Pesticides and Chemicals in Nuts and Nut Milks

As a cancer and chemo survivor. It has become very important to me to make sure that what I put into my body is of the purest form, with the least amount of chemicals, toxins, pesticides, etc. I learn more about this every day and recently I started to do research on the process of nuts. The reason for this, is that I started to make recipes that require a lot of nuts, not to mention, both my husband and I ingest nut milks every day. The day I started my research was a day that someone on social media had mentioned that my favorite nut milk brand was not organic. Now, at first this didn't seem to bother me and I'm not sure why. 


The brand that I had fallen in love with is a brand called Elmhurst. The reason why I fell in love with the brand is that they have more than just one kind of nut milk. We had been drinking almond milk only for a while and I was excited to try other milks. The other reason I liked this product was that, by using a different method of extracting the milk/nutrients of the nut, they are able to get a creamier consistency with more nutrients than other nut milks. So I guess I kind of figured that the extra nutrients for the nuts made up for the fact that this product is not, in fact, organic. Plus the flavor of these milks is fantastic and they don't use any fillers or thickeners. They use two ingredients, water and nuts. There is a lot of good to say about these milks, but how important is organic vs fillers? (I contacted Elmhurst to ask if they planned on moving to organic any time soon, and they said no.)

If you can find an organic milk, made with organic nuts, would it be healthier because you are subjected to less toxins and chemicals going this route? The other option is buying organic and still having to deal with the fillers and thickeners and watch out for added salts, sugars and oils. So after doing some reading and digging. (I share all my sources at the bottom of the blog.) I realized that the nuts and seeds that are usually used for milks are highly processed with chemical and pesticides, including our precious almonds and many others. So after realizing this, I also looked into common thickeners and fillers found in nut milks, one article points out all of the common ones and what they are and how good/bad they are for us. They specifically mention a

controversial thickener called Carrageenan (comes from a red seaweed plant, pictured to the left) which was linked to cancer. The research isn't extensive on this, so it's hard to say, but at this point, if anything says it's linked to cancer, it's out for me. Lots of companies have been taking this thickener out of things, I've been seeing it less and less often which is good, but you HAVE to pay attention to ingredients labels. 

My conclusion after doing this research is that it is safer to consume a certified organic nut milk rather than drinking a milk that may be more nutrient rich. The antioxidants provided by nuts, isn't enough to veto the amount of pesticides and chemicals you are putting in your body by consuming the milk. However, if you drank it in tiny quantities along with a lot of other healthy antioxidant rich foods, your body might be able to overhaul the chemicals and pesticides you are taking in. Since I drink Golden Milk almost daily. I need a quality nut or seed milk that doesn't add any unneeded or unwanted things to my body that make it harder for it to operate. 

The absolute best option, although, can be time consuming and require certain kitchen gadgets is to make your own organic nut and seed milks at home. I've been doing research on this as well and trying to find the best nut and seed milks that won't break the bank, but are also easy to make. Below you find a link to a site that gives you recipes for 3 seed milks, it does mention needing a high speed blender to break up the seeds though. Otherwise you might need to soak the seeds so they break up easier. 

Making your own seed milks.

Making your own almond milk.

Making your own nut milk.

I've also heard about this machine called the Almond Cow. Have

you heard of it? It's been all over social media. I heard it can make milks out of any nuts, not just almonds, and without the straining. The problem is, it's a $200.00 investment. So it would just depend how much you want to invest on making your own organic nut milks. I also found similar items on amazon for half the price. So you might be able to try one of those instead, or if you already have a high speed blender, like me, maybe try out the organic seed milks first, especially since some seeds will be cheaper than nuts making them a more financially stable source. 

Sources:

https://www.ehow.com/list_5796861_list-seeds-should-buy-organically.html

https://nutritiouslife.com/drink-up/common-nut-milk-additives/

https://almondcow.co/products/almond-cow-milk-machine?gclid=Cj0KCQiA0ZHwBRCRARIsAK0Tr-qo7hA0sNjqjsyP6RURfertHEbyT334RCMptEaGke8JrrjHjs4-u3IaAvyUEALw_wcB

https://elmhurst1925.com/?cawelaid=120338840000000119&catrk=spfid-1&caagid=44624726075&catci=kwd-330261232039&capcid=203254575748&cadevice=c&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0ZHwBRCRARIsAK0Tr-qaLNfOD1B4NlQEjCQkiGISGvQkYB8L35kA1CDai9lyCEF-2nHFwlAaAsKrEALw_wcB

https://www.worldwellnesseducation.org/nuts-and-seeds/

https://nuts.com/tag/raw?query=hemp&refinementList%5BProduct.facets.value%5D%5B0%5D=raw

What to do About Holiday Cravings

I wanted to start a conversation about Holiday Cravings. Whatever you celebrate, there are always lots of treats available around this time of year. For those of us that try to remain health conscious for whatever reason, whether it be that we are currently fighting disease, or whether we just want to feel good and treat our bodies well, even around the holidays, this can be a really challenging time for a lot of people. 

I don't know about you, but my cravings have been through

the roof lately for sweets and salty treats. When I think about the upcoming family holiday get togethers, I get nervous that I won't be able to resist some of the treats that will very likely be laid out for everyone to enjoy. Now, I have a stronger motivation than some, since I am currently dealing with cancer, but even so, I am still struggling like I am sure everyone is around this time of year. 

So, what can we do to solve this. First of all, let's talk about what we can do at home. Around this time of year, I just want to bake and I want to bake sugary treats to snack on during the day and I want comfort foods as well. I think part of the reason for this is that it's cold outside and my body craves sustenance. But I don't need to fill my body with crap to get sustenance, I just need to fill my house with the right kinds of foods so that I'm not tempted to eat a bunch of junk. 

My Solution: I start every morning with a celery juice. This is part of my plan to heal myself. I don't expect everyone to jump on board with that, but I feel amazing after ingesting this and I let it get through my system before eating anything else, which takes about 30 minutes. 

After that I have a big detox smoothie. You can put whatever

you want in your smoothie, but if you are curious, I put 1 banana, a cup of mixed berries, a cup of wild blueberries, 1 cup of chaga tea (brewed with cinnamon and cloves), chaga extract powder, SuperGreen powder from Superyou.com, chia seeds, flax seeds. I use a nutribullet to blend it all up and drink that. It usually keeps me full and satiated for 1-2 hours. 

So here is my trick for the rest of the day, because I feel like my cravings really start to hit once my smoothie is through my system and I'm ready for more food. It is important to have things in your house that you can snack on. For me what has been really helpful is having home made whole food plant based burgers pre-made and frozen in the fridge. I'm not huge on bread, so what I have been doing is heating a burger in a pan and then eating it with greens and homemade Whole Food Plant Based mayo and mixed greens. Not only is this healthy, but it also is very satiating. it keeps me full until lunchtime easily. The following link is the burger I've been making. it does take some prep time, but makes about 4-5 burger patties which lasts the whole week and it's very flavorful and tasty, however you can use any WFPB recipe that you want.  Whole Food Plant Based Burger Recipe The following is a recipe for some mayo. I enjoy the flavor, but I will admit, it doesn't taste like traditional mayo. It works great for this purpose though. Whole Food Plant Based Mayo Recipe.

For Lunch, I always make sure I have my favorite salad stuff around. I like to try to eat raw most of the day and having my favorite salad items along with a yummy homemade dressing makes it easy to eat a healthy lunch. My favorite salad fixings are mixed greens, spinach, cucumber, avocado, beets, carrots, cabbage, and sprouts (whatever I can find at whole foods). For the dressings there are many options. I usually make a Tahini dressing with apple cider vinegar, Tahini, coconut aminos, garlic, turmeric, salt, pepper, and oregano. The following link is for a ranch dressing as well. Whole Food Plant Based Ranch Dressing

Meal planning is really important too! Not only can you pick

meals that you love, or that you've always wanted to try, but this ensures that all of your meals stay within the confines of your healthy diet. For dinner, I like cooked food, especially since it's winter, and my husband and I always enjoy our dinners because I carefully plan yummy meals that are whole food plant based, full of nutrition, but also delicious. I change the menu up every week so we don't get bored. If you are interested in meal planning, I strongly recommend using Pinterest. Just search for Whole Food Plant Based No Oil recipes and tons will come up! 

Okay, so also, at home. It's really important to stock your fridge, fruit bowl, and counter tops with healthy snacks. My husband loves to have things like hummus and veggies prepped in the fridge. We also like to make crackers and chips in our dehydrator to have around to munch on and I like to have my favorite fruits to snack on. Lately it's been honey crisp apples and mandarin oranges. My favorite fruits change by season. I also try to have some sort of baked good on hand. Lately I've been practicing making some healthy muffins that are also gluten free. Here are a couple of the recipes I have tried Lemon Blueberry Muffins and Chunky Monkey Muffins so far. I added more lemon and more applesauce to the blueberry muffins as well as extra blueberries. They have to be eaten rather quickly though, otherwise they get moldy, but they are delicious! Just eat them within 3 days. The Chunky Monkey recipe, I'm still working on. They turned out really dry. I will let you know if I come up with a good way to moisten them up. The point being, that having these treats on board and on your counter makes it so much easier to avoid eating bad foods at home. Especially if you just don't allow them in your house. 

A personal anecdote: The other day, I was waiting for my husband to get home to eat dinner, and normally, I'd start getting crabby because I'd be hungry and he would be late. He always says I can eat without him, but I try to avoid that when I can. So the other night when he was running late, I ended up eating a couple seed crackers and a mandarin orange and this happily satiated me so I could patiently for my husband to get home. It's just simple things like having your favorite fruits, veggies, muffins, cookies or snacks around that are healthy and easily available to you. 

One healthy treat I love to make that is super easy are these Banana Chocolate Chip Oat cookies. The only ingredients are mashed banana, Rolled Oats, Vegan Sugar Free Chocolate chips (I use Lily's Brand) and Cinnamon. Throw all the ingredients together and then bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. They are great for snacking. I also enjoy a Turmeric Latte as an after dinner snack sometimes. The warm plant milk usually fills my tummy so I don't feel like I need anything else the rest of the night, plus it helps me sleep. 

Okay, So now let's dig into the most difficult part of the

holidays. Going to those family holiday gatherings can be tough, especially when your family does not eat the way you do. So, as frustrating as it might be to do so. You just have to plan on providing your own treats. What I mean by this is anything that you would normally crave or want to eat at a holiday gathering, think ahead and make something similar that still follows your healthy diet. For example, If your family does a breakfast every year that is stuffed with dairy, eggs, or sugar. Think about what you could bring that would satiate you. For example, this year, I plan on bringing a delicious Tofu Scramble for breakfast, some sort of Whole food plant-based cookie, or dessert  and for lunch time I'm planning on bringing a big crockpot of homemade BBQ jackfruit and some buns to make sandwiches. I'm also making a macaroni salad. These things will keep me happy and satiated and I won't want or crave the other items that will be around that are full of bad things for my body like sugars and oils. 

It takes some planning and prepping, but if you choose items that can be made in advance and heated up the day of, it makes things so much easier. Most of the things I have planned this year can be made in advance when I have the energy. The items listed above for Christmas day will all be made the day before, except the tofu scramble which I will make the morning of and heat up at my sister's house. Just plan accordingly and you will be just fine! 

If you have questions or need ideas for recipes, feel free to hit me up in the comments and I'll be happy to respond. Enjoy your holidays and Good luck beating those holiday cravings!