free whip on fruit to satisfy a sweet craving. Sorry totally off topic here!
So informative! Gotta go check the list of ingredients on the almond milk in my fridge!
Silk is also another brand without carrageenan. I get the unsweetened original, it’s delish!! Thanks for bringing this up, it’s important because they try to sneak this one in on us awesome organic babes, not cool!
Thanks so much for letting us know about this! I am a huge almond milk fan & will definitely keep an eye out for this ingredient next time I’m at the grocery store.
Thank you for posting this! I too am a foodbabe lover and found out about Carageenan through her! Our FAVE Almond/Coconut blend has it and I’ve been reaching out via social media to see if they will change it and they say they’re ‘working on it’ … Will have to try this one!
Thank you again for sharing!
Have you tried making your own almond milk?…it’s super easy! Just soak in filtered water over night,drain, add to blender with filtered water and dates and/or almond extract if you wish..blend and strain with either a nut bag (
Wow- thanks for the info- had no idea and I’m studying nutrition right now. No more almond breeze for me or my lil one!:/
Carrageenan is typically always found in almond milk not in the fridgey section. It is still found in some rhat are refrigerated. Look out for it in some coco waters and coffee drinks.
Oh man! [picks up carton of Blue Diamond Almond Milk and pours down the sink] *glug* *glug* *glug* goes the NASTY sludge!
Yeyyy….. I’ve got some Rude Health Almond Milk…. No stabilisers, no unnatural additives or thickeners! Boom!! Coffee time…
Thanks for updating me! Xx
If I see an unknown ingredient on a product I try to leave it in the shelf! I do my research before buying that product :)! Great you found out about it!!
Almond milk is the best thing that ever happened to my coffee, but I didn’t know about the icky factor in most. Thanks for the healthy info!!
You read my mind with this post! I was so wishing that one of my fave bloggers would give some guidance on Almond Milk. Everyone says how good it is, but I would go to Trader Joes and read the ingredients and think.. Eewwwyy! I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it! Thanks sooo much for this great post!! Xoxo
Thanks for the info and your honesty!
No worries! Thanks for reading babe!
I love Food Babe, too- she is such an inspiration and one of the reasons I finally started my own blog! I totally agree with you on carageenan- thanks for helping to spread the word bc so many people still don’t know about this nasty lil ingredient! Kimberly Snyder has some great info. about it on her blog, too!
Just another thing I wouldn’t have realized without your help. Thanks for being on guard of all the junk in food out there.
I’m such a tattletale LOL! : )
Do you have any advice on good coconut milk?? I’d appreciate any tips 🙂
summerandatlantic.blogspot.com
Hi. Do you know whether Earth’s Own almond milk has carrageenan in it? Thank you. Anne
Trader joes doesn’t have c in it neither does silk almond milk 🙂
I love your blog! But one question; where do you find these straws and mugs / cups that look like cute little jars? I can’t seem to find them haha.
Dude Lauryn, thanks for the info! I had no idea. I like coconut milk and of course my unsweetened silk brand coconut milk has this ingredient. I think this is the push I need to just nut up (haha 😉 ) and make my own almond milk already!
Hum, I had read about this before but you know how sometimes you just ignore a fact because it makes life more complicated? That said, I was careful for a while to choose almond milk that doesn’t have carrageenan considering the amount of smoothies I make in a week but with time I got lazy and stopped looking at labels. After reading this though I am now making it a point to watch out for this nasty ingredient and make my daily smoothie as healthy as possible. Thanks Lauryn!
I went to buy the aloe vera you suggested and saw carrageenan listed as an ingredient in there too fyi, stinks they use it in so many products!
Wow! I had not idea about this ingredient and will definitely be checking my almond milk labels from now on. I don´t have a Whole Food where I live (Mexico), but I will try to find a brand that HEB carries sans carageenan!
Thanks for the tidbit!
Stephanie
http://ishowedupinboots.com
Yes! I started drinking almond milk earlier this year… not only is this one the best, its the cheapest! Sometimes people are so stupidly afraid of the store brand stuff!!
please share your cinn coffee recipe… eeep would love to know!!
xoxo
Thanks Lauren – I wish I had told you this a while ago. I found this out too, why does frozen yogurt give you gas . . . well – Carrageenan is the culprit! As soon as I quit eating that, even small amounts – problem fixed!
FYI – Silk 30, Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk – in the refrigerated section of the fridge (not the little quart boxes in the canned milk section) does not have Carrageenan in it either, and it’s a “NonGMO Project Verified” item!!!
Thank you so much for sharing! Do you eat cottage cheese? If so what is a good brand to be eating because I just read the ingredient list on mine and almost fainted!
Thanks a lot for posting definitely homemade almond milk is better than all other dairy products available on the market these days. I love almond milk and I am greatly fascinated by its health benefits around us. Here I also have some info regarding almond milk that will be a great value to all its readers.
http://www.body-in-balance.org/blog/nutrition/health-benefits-almond-milk/
I’m so glad you wrote about this!!!!
I just went to my fridge and found carrageenan everywhere! It was in all of my truste healthy dairy foods!
Could you blog more about specific brands and products? I have no idea what I’m doing and am on an adventure to lose 40 lbs in the next 5 months.
Thanks!
Found a great new brand of almond milk (at least new to me?)… http://www.thenewbarn.com/
Rushed to look at the labeling on my almond milk after this post, but was relieved to see this:
https://www.almondbreeze.com/faq/carrageenan-faqs/
Hey Lauryn,
Thank you for writing about this! I love my almond milk but had no idea about this ingredient. I usually go for Almond Breeze, 30 calories, and their website says they replaced carrageenan with gellan gum. Thoughts on this?
Awesome blog! I really enjoy reading your articles. Keep it up and thanks a lot for sharing and posting!
thank you for the support!