shelley417 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I was wondering why carrageenan is something to avoid? If it is something's really bad for you, why only for 30 days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted October 1, 2012 Moderators Share Posted October 1, 2012 The Whole9 only tells you what to do only during a Whole30. What you do after that is up to you, but you should never eat carrageenan. See the Health Concerns section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan. See also http://blog.healthkismet.com/carrageenan-cancer-health-inflammation and http://www.notmilk.com/carageenan.html. There is lots more where this comes from, but these are a nice start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelley417 Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 It's in almond milk!! Is there almond milk without carageenan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 It's in almond milk!! Is there almond milk without carageenan? Almond milk in a carton is nasty stuff and definitely not on the Whole 30 plan. I don't think I've ever seen it with clean ingredients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 You can read Melissa's response to this question here: http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/963-confused-about-carrageenan/page__p__7808__hl__carageenan__fromsearch__1#entry7808 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutmegananne Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 This is definitely something new I'm learning since joining Whole 30. I feel like I know a good bit about the effects and drawbacks of a lot of different food additives, but this one is new to me. I have not noticed any in anything on my Whole 30 yet, but that may be because I'm really eating very little stuff with "labels." Besides almond milk, where else is it often found? I definitely think I want to avoid it for my family in the future... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 This is definitely something new I'm learning since joining Whole 30. I feel like I know a good bit about the effects and drawbacks of a lot of different food additives, but this one is new to me. I have not noticed any in anything on my Whole 30 yet, but that may be because I'm really eating very little stuff with "labels." Besides almond milk, where else is it often found? I definitely think I want to avoid it for my family in the future... It is in lots of thing, now that you've seen it you'll start to notice it more. My concern was finding it in coconut milk products (which we were using to replace dairy, while on a gut healing mission for my children) I inquired about it yesterday and Dallas responded (below) and then I noticed this post so I thought I would share it for everyone's benefit in case they missed it: It is a seaweed derivative, and as long as it's a very pure form (i.e. high quality and stored under optimal conditions) and the gut is completely intact, it could be completely safe, However, given that 1) many companies source carrageenan from the cheapest sources possible, it's likely than some of the carrageenan (large molecules) are partially degraded into poligeenan (smaller molecules). Poligeenan is small enough to cross the gut barrier and provoke serious inflammation in the body, not unlike gliadin (gluten) in some senses. But even IF the carrageenan IS still intact and not degraded, any ongoing increased gut permability would allow the intact carrageenan to pass into the gut and create a significant inflammatory response. So it's an arbitrary judgement call on our part: we're simply not willing to recommend something that is really problematic in many people, especially those with a gut that is still undergoing healing/normalization. If someone has a very healthy gut AND the carrageenan is fully intact, it might be well tolerated. (Thank you again to Dallas and Melissa for your guidance on this topic!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.