Gosh! I was getting ready to write a post about how happily vegan I am now and also wanted to recommend a particular brand of almond milk I found to be the best, ready with a picture of the bottle and all. And I just checked the Ingredient list and one thing immediately caught my eye: "Carrageenan". I remembered it from an article I read just yesterday about this seaweed extract being added to processed foods to give them a smooth texture, and how even though it's a seaweed by-product, it has been found to be carcinogenic. Then I immediately went back to the fridge to check my soy milk packet for the ingredient list, and there it was- carrageenan again! So if I have two cups of milk a day, everyday. Imagine, how much of this I will have consumed in say, just a year!
This takes me back to the concern I'd raised in this post about how I am apperhensive about the long-term effects of consuming these processed dairy substitutes. These are definitely a lot more processed than actual milk.
Then when I went to search on the internet for carrageenan-free almond milk I found that it was a very common search and there are a number of websites about these alternatives, and brands of almond milk and soy milk that are advertised to be carrageenan-free. But who knows what the next thing is that will pop up in the alternate ingredient list. I am getting too wary of buying anything premade these days, and have been minimizing it. Really, it gets to the question of how far it is feasible to go with all this, given our busy lives and living away from home and not having any family help.
Hmmm, so I make my own almond milk/soy milk or I go back to being non-vegan (anyway I was always ovo-vegetarian to begin with) or I remain vegan but have no form of milk and have black tea all the time. Wow! But I am so glad I checked the ingredients!
It would be awesome if I could somehow fit almond milk-making into my everyday schedule.
Let's see how it goes...
This takes me back to the concern I'd raised in this post about how I am apperhensive about the long-term effects of consuming these processed dairy substitutes. These are definitely a lot more processed than actual milk.
Then when I went to search on the internet for carrageenan-free almond milk I found that it was a very common search and there are a number of websites about these alternatives, and brands of almond milk and soy milk that are advertised to be carrageenan-free. But who knows what the next thing is that will pop up in the alternate ingredient list. I am getting too wary of buying anything premade these days, and have been minimizing it. Really, it gets to the question of how far it is feasible to go with all this, given our busy lives and living away from home and not having any family help.
Hmmm, so I make my own almond milk/soy milk or I go back to being non-vegan (anyway I was always ovo-vegetarian to begin with) or I remain vegan but have no form of milk and have black tea all the time. Wow! But I am so glad I checked the ingredients!
It would be awesome if I could somehow fit almond milk-making into my everyday schedule.
Let's see how it goes...
5 comments:
I appreciate your efforts to lead a vegan lifestyle, Sumi. I have thought about converting often, but have dismissed the idea precisely because of your recent discovery. Soy products become an entirely new beast to handle. When I was a child, my mom used to make almond milk during a particular phase, but we soon grew tired of the process and the challenges with traveling and eating out. I heard someone mentioning that there are places in Seattle that home-deliver cow's milk from cows that are organically raised and ethically treated. I know, it still doesn't address your concern of consuming milk that is only meant for the calf, let alone the fatigue associated with extracting the milk, but I guess we have to draw the line somewhere in our busy lifestyles. Wish you success with it!
I think that's another reason why I can empathize with our culture's deification of the cow, and its symbolism as a mother. It seems fair that they shouldn't be exploited more than what they are already being exploited for. With all cases concerning animal rights, human sustenance and survival vetoes other arguments.
I'd say going vegan has its risks...even without the carcinogens! My first attempt at going vegan left me with a Calcium deficiency(it was hard to find non-dairy milk in Bangalore back then). The second time, recently, I started having Soy milk for a while. But after 3-4 months, I learnt that I had developed a Vit-D deficiency plus a slightly high cholesterol and generally poor health. I'm not sure if there is a direct correlation between all that and using soy milk, but milk was definitely the only thing that had changed-my other food/exercise patterns had remained the same. So now, I've switched to organic dairy milk. Seems to be the only thing that works for me!
I know a friend who makes soy milk at home; it may be easier to prepare than almond milk. But you may be aware of the phyto-estrogens that soy and flax contain which mimic estrogen in the body, so regular consumption of those is not advisable.
http://www.hotbodytraining.com/the-truth-about-soy-and-flax/
Oh, wow, how unexpected! My head is reeling now :(
Thanks all for your comments. I have decided to make soy/almond milk at home. Just ordered this soymilk/nut milk maker from amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Soyajoy-G3-Soy-Milk-Maker/dp/B00420JV6S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348594454&sr=8-1&keywords=soymilk+maker . I'll post back on how it works out.
@neeraja: can I get some info about this (cow's milk in seattle)? are you able to send me some pointers to sumithra dot b at gmail please? Do u know if it's non-homogenized as well? Might consider it for my son.
And I have to agree completely that human sustenance/health vetos these considerations.
@Deepthi: somehow that sounds so cute. :) Well for Ca, soymilk has as much Ca as cow's milk and almond milk has more. Vit D hmmm... especially here in Seattle we get so little of it. But this summer's been good. I guess for all of us the rule should be to go get out in th sun as much as possible (even in winter), and with sunscreen on, of course. But if you notice these striking changes in health you should just stick to having milk, as you are... I guess there is no universal rule. Different things work for different people... hmmm....
@Apsara: Thanks for sharing that! Really useful. I looked up extensiely on this. Read about both camps (one camp arguing that the phytoestrogens actually block the cell receptors from real estrogen hence reducing the chance of breast cancner, and the other camp arguing that phytoestrogen acts just like estrogen thereby increasing your overall estrogen levels). And I also found articles/discusions about this where soy milk had different kinds of effects on different people. I have decided to rotate between soymilk and almond milk, and also, I usually have just a little bit with tea, which is two times a day, so it seems like it should be ok. SOmetimes I have a cup of plainn milk if I suddenly get hungry at night or something, and that I'll probably stop doing. I have been having flaxseed oil pills for a while now. Looked up on that too and the resources I looked at suggested that flax has been accepted as a safe food. Hmmm why does all this have to be so complex!
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