Sunday, October 16, 2011

Thank heaven for hemp milk!

After getting the background information up on my blog, one of the first things I wanted to discuss is my ardent love and appreciation for the existence of hemp milk!  My daughter's cow's milk allergy, mixed with a mild soy allergy, left us searching for a milk alternative, when she was a little over a year old.  I went to the store, to see what was available.  They had almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk, rice milk, hemp milk and even a grain milk.  With her peanut/tree nut allergies, almond milk and coconut milk were out of the question.  Coconut is safe for many people with tree nut allergies, because it's not a true "nut", but sometimes people with an allergy to tree nuts also have an allergy to coconut.  Morgan later tested positive for a coconut allergy, so I'm glad I never tried it. (Well, turns out she was not allergic to it, after all!)  I was not too comfortable with oats and grains, because of her wheat allergy (I later found out that oats aggravate her eczema), so I bought a carton of rice milk and hemp milk.  I called the pediatrician and asked if hemp milk would be OK, since the ingredients listed "Hemp Nut Base (Filtered Water, Hemp Nut [Shelled Hemp Seed])".  I was assured that this was not a "nut" in the same sense that tree nuts are nuts.  Hooray!  Peanuts are actually legumes, which I already knew and was not concerned about that relationship.  The rice milk was a little watery and didn't have the level of nutrients that I wanted.  Hemp milk won me over with its amazing nutritional value. 

Here is the description of hemp milk from Wikipedia:

Hemp milk or Hemp Seed Milk, is a drink made from hemp seeds that are soaked and ground into water, yielding a creamy nutty beverage. It is marketed in health and fitness publications as a "new health food darling".[1]

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, hemp seeds contain no THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive substance found in marijuana[2] but instead, contain a three-to-one ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids and other nutrients include magnesium, phytosterols, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, calcium, fiber, iron, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, niacin and thiamin.

Hemp milk also contains 10 essential amino acids, making it a good vegetarian source of protein as hemp protein does not contain phytates, enzyme inhibitors found in some soy protein that can interfere with the absorption of essential minerals. Hemp protein may also be more digestible than soy protein because unlike soy, it doesn't contain oligosaccharides, complex sugars that can cause flatulence if not properly broken down during digestion.

Dr. Weil also maintains that as far as allergies are concerned, hemp seeds do not pose the threat that tree nuts do and that anyone allergic to soy or dairy should be able to safely consume hemp milk.[3]

The bottom line is that hemp milk is AWESOME!  I honestly believe it has contributed to my daughter's advanced learning speed.  One of my friends calls it "brain milk".  I will be adding a post, comparing some of the alternative milks and the various hemp milk brands, but for now, I just wanted to let everyone know that my personal choice for a non-dairy milk is HEMP MILK!

1 comment:

  1. We love hemp milk too! It's the only thing Tristan can drink. We use Hemp Bliss unsweetened - there is no added sugar, so it's not the best tasting, but our son seems to be ok with it. Thanks for all the interesting hemp milk facts.