I *think* Carrageenan Was Making Me Sick!

[taweavmo3]

I posted a few days ago that I have been feeling pretty crappy on and off for the past 4 months. I've been thinking of trying SCD, I am so desperate to feel better!

It dawned on me yesterday,that as our budget has increased, so has my Almond Breeze intake. Duh! I really love the stuff, and drink 3 or more cups a day, plus I bake with it. I did a little reading about carrageenan, and found that it is related to MSG, which I react strongly too. They changed their packaging a few months ago as well, and have really ramped up their marketing lately (commercials, new look, etc) and with new packaging may come new formulas.

Anyway, it's only been one day without Almond Breeze...and I do feel better. Whether it's in my head or for real, time will tell! I just wanted to post this in case someone else is feeling cruddy from a mystery ingredient

[AlysounRI]

God, I love almond milk too.

I'm not drinking it by the cup full but I do take my vitamins with it in the morning

and I put it in tea.

I have been getting Pacific brand organic almond milk.

The ingredients are:

Filtered Water, Evaporated Cane Juice, Almonds, Tricalcium Phosphates, Sea Salt, Potassium Citrate, Carrageenan, Soy Lecithin, Riboflavin (B2), Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2.

It's very tasty and it has less chemical stuff than the almond breeze milk.

But it still has carageenan. Those seem to be the only two choices now.

Have you considered rice milk or do you have problems with rice?

~Allison

[taweavmo3]

I'm fine with rice, I just really love the texture and taste of Almond milk. I'll give up the processed stuff in a heartbeat though if it means I'll feel better! I'll just make my own, it won't be as smooth, but at least it won't have added junk.

I'm wondering if this is why my dd has started struggling in school again too...our symptoms mirror each other most of the time, so it makes sense.

I had no idea carrageenan causes problems for many people, and can worsen inflammation. Wish I had known sooner, but oh well...live and learn, right?

[AlysounRI]

You can supposedly very easily make your own almond milk

I saw a recipe for it somewhere ... oh yes, I think in Carl Fenster's 1001 gluten-free recipes.

It's just a matter of getting those almond soft enough so that they won't kill the blades of your food processor!!

If you like I can type out the recipe from the book when I get home. Let me know. I am happy to do that.

~Allison

[jerseyangel]

Could very well be

I also react to carrageenan--a long time ago here on the board, someone suggested that it could be a problem for me since at that time I was using a lot of almond milk (Pacific) as you are now. As soon as I stopped the almond milk, I felt much better.

This is probably not related, but I continued eating almonds with no problems for a couple of years and more of them while trying to minimize my carb intake. I think I'm completely intolerant to them now.

Another thought--is Almond Breeze make on dedicated equipment?

[bittykitty]

I react to carrageenan as strongly as I react to MSG..stomach pain from the tiniest bit.Horizon shelf stable milk also uses it.I bought some for my coffee at work one day and started getting ill.Lo and behold,check the label, there it was.

How would one make homemade rice milk?

[AlysounRI]

Hi all:

As promised here is the almond milk recipe from Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes.

This recipe makes two cups of almond milk:

1/2 cup blanched almonds,

2 cups warm water,

1 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1/8 tsp. salt, or to taste.

In a blender process all of the ingredients until very, very smooth.

Strain through colander lined with cheesecloth and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

How might one make rive milk?

Well, you would have to soak the rice for a while in order to get it very mushy and then perhaps you could substitute the 1/2 cup blanched almonds for rice?

You would have to soak brown rice for longer, probably.

It might be worth a try?

~Allison

[bittykitty]

  On 4/14/2010 at 11:57 PM, AlysounRI said:

Hi all:

As promised here is the almond milk recipe from Carol Fenster's 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes.

This recipe makes two cups of almond milk:

1/2 cup blanched almonds,

2 cups warm water,

1 tsp. honey

1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1/8 tsp. salt, or to taste.

In a blender process all of the ingredients until very, very smooth.

Strain through colander lined with cheesecloth and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

How might one make rive milk?

Well, you would have to soak the rice for a while in order to get it very mushy and then perhaps you could substitute the 1/2 cup blanched almonds for rice?

You would have to soak brown rice for longer, probably.

It might be worth a try?

~Allison

Can't do the almonds..think my body got angry with me last summer about nuts(they were about 40% of my diet when I went gluten-free..easy to carry,didn't spoil in the summer heat) and cut me off in August.They make my face hurt now.The brown rice I'll try, though..seems like it would be easy enough.Having horchata again would be nice..

[taweavmo3]

Thank you for the almond milk recipe! I soaked my almonds last night, so I'm excited to make some milk today.

Woke up this morning without a nagging headache for the first time in a while, so I'm really hoping that carrageenan is the culprit that was making me sick for so long. Almond Breeze was about the last processed food item I bought...I have slowly gotten to the point of eating only whole foods and making everything myself. It seems to be the only way for us to stay healthy and truly gluten free. Funny how drastically our diet has evolved over the past 5 years since my dd's diagnosis!

[AlysounRI]

You are welcome all.

Good luck with the brown rice.

Carol Fenster doesn't have a recipe for rice milk, but I found one here:

Open Original Shared Link

Good luck!!

~Allison