Confused about Almond Milk

[Kimberly G]

Somewhere online  I saw a post about which Almond Milks are Whole30 compliant.  They listed Califia unsweetened almond milk among others,...

Is this one compliant?  And am I allowed to have some cut up Banana with almond milk on it or a small glass of it if I am feeling hungry at night.....

I did do this the other night at like 11 pm, I was dying and I knew I couldn't sleep of I didn't have little something.  So I sliced half a banana with almond milk in a small bowl... It really helped tho!

[ShannonM816]

For any almond milk (or any packaged food of any kind, really) you have to read the label and be sure it follows the rules. If there are ingredients you're not sure about, check out the Sneaky Sugars List and the Common Additives Cheat Sheet, or google Whole30 + that ingredient to bring up any past discussions. I know Califia Farms makes some products that are compliant, and some that aren't, so you'd really want to look at the container you bought and see what it says.

Cut up bananas with almond milk or a small glass of almond milk are both technically okay, but a better option would be to have a combo of protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three. A hard boiled egg or some leftover chicken with some mayo or olives, for instance. Having fruit on its own rather than as part of a full meal can cause a spike in blood sugar, followed by a drop, which can leave you not feeling so great. It can also keep you craving sweets. 

[Kimberly G]

I did read the ingredients but there are a lot of ingredients listed on the label that I am not sure about....

which is why I am asking.

Rather than ask if each ingredient is complaint, ( which would be so time consuming)  I am just asking if that brand is compliant.?

[SugarcubeOD]

We generally don't say whether brands are compliant because they can change their recipes from region to region or month to month.. that's why it's better to just know with the downloads and practice, what is okay and what isn't so that brand becomes irrelevant.

[Kimberly G]

you don't know if it's complaint?  The ingredients are the ingredients, they don't change them, they are the same for the entire country....

[ShannonM816]

if the ingredients label looks like what is listed on this website, it is fine: https://www.califiafarms.com/unsweetened-almondmilk#/INGREDIENTS2

But yes, we are saying that foods vary. Foods produced in different factories in different regions can have different ingredients, even if they're sold under the same name -- so something that I find in Texas that is compliant, may be made using a different recipe by the supplier for the New York region that isn't. Food manufacturers can change recipes over time, so what was compliant today, may not be next year. That is why you need to learn to read the labels and be familiar with what is okay and what isn't, so that you can have control over what you choose to put in your body, rather than depending on people on the internet to figure it out for you.

 

[Kimberly G]

I couldn't find the ingredients label when i googled it, just the nutrition info... but this woman blogged that these almond milks are compliant.. (2nd one down)

http://www.oliveyouwhole.com/whole30/whole30-approved-almond-milk-brands/

I can compare to the list of compliant ingredients but what threw me off was ...the vitamin blend ingredient and the potassium Citrate... both not listed on the 

complaint list you have above....

ok, thanks for your help...

[laura_juggles]

You need to learn to read the ingredients label yourself. It'll make your shopping trips so much easier. 

This is the Whole30 Additives Cheat Sheet: http://whole30.com/downloads/additives.pdf It's important to note that it would be impossible for the W30 team to list every single possible additive in the world, so the big ones to look out for are the ones that are listed as off-limits. If it's not in the off-limits list, and not sugar, alcohol, dairy, grain, or a legume, then it's okay. 

Looking at ingredients on the internet can help before you go shopping, but recipes really do vary regionally and companies can change recipes at any time without notice. No one's beholden to Whole30 to let us know that they've change from Sunflower Lecithin to Soy Lecithin. We have to read the ingredients each time we buy something in a package, even if we've bought it 100 times. 

You can do it  

[noel]

Kimberly G., I'm so glad you asked about this. I use Blue Diamond Almond Breeze (unsweetened) for almost everything, in place of milk. I usually drink the unsweetened vanilla, but according to one of the links, that type is a little questionable bc of the vanilla aspect. Guess I'll stick to the plain almond milk for my Whole30, just to be on the safe side. Good luck!

[SugarcubeOD]

13 hours ago, Kimberly G said:

you don't know if it's complaint?  The ingredients are the ingredients, they don't change them, they are the same for the entire country....

I didn't check... because you need to learn how to read the labels.  There are a lot of downloads that are available that have the sneaky sugars, unacceptable additives etc... the list is not that long, so if you print it out and tuck it in your wallet and eventually become familiar with it, you'll know how to check.  We really want to give you the tools to know what you're consuming, even after Whole30.

[SugarcubeOD]

2 hours ago, noel said:

Kimberly G., I'm so glad you asked about this. I use Blue Diamond Almond Breeze (unsweetened) for almost everything, in place of milk. I usually drink the unsweetened vanilla, but according to one of the links, that type is a little questionable bc of the vanilla aspect. Guess I'll stick to the plain almond milk for my Whole30, just to be on the safe side. Good luck!

Drinking milk replacement is not recommended on the Whole30... we recommend you stick to water, coffee, tea.

[noel]

Thanks for the input, SugarcubeOD! I actually really meant almond milk for use in things like coffee, occasional beverage, ect. Although, I'm not sure why a lot of the recipes don't include it in the ingredients, like the mashed sweet potatoes instead of coconut milk.

[SugarcubeOD]

Oh, okay good

Not sure why people use one milk over the other but you're free to switch out as you see fit... often coconut milk is creamier/fattier than almond milk so it gives a richness sometimes you can't get from almond... and I can't stand the taste of heated almond milk which is why I default to coconut but I think it's all personal preference and availability of products

[Kimberly G]

12 hours ago, SugarcubeOD said:

I didn't check... because you need to learn how to read the labels.  There are a lot of downloads that are available that have the sneaky sugars, unacceptable additives etc... the list is not that long, so if you print it out and tuck it in your wallet and eventually become familiar with it, you'll know how to check.  We really want to give you the tools to know what you're consuming, even after Whole30.

I know to read labels and I know how to check things against what is compliant.... But as I said above I wasn't sure with this one, because of some of the unknown ingredients... which is why I asked here on the "can I have this"  thread.... it seems every time I ask if something is compliant, its like pulling teeth to get the answer, I don't get it?  I thought this is what the forum is for and particularly this  topic thread.... Some of the rules and lists can get confusing, so as a last resort I have posted it here, so that I can get an answer from either a moderator or a senior member rather than torture myself googling it 100 times or reading and rereading the ingredient lists and not being able to figure it out for sure.........  It seems to me that for such a whole30 staple such as Almond milk that someone would have been able to give me a few national brands that are compliant, that's all I was really looking for..  

[slc_melissa]

I just read through the thread, but in your original post you did not list the specific ingredients of the product or which ones you had questions about. If you had posted a list of ingredients or a picture of the label, that is easier for people to look at, and if you say something like "i have this product, but I haven't found any info on x ingredient." That is much easier to look at. Shannon the moderator above did Google the brand and ingredients and gave you her best answer with the limited info provided.

Also, not everybody here is from the same country, so national brands still might not help. I don't think many people necessarily consider almond milk a staple. (I've survived multiple whole 30s without it.) People do want to be helpful, but need more information to answer correctly. And there are dozens of posts on the forum about almond milk and coffee creamers that can be searched.