Almond Milk: The Benefits of Making It Yourself
At Betr, we like to use almond milk in our recipes; particularly, in our desserts and smoothies. While you can purchase almond milk at the store, there are health and monetary reasons to be wary of these products. An even better alternative would be to make it yourself. Here's why:
Almonds are great sources of protein, antioxidants, and healthy fats. But if you look closer at your almond milk ingredient label, you may find the following unnecessary additives:
-Locust Bean Gum (thickener)
-Sunflower Lecithin (stabilizer)
-Gellan Gum (thickener, stabilizer, emulsifier)
-Cane Sugar
-Sea Salt
-Natural Flavors
While the term 'natural flavors' may sound healthy and safe, there are a few distinct differences between natural and artificial flavors. Natural flavors may originally come from a natural source, but as stated by a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, these naturally sourced flavors can be combined with 50 to 100 other ingredients which can make up to 80-90% of the entire natural flavor volume. Oftentimes, these other ingredients are composed of a solvent and preservatives.
Content Rip-off
Have you noticed your almond milk container doesn't reveal the percent content of almonds? It may not contain as much as you would think. The caloric content of almond milk serving doesn't even come close to a handful of raw almonds. And while a serving of almonds contains about 6 grams of protein, a serving of almond milk only contains about 1 gram of protein. Fewer almonds mean less of the nutritional benefits. The majority of store-bought almond milk is actually water, added sugars, and a few vitamins.
If you can't find the time to make your own, try these products:
Cold off the press (Raleigh, NC)
Make Your Own
Get more of the nutritional benefits of almonds by making your own almond milk. Our recipe is simple, and the homemade soaking process helps remove almond chemical properties that can disrupt your digestive and metabolic enzymes.
Leave those unnecessary additives behind and save money by making your own homemade almond milk.