Non-stick Cooking Spray Alert- PAM now contains coconut!

Nooooo!!!  PAM, you have failed us.  WHY did you add coconut to your original pan spray?  It's NOT original pan spray anymore.  The original didn't have coconut in it.

Beware, everyone.  Always read labels, even of things you have used for years and years!

Aargh.  That was a close call.  I'll be sticking with the store brands for now.

Coconut runs rampant in chocolate coated ICE CREAMS!

It looks so innocent.  But it has coconut in it.

If you are allergic to coconut, please stay away from any hardened-type chocolate or other flavored coating on ice cream like DQ dipped cones. Even chocolate chip ice cream has coconut in the chocolate chunks or chips 95% of the time.  I have allergic reactions to the hot fudge sauce at Baskin Robbins, so be careful there, too.  Most ice creams there do contain coconut, but they have ingredients listed right on the case so they make it easy to see.

Also, for the eating at home ice cream folks, read the labels because Magic shell and all other known hardening toppings have coconut in them.

But, I'll give you some hope.  You can make your own magic shell!  Just melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1 tsp canola oil in the microwave for a minute, stir, and then add 30 seconds until it is completely melted.  Let cool slightly and pour it over your favorite (coconut free) ice cream.  It's even yummier than the bottled stuff.

Also, my family has a favorite homemade microwave hot fudge sauce recipe that is just like this one:  http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-microwave-hot-fudge-topping-82303

Enjoy your sweet treats this summer without a trip to the hospital!

Soup with Coconut Oil

Always read your labels!  Now, for some strange reason, Progresso is putting coconut oil in soup.

Surprise!  Why on earth, Progresso?!

Surviving the Holidays with a Coconut Allergy

Time to be festive and eat lots of yummy things you wouldn't normally eat, right? Let's be careful and keep our epi-pens and benadryl handy just in case. Remember to read all ingredients!

Here is a summary of things to AVOID during the holiday season:

WHIPPY things- Cool whip means coconut oil. Some people make whole pies by simply mixing cool whip with other ingredients, so if you're at a pot luck, and you see a cream pie, beware unless it comes from a package and you can read the ingredients. We recently even saw some Jell-O brand mousse in a little cardboard packet that had coconut oil in it.

CHOCOLATES- Oh how I love to munch on sees candies and oh how very sick I can get even if a particular piece doesn't contain coconut. There is cross contamination aplenty in any brand of assorted chocolates. Don't play chocolate roulette.

ICE CREAM- Unless that Ben and Jerry's scoop shop that you are tempted to hit at the airport or Baskin Robbins at the mall has an allergy brochure handy, or you have the flavor ingredients memorized AND you ask them to wash the scoop before dipping yours AND scoop in a fresh spot that hasn't been touched, you may soon feel your throat closing up. . . just a reminder to not be crazy and try new flavors while on the road.

GOODIES you receive as gifts.- YES, I feel like a complete DORK when people bake for me and I have to ask them for all the ingredients to their goodies. But, no one has ever been offended. If they are gifting me something that I am allergic to, I just tell them how much my husband and kids will love them because they never get to have anything with coconut in it and it's a special treat for them.

RESTAURANT FOOD- when choosing a restaurant to visit while traveling or with friends and family, I avoid THAI food altogether because of my coconut allergy. There is coconut milk and coconut oil, etc. in practically everything there. Also, INDIAN food restaurants sometimes use coconut milk in their curries, so that can be really tricky to figure out. At other restaurants, before ordering anything fried, I like to scan the menu for things like coconut shrimp that might be fried in the same oil. It's highly unlikely that you would end up with even trace amounts of coconut in your fried food, but use good judgement if you have ever had an anaphylactic reaction to coconut. Desserts can be crazy at restaurants because they may cut you a piece of chocolate cake right after coconut cake, etc., so I am not shy about making it clear to our server that I have food allergies without making it into a hassle for anyone. Whenever I get a server who has no clue what ingredients are in anything and is reluctant to go find out, I just ask for a manager. That's what managers are for. If the manager doesn't know, well, that is a good sign that they don't make their food fresh in-house and that I am probably eating more MSG than nutrients. For great tips on eating out without feeling totally terrified and oppressed with food allergies (and for a lot of moral support) I loved reading Sloane Miller's book, Allergic Girl.

POPCORN- You know you'll pass your vacation time going to at least one movie! Movie theater popcorn contains coconut oil most of the time. Not just the extra butter you put on it. It makes my mouth develop what I call "blisters of pain and fire" within an hour of eating it and makes me feel very, very sick to my stomach. I just enjoy the smell. . . .mmmmm. . . and sneak in my own gourmet chocolate bar to eat instead. I let my husband and kids eat popcorn, and make sure I get lots of napkins and tell them "no touching mommy until you wash your hands."

COSMETICS- Oh, various types of chap stick stuff, why must you have coconut oil in you? Also, for the last few years it seems like soaps and lotions from Bath and Body works have been the go-to small gift of choice. I like to put these in my guest bathroom or just re-gift them. No big deal. As a reminder, here is a link to my (by no means complete) list of coconut-derived ingredients.

HOT COCOA MIXES- yikes. Many have coconut oil in them!

Did I leave anything out?

You may want to share Healthline's Interactive Guide on Anaphylaxis with your friends and family with whom you will be eating during the holidays.

Orange Juice with Traces of Coconut?

This is a new one for me. My orange juice may have some coconut in it? Why? How? When did this happen and is it a new cross contamination or just newly labeled? Anyway, this is the generic Walmart "Great Value" OJ. I'm not a big OJ drinker, but we have it in our house nonetheless. Look out, super coconut-sensitive people. But, hey, it's gluten free ::giggles::.

Children's Gummi Vitamins

My husband bought these for our son. . . and I almost ate one just to see what they tasted like until I read the label. I would have NEVER guessed that they contain Fractionated Coconut Oil!

Surprise!

Coconut hiding in baked goods

Some of my fiercest allergic reactions have been to the whack-'em-on-the-counter variety of baked goods, namely Grands biscuits and Pillsbury crescent rolls. So I had to stop eating them entirely. I contacted the company and they said that they would only give the secretest ingredients to my allergist, blah, blah, so my allergist, rather than get involved in the weirdness with pillsbury, told me just to stop eating them.

Today I was shopping instead for frozen biscuits because I have had a certain off-brand before in Arizona that had totally pure ingredients (I don't remember which one), so I looked in our local Oklahoma store. I picked up a bag of
BEST CHOICE BUTTERMILK biscuits, and there, lo and behold, actually listed in the ingredients as a flavoring is COCONUT. So. . . the secret ingredient in many of these things that can legally just be listed as a "natural flavoring" is actually coconut. It must scientifically corellate to buttermilk as far as our taste buds are concerned.

Another thing to beware of is the ingredient: sodium steroyl lactylate in these items. This contains Stearic Acid, which is over 50% of the time derived from coconut in America. Argh.

Please be careful, coconut allergic people, and read all labels of baked goods now, too, in addition to everything else you are already looking out for.

Watch out for coconut in cereal

I don't think of breakfast cereal as something that usually contains coconut... and I thought I had read this label before I bought it. I guess I didn't read it carefully enough!

I recently bought these Oat n Wheat Bran Swirls at Trader Joes for my husband and 2 year old. My kiddo LOVES them, and until last night I had only tried one or two swirls with no reaction at all. The only reason I don't usually eat them is because I like to eat totally organic and very low sugar, and these are not. They are about the size of a quarter and pretty hard to chew, but they are fun for toddlers. Last night I decided that we were going to munch on them for a bedtime snack and by the time I ate my fourth little piece of cereal, my mouth was itching like crazy. It was just crawling! I glanced at the label at that time and STILL missed that there was coconut in them- I must have stopped after I got to Palm oil, because I thought to myself, "Am I allergic to palm oil, too?" It wasn't until this morning, when I woke up with the roof of my mouth so swollen that I thought my teeth were going to wiggle their way loose, and my eyes were puffy that I went and read the label AGAIN, this time I payed more attention. They've got "Dried Unsulphered Unsweetened Coconut" in them. I totally wasn't expecting it. I should have had some Benadryl before bed, but who knew?

And thus is the life of someone with a coconut allergy. Why on earth have they started putting coconut in random cereals? Aaaagggh!

Hidden Coconut in Ice Cream

Another surprise for someone with a coconut allergy is how many ice creams contain coconut- even if they are totally unrelated to coconut.
I just found out that TWO of my favorite ice creams at Baskin Robbins contain coconut oil- Chocolate Mousse Royale, and Mississippi Mud. I have never had any sort of reaction to these, but did have one to the No Sugar Added Chocolate Chocolate Chip.
Also, many store brands (such as Moose tracks, etc) have coconut or coconut oil in them, so please read labels carefully.

SURPRISE! It contains coconut.

Foods that contain coconut are EVERYWHERE, even in places you wouldn't think.

My worst coconut allergy is to movie theater popcorn (many still put coconut oil in the butter, even when they say its got real butter in it).


These items also contain coconut:

Quaker Granola products-
I had a mild allergic reaction to the little granola bites, but didn't realize until recently that they put coconut in almost anything related to granola!













Now, I love Cool Whip, but since it has a high level of coconut oil, I am now banned from all mysterious whippy things at pot-luck dinners!











In fact, many processed foods contain some form of coconut, like this store brand "Mexican Lasagne." It has "fractionated coconut oil" in its chili spice. AAgh! Is nothing safe?