Do you know it? Remember Forrest Gump and Bubba Gump? “You got your fried shrimp, peeled shrimp, boiled shrimp….” You got your almond milk, soy milk, oat milk, and seed milk. You got your coconut milk, vanilla milk, unsweetened milk, and cashew milk. And the list goes on!

Eliminating dairy is helpful for so many of us, and yet troublesome ingredients in those dairy-free milks can cause a gut to feel out of whack, and lead to inflammation elsewhere in the body. Those pesky oils that are added are quite problematic as they can lead to hardening of the arteries. Seriously though, why are safflower, sunflower, soybean, and even canola oil added to nut milks and dairy-free coffee creamers?  Because they are cheap fillers and add smoothness to the product so that the first pour is the same as the last. They are also usually harvested from heavily sprayed GMO crops which means you are ingesting chemicals and carcinogens in every sip. Yuck!

There’s a much better way, and as usual, it’s using real, simple ingredients. These are the four (unsweetened) brands I currently enjoy, and I rotate depending on whichever one is on sale that week, which sometimes requires me to store-hop. I do enjoy poking around Wegmans, Whole Foods, and Food Lion’s organic section when I have time. Long gone are the days when my shopping was rushed and fit in between diapers, soccer, and volleyball tournaments, and the carpool line at school.

-Organic Califia Farms  (only the organic version)

-Elmhurst

-Three Trees

-Malk

All of these have water, nuts, sea salt, and perhaps vanilla as their ingredients. No oils.

So, rethink your smoothies or wherever you use dairy-free milk for. Of course, NEVER for infants. Seek the tweak here, and REALLY do a body good!