A Milk Revolution

Ever heard of hemp milk? I hadn't until just about a week ago when I stumbled upon a few blogs that focus on healthy eating and healthy lifestyle. Kath on Kath Eats Real Food, Jenna on Eat, Live, Run, and Tina on Carrots and Cake have all been raving about Hemp Milk so I had to try it. I love regular milk but am allergic to soy milk and J drinks soy milk but is allergic to regular milk. Have we finally found a milk we can both enjoy? One that we can use in pancakes, breads, and other things that call for milk?

So while shopping at Whole Foods on Monday, we picked up a carton of Living Harvest Vanilla Hempmilk. The stuff is kind of expensive, but wow, it's good. It's nutty, creamy, and not too sweet. It's like a vanilla milkshake, almost. It's really really good, and apparently really good for you. It's naturally high in omega-3 and omega-6, you know, the good stuff that's found in fish. It's dairy free, soy free, cholesterol free, and gluten free. It's also gmo free (no bio-engineered, Genetically Modified Organisms) and kosher. Oh, and it has 46% of the RDA of Calcium in 1 cup. This brand has roughly the same calories and fat per serving of organic 1% milk, but 1/3 the potassium and 1/2 the protein. Soy milk on the other hand pretty much goes toe to toe with regular milk in the nutritional categories. The most important thing though is that it tastes great, and goes great with chocolate chip cookies and brownies!

Omega-3 Eggs...

You may have noticed in the last year or so that you have more choices on the egg shelves. I'm not talking about more egg substitutes, although they probably exist as well. I'm talking about the influx of eggs sold as omega-3 eggs. That is, eggs enriched with higher levels of the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid. The farms that breed chickens for these eggs replace 10-20% of the chicken feed with ground flax seed, a natural source of omega-3. By replacing 10% of the feed with ground flax seed, the amount of omega-3 contained in one egg can be as much as 10x the amount contained in a classic egg.

Sources:
Carmichael Training Systems - Essentials for Nutrition January 2007
Canadian Egg Marketing Agency