I was talking to a friend yesterday from New Zealand. While filling her in on my new found love for clean eating, she asked if I had read a blog post about Starbucks. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Starbucks, I won't go into why as it is a mute point, but I asked her to send me the link. Despite my love for a product does not mean it's good for me, and I refuse to be blind anymore. Clean eating is not a fad, or diet, it's a way of life. I was fully prepared for my dreams of frothy sweet coffee to be crushed, but for the better of my health. This is what I learned in a nutshell. There are massive pesticides used for their coffee beans; almost everything they sell from coffee drinks to baked goods have GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms), MSG, and preservatives such as Carrageenan. I didn't know what Carrageenan was and will explain it further below. Before I do, please go to Foodbabe's article to read about all the ingredients in Starbucks products. If you are like me, starting a new journey of clean eating then not knowing this information is a simple way to sabotage your efforts. http://foodbabe.com/2012/07/18/sabotaged-at-starbucks/ Carrageenan (kar-uh-gee-nuhn) is defined by Cornicoopia.org as "derived from red seaweed, and is used as an ingredient in foods such as dairy, dairy alternatives (such as soy-based beverages and desserts), and deli meats as a thickening agent, stabilizer and/or emulsifier" (p. 11). The Cornucopia Institute wrote an article explaining the studies conducted over the years with this ingredient and it's effects in animals studies. They found "Degraded carrageenan... causes inflammation in the colon in rodents, which resembles ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease [in humans]. This inflammatory property of degraded carrageenan is not in dispute, especially since the medical research community has used degraded carrageenan for decades to induce acute inflammation in experimental trials conducted with lab animals, to test anti-inflammation drugs" (p. 11). In plain English according to Dr. Tobacman carrageenan can cause inflammatory bowl disease, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases, and cancer. (http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401181/Is-Carrageenan-Safe.html) Okay, so I now know to stay away from Starbucks (even though I may fail once in awhile following the 80/20 rule). I have already switched from preservitive LOADED Coffee Mate creamer to Silk vanilla coffee creamer that is also bad for me. After reading how many dairy alternatives contain carrageenan I had to look at my label. Sure enough there it is. Great, now that I know my soy creamer has MSG & Carrageenan what am I going to do now? I found some YouTube videos on how to make your own coconut and almond milk. I posted the videos on my Movies, Books & Videos page. I will be trying to make my own vanilla almond creamer tonight. Stay tuned for the results.
Cornicopia.org has compiled a list of products that do & don't contain carrageenan. I have provided the link here. I hope you found this post informative as I did. Clean eating one day at a time. As always please feel free to add, comment or share information with me. Cheers! Jenniffer
4 Comments
Allison
9/30/2013 07:38:48 am
Wow, you go girl! Good for you! Since you are on the health band wagon you might also want to do some research into Soy as well. It is FULL of hormones. Soy formula is like giving a baby birth control pills. It is the only crop they don't have to spray for insects because the insects won't even touch it. (In a nut shell) Keep up the good work! Proud of you!
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Jenniffer
10/2/2013 01:45:15 pm
Thank you, I know that soy isn't the end all to be all either. I believe everything in balance is okay. I struggle with giving Jacobi milk, as it too has a ton of junk in it, but I don't feel comfortable with giving him alternatives until I have done more research. It is so easy to get consumed by everything being bad for you, but again I am taking baby steps to change. I think by not treating clean eating as a diet I will prevail over weight loss in the end. Thank You for your comment.
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Casey
10/1/2013 08:04:29 am
Jen, well done on this! I like how you filtered the info on Starbucks and made it real to pertain to you. You can buy almond milk at the store, but now I'm wondering what gets put into that as well? Best of luck on making your own, I've also seen in done in videos and cooking shows it looks pretty easy and I bet you might even like it better than 3 pumps of vanilla! Excited to see how you get on with it.
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Jenniffer
10/2/2013 01:50:28 pm
Thank you Casey for your kind words. I know you can buy Almond milk but it is quite expensive and wanted to try it before I bought a half gallon. I did make some and it was easy, my only downfall was after straining it, I could have used another finer strainer. I actually made almond creamer and had little chunks in my coffee - not so enjoyable. Oh and by the way it was 6 pumps of vanilla. LOL
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