You would think buying nut milk would be simple. It should be 2 ingredients, but these days there are so many options and some have a half dozen ingredients or more.
Today I want to help you navigate the fridge section of your local grocery store to help you pick the best nutmilk.
What to Look For
The less ingredients the better.
I have found Almond Milk’s on store shelves that had just a handful of ingredients. You want to find these milks.
Carrageenan Free
Carrageenan is a thickening agent that is made out of red seaweed. Although it seems natural, it has been linked to digestive distress ( gas and bloating), IBS, and colon cancer. It is also the cause of chronic inflammation which is the leading cause of all dis-ease.
Avoid Natural Flavors
Natural flavors are anything but natural. They are made using the same process as artificial flavors, see this quote from Bon Apetite
“Both natural and artificial flavors are synthesized in laboratories, but artificial flavors come from petroleum and other inedible substances, while “natural flavor” can refer to anything that comes from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf—yes, we’re still going—meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or anything fermented from those foods, according to Food and Drug Administration spokesperson Deborah Kotz.
Look for Added Sugar
Most flavored nut milks are loaded with added sugars. Be sure to read the ingredients to see what sources the sugar is coming from and opt for unsweetened or natural sweetened options (like dates).
No to Added Vitamins and Minerals
When you see additional vitamins and minerals on the nutrition labels this is usually a sign that it was fortified or enriched. This means that a nutrient is lost during the chemical process of creating a food and then a synthetic version is added back in. Your body does not absorb the synthetic nutrients in the same way.
Look For organic
Nuts and oats are some of the most highly sprayed food items we have. When we are consuming nut milks we are being exposed to higher concentrations of the chemicals that we normally would by snacking on nuts/seeds, or eating oats. It’s very important to choose organic to avoid being exposed to pesticides, herbicides, glyphosate, and insecticides.
avoid Added Oils
Something I have seen a lot of is nutmilk and oat milk brands adding oils to their milks. The oils they are using (sunflower, and rapeseed aka canola) are the most inflammatory oils you can ingest. Nuts are naturally oily (fat!) and don’t need any oils added!
my top grocery store picks
So now that you know what to look for, I wanted to make this a little easier. Here are my go to brands for nut milks that follow all the rules above!
Three Trees
This tastes the most like fresh homemade almond milk of all the milks I’ve tried. The ingredients in the original are just water and almonds, but the vanilla flavor is my favorite.
It doesn’t contain any sugar like most brands and uses vanilla bean and extract for flavor!
Malk
I really love with this brand stands for. They use organic ingredients, no gums fillers, artificial sweeteners, or carrageenan. They also have a nice variety of milks that are pretty uncommon like pecan and cashew milk!
New Barn
New Barn is another almond milk that I think tastes really fresh. Although this brand has some gums it is Whole30 approved and one of the cleaner versions on the shelf.
I haven’t found an Oat Milk brand that I like, Oatly uses Rapeseed Oil, and Califia Sunflower Oil - if you know of a clean oatmilk brand let me know and I can update!
Make Your Own
If you want to try making your own nut milk visit my instagram page for an easy recipe that requires no soaking or nut bag!