My son gets sick from palm oil. Many times, people ask us what he can have. We created this eating without palm oil list specific to my son. These are the foods he likes and eats safely. This is a list of foods he can safely have.
We created this site to help others who might have a palm oil intolerance, palm oil sensitivity, or palm oil allergy. As we learned more about palm oil, we learned about the environmental concerns as well. Learn about the problems with palm oil regarding deforestation.
Eating without palm oil list of foods
Table of Contents
What my child eats with palm oil intolerance
My son reacts to even trace amounts of palm oil as well as palm oil derivatives so we believe these items are okay if you are avoiding palm oil. But note they are not guaranteed. We update this list regularly.
Something positive that’s come of this is we all eat healthier, cleaner foods. We cook and bake from scratch regularly. We have less processed foods and eat out less.
Overall, we eat more real foods and buy products with less “ingredients.”
While we have comprehensive lists of palm oil free products, this list is specific to my son will actually eat. In general, we keep things simple.
When buying packaged foods, we stick to original flavors which tend to have less palm oil than complicated flavors. We also choose products with the least amount of ingredients as possible.
Whenever possible, we choose the less processed option. Example: We buy nuts in their shell instead of already shelled.
Palm oil hides under hundreds of names. Most palm oil ingredients don’t include “palm” in the name. It’s in thousands of products. It’s difficult finding products without it.
Palm oil hides in “Natural Flavors” making it even more stressful. See more below. Learn about his palm oil allergy/intolerance.
Raw Vegetables
Examples of vegetables he eats regularly: Snap peas, snow peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, lettuce, celery.
Our son will eat most any vegetable that you can eat raw. He has several each day, plain, without dressing. We buy organic when possible, especially the dirty dozen like celery.
Fruits
Examples of fruits he eats: Apple, banana, mandarin, clementine, orange, pear, peach, nectarine, grapes, pomegranate, plum, apricot, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, figs, dates, red pepper, orange pepper, yellow pepper.
He eats a lot of fruits every day. He can have all fruits, including coconut. As far as we know, palm oil ingredients are the only things that affect him.
We buy frozen organic berries and frozen organic berries with spinach and kale to keep on hand for smoothies. They are more economical than buying organic berries fresh.
Again, we buy organic when possible and keep in mind the Clean 15 and dirty dozen.
Take extra care to wash citrus. We learned sometimes companies use palm oil to make them shinier. We typically buy these in bags when they are less likely to be “shined.” Sometimes I don’t buy green apples because I can’t remove the wax or whatever it is they coat them in. I emailed a pear distributor to ask what they used to coat the pears; it wasn’t palm oil.
Meat
He will eat any meat. In restaurants we order it with just salt. At home, depending on the meat, we cook it with salt, real onions and garlic cloves. If it’s chicken, turkey, we may add olive oil or avocado oil.
We cook ground beef with garlic, onions, and salt, or with bacon and onions. Sometimes we add:
- Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning (from Walmart)
- McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning (from Costco)
Most often, we buy raw meat. However, he also eats these on occasion:
- Kirkland Signature Bacon
- from Costco; regular bacon in blue bag
- He’s had other bacon when we’ve been out and has been fine.
- Banquet Brown ‘N Serve Original Sausage Links
- Hormel Natural Choice:
- Honey Deli Ham
- Smoked Deli Ham
- Crazy Cuisine Mandarin Orange Chicken (without the sauce)
- from Costco
- Foster Farms: (read ingredients as they may have changed)
- Crispy Strips (yellow and green bag)
- Chicken Tenders (yellow and green bag)
I’m trying to get him to drink bone broth (from organic bones) as well.
In doing lots of research, I’ve come to realize that chicken tenders tend to be fine for him but chicken nuggets are often not. In restaurants, he will order chicken tenders or wings, never chicken nuggets.
Seafood
He’s been able to have any seafood. In restaurants we ask for it plain — just cooked with salt. At home, we use avocado oil and olive oil for fish. For shrimp, we use real butter, real lemon or lime, fresh garlic, and fresh herbs.
Spices
For seasonings, we keep it simple. We use real (not from containers) limes and lemons, garlic cloves, and onions. We use basic table salt as well. He can also have Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning and McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning but we only use these on ground beef and sometimes on a roast.
In addition, sometimes I use fresh herbs: basil, rosemary, dill, or sage. I use real cinnamon and ground nutmeg in baking.
Oils
Important: We avoid oil blends completely. We only buy 100% of whatever the oil is.
Mostly, we cook with avocado oil and organic olive oil. For baking we use avocado oil, and sometimes canola oil or soybean oil.
See these tips about finding palm oil free products.
Snacks for lunches, on-the-go, and at home
- Potato Chips
- Lay’s Regular Potato Chips; Cape Cod Potato Chips
- (He can have any potato chips with a safe oil listed and salt.)
- Pretzels without palm oil
- Rold Gold Pretzels – Original
- Synder’s Pretzel Rods
- Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps Original (These are the flat pretzels in a blue bag.)
- Pepperidge Farms Goldfish Cheddar (We get the big box from Costco.)
- Seaweed Snacks – Sea Salt
- Sprouts Seaweed Snacks
- Kirkland brand from Costco
- Others that only contain seaweed, sunflower oil, and salt
- Popcorn without palm oil
- Popcornopolis Popcorn (big bag from Costco)
- He can have any that lists popcorn, a safe oil, and salt.
- Air-popped popcorn at home
- Kettle corn
- Angie’s Boom Chicka Pop Kettle Corn (big bag at Costco)
- Skinny Pop Popcorn Mini Cakes
- Sea Salt
- Cinnamon & Sugar
- Salted Caramel
- Pirate’s Booty (not any store versions; the regular Pirate’s Booty)
- Rice rollers from Costco
- Rice cakes (Don’t buy with Tocopherols)
- Quaker Oats Caramel Rice Cakes
- GoGo Squeez Fruit & Veggies On the Go: Zippin’ Zingin’ Pear and Boulder Berry
Snack bars
- RX Bars: Blueberry, Chocolate Sea Salt
- Larabar Kid Chocolate Brownie
- Van’s Cranberry & Almond Gluten-free Bar
- Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars: Oats ‘N Dark Chocolate; Oats ‘N Honey – Learn about Nature Valley Granola Bars and why to choose the crunchy bars over their chewy bars.
- Enjoy Life Foods Grain & Seed Bars (All four flavors are certified Palm Oil Free.)
There are a lot of hidden palm oil ingredients in bars. It’s in the Natural Flavors, Tocopherols, and Glycerin.
Yogurt
- Dannon Activa Yogurt: Strawberry, Blueberry, Black Cherry, Mixed Berry
- Chobani Greek Yogurt BLENDED with Blueberry or Strawberry or Vanilla
- Chobani with Fruit on the Bottom: Black Cherry, Blueberry, Strawberry, Peach (I buy the big box from Costco.)
Frozen waffles
Most contain palm oil so we make our own.
- Van’s Gluten Free Frozen Waffles Original
Nuts
He’s been able to have tree nuts as well as peanuts. He can have them if they just contain salt. We prefer the ones in the shell as they are less processed.
Smoothies
We buy frozen organic berries or use whatever we have fresh. Next, I toss in a banana and some greens. Sometimes I sneak in avocado or baked sweet potato.
- O Organics Frozen Berries
- Rader Farms Fresh Start Smoothie Blend with (all) Organic Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Kale, Spinach (from Costco)
As I stated above, buying organic berries is a lot less expensive than frozen. It’s also easy to keep them on hand.
Drinks
He only drinks water or smoothies we make at home. If he is out and has a soda, he avoids anything with grape, cherry, orange, etc. and sticks with name brand products.
Cereals
- Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
- Make sure it’s Kellogg’s; Post Raisin Bran contains Vitamin A Palmitate.
- Purely Elizabeth Blueberry Hemp Granola
- Seven Sundays Early Riser Mix Muesli (Order from the Seven Sundays website or from Amazon.)
See our post for more cereals without palm oil. I use this granola recipe which is delicious and can be changed to whatever nuts, seeds, and dried fruits you have.
Cookies
- Pepperidge Farm:
- Thin & Crispy: Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate
- Chessmen
- Market Pantry Animal Crackers (at Target)
For more info about palm oil in cookies, see our post cookies without palm oil.

We always have some in our freezer.
Ice Cream
- Ben & Jerry’s pints: All flavors are palm oil free! This is incredible.
- It’s the only time my son can walk in and pick whatever he wants! Thank you, Ben & Jerry’s!
- Tillamook:
- Mint Chocolate Chip
- Vanilla Bean
- Chocolate Chip
- Cookie Dough (It’s amazing they make this without palm oil.)
- Alden’s Organic:
- Chocolate
- Cookies & Cream
- Breyers:
- Natural Vanilla (Their other three vanillas contain mono- & diglycerides.)
- Chocolate
- Mint Chocolate Chip
- Neopolitan
Alden’s Organic and Tillamook have more flavors without palm oil but these are the ones we buy. Check out ice cream without palm oil.
Safe candy he can have
- YumEarth Candy Canes
- Wholesome Organic Candy Canes
- barkTHINS Snacking Chocolate: Dark Chocolate Almond with Sea Salt (They now sell big bags of this at Costco.)
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: original; regular packaging; no holiday versions
- Hershey’s bars: Milk Chocolate, Almond, Special Dark
- Hershey’s Kisses: Milk Chocolate, Almond
- M&M’s Milk Chocolate, Almond
- Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Mini Chips (We also use when we make waffles.)
- Sour Patch Kids
- Jolly Rancher Hard Candies
He can have any “real” chocolate as well. We choose the ones with as few ingredients as possible. As an example, the chocolate chips we buy only contain Cocoa Butter, Unsweetened Chocolate, and Cane Sugar.
We have lots of info about this in our palm oil free candy without palm oil post. In addition, we have another post about holiday candy without palm oil.
S’mores without palm oil
- Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows
- Other marshmallows with the same ingredients as above are likley fine.
- Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar: any size
- Honey Maid Grahams (Many other brands contain palm oil and palm oil derivatives such as DATEM.)
Desserts
We have to make all of his desserts because the ones in bakeries and grocery stores contain palm oil. Together we make brownies, cookies, cupcakes, this easy and amazing chocolate cake recipe, and biscotti.
In addition, we make our own frosting easily with confectioners sugar, real butter, whole milk, and pure vanilla. See frosting recipe. I make whipped cream, chocolate mousse and even homemade soft Oreos.
The only mixes we use are:
- Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix
- Pillsbury Milk Chocolate Brownie Mix
I make these brownies and freeze them for when he goes to a birthday party, etc.
Baking ingredients we use
- Organic whole milk without Vitamin A Palmitate
- We use Horizon Organic Whole Milk or O Organics Whole Milk
- Red-Star Yeast in the 3-pack is the only one I found without palm oil derivatives
- Real butter or grass-fed butter
- Kirkland Organic Eggs from Costco
- Simply Organic Pure Vanilla Extract
- Any “pure” extract is likely fine; I’ve used many brands
- Pure cane sugar
- I use C&H Pure Cane Sugar. Any sugar with just “sugar” listed is likely fine. I am going to start buying organic sugar.
- King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- Probably most any flour would be okay. I started buying organic flour when I’m at Target.
- Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour
- Confectioners sugar / powdered sugar
- I use O Organics Powdered Sugar or C&H Confectioners Sugar.
- Baking powder
- Clabber Girl Double Acting Baking Powder
- Pure baking soda
- I used Arm & Hammer but now am using Bob’s Red Mill baking soda which doesn’t contain aluminum.
- Chocolate chips: Enjoy Life Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Table salt
- Red Ape Cinnamon (It’s certified Palm Oil Free.)
- 100% pure maple syrup
- Local honey
We are used to making substitutions.
He can’t have Rice Krispie treats because the cereal contains Vitamin A Palmitate; however, we can use the marshmallows and real butter to coat air-popped popcorn for a treat just as delicious.
See our post about desserts without palm oil.
Meals without palm oil
So what does this look like on a day-to-day basis? We are lucky our son eats fruits, vegetables, and meats. These make up most of his diet.
Breakfast
- Homemade waffles:
- I make batches in my waffle maker and freeze them. I warm them in the toaster.
- Homemade French toast
- Dave’s Killer Bread in green or yellow bag with eggs, organic whole milk, cinnamon, butter.
- Organic eggs scrambled in real butter
- Leftover meat
- Banquet Brown ‘N Serve Original Sausage Links
- Fruit
- Purely Elizabeth Blueberry Hemp Ancient Grain Granola
- Homemade oatmeal with berries and nuts or homemade granola
I only buy 100% pure maple syrup. See my post breakfast without palm oil to see how common palm oil is at this meal.

I fill containers with fruits and vegetables for his lunch at school.
Lunch at school without palm oil
He brings the following everyday:
- Activa Yogurt
- Combination of fruits and vegetables
- A few of the above snacks and a bar
- He doesn’t really bring a great “solid” lunch food
Dinner without palm oil
The majority of our dinners consist of:
- Meat
- Fruit
- Raw vegetables
My son will eat all of these without issue. If we are out, we ask for them to cook the meat with salt. Again, we cook meats with garlic cloves, chopped onion, salt. Sometimes we use extra virgin pure olive oil, lime, lemon, peppers, etc. for additional flavoring.
We cook with as simple ingredients as possible. Because onion and garlic powders can contain palm oil, we only use real, fresh onions, and garlic.
In addition, we buy lemons and limes and use them; we don’t buy the squeeze lime juices, etc. These contain additives that we aren’t sure are safe for him.
He eats a wide variety of fruits and raw vegetables.
Eating at fast food restaurants without palm oil
We are grateful when restaurants publish their ingredients online so we can check in advance. Many restaurants list which products contain the major allergens but don’t spell out the ingredients. Palm oil isn’t recognized as an allergen so that doesn’t help us.
Other restaurant chains spell out the Nutritional Profile with the calorie count and fat content but not the actual ingredients. It’s frustrating.
Important: Many restaurant French fries contain palm oil.
If they make the French fries fresh on-site — like In-N-Out Burger and Five Guys — they most likely won’t contain palm oil. The palm oil in fries is when they come frozen to the store, not how the store cooks them on-site.
We are loyal to In-N-Out and Five Guys restaurants because these are places he can go and won’t get sick.
Please look online for the ingredients at these restaurant chains to be sure they haven’t changed:
Burger King
- Chicken tenders
- French fries
Chik-fil-A
- Chicken tenders
- (Chick-fil-A’s fries contain palm oil.)
Chipotle
- He gets a chicken bowl or steak bowl without a tortilla. He orders rice, peppers, the meat, and lettuce. I think he can have anything at Chipotle in the United States and be okay. Their website is very transparent with their real ingredients.
Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers
- Cane’s Combo (He can eat the chicken and the fries. He doesn’t eat the bread or coleslaw.)
Whataburger
- Chicken strips
- French fries
Five Guys Burgers and Fries
- Hamburger meat plain; no bun
- French fries
In-N-Out Burger
- Four hamburger patties plain; no bun; sometimes orders in lettuce
- French fries
- Chocolate shake
We are so grateful to In-N-Out Burger. This is one of my son’s favorites because he can have their fries and shakes. This is the only place he has shakes / ice cream.
Unlike many restaurant chains, In-N-Out Burger makes their fries onsite. They cook them in sunflower oil. Sometimes he orders the burgers wrapped in lettuce.
Eating palm oil free at other restaurants
At sit-down restaurants, he orders meat cooked with salt. He doesn’t eat bread. He can usually have barbeque sauce on the meat if we are at a BBQ restaurant.
At Mexican restaurants he orders fajitas and just eats the meat, not the tortillas or cooked vegetables. He doesn’t have the tortilla chips though they may be okay; you have to ask. We rarely go to Italian restaurants.
Typically, we don’t go out to eat unless we have to. When we do, we look for places that will have meat they can cook-to-order with just salt. We’ve had luck at Outback Steakhouse and others.
Going on vacation when you avoid palm oil
One of the biggest stresses is eating away from home when you are trying to avoid palm oil. Vacations are stressful. We always pack palm oil free safe foods when we travel.
For vacations, so we don’t have to rely on restaurants, instead of staying in a hotel, we usually rent an AirBNB or VRBO with a kitchen. Then we can continue to buy the above foods.
It’s a lot healthier to eat this way too. And it saves us money. When traveling, we always bring RX Bars, nuts, fruits, and other safe snacks whether we are driving or flying. If we go on a road trip, we will bring a cooler so we can keep more fresh vegetables and fruits.
School parties and class treats without palm oil
My son brings a lunch to school everyday so we don’t have to worry about any palm oil in school lunches. Oftentimes, our son has to miss out on treats and snacks at school. There are sometimes food rewards and class parties.
In addition, students are allowed to bring in treats for their birthdays. If you have 27 kids bringing in doughnuts, that’s 27 doughnuts my son isn’t able to eat. (This isn’t necessarily a bad thing!)
We can’t anticipate birthdays so he will usually eat something from his lunch bag. Every so often, I will give him a Larabar Chocolate Brownie to keep in his backpack. If we know in advance, I will give him brownie that I made and froze.
For classroom parties, depending what they are asking for, I typically send in something safe he can have.
If it’s a party with desserts, I send brownies or cookies. If it’s a classroom celebration without dessert-type foods, I will send in fruit, Cheddar Goldfish, Rold Gold Pretzels, Pirate’s Booty, potato chips, or popcorn.
As he gets older, this becomes less of an issue.
Trying new foods when you can’t have palm oil
It’s scary trying new foods. Palm oil ingredients don’t have to be specially labeled. Know that:
Natural Flavors can contain palm oil.
Before buying anything new, we consider the type of product it is, and if it’s something that usually contains palm oil. We know that some products will always contain palm oil, and we won’t ever buy them.
In addition, we think about palm oil uses and how it’s used in the product. For example, if it’s a product that uses an emusifer, is there another emusifer listed that spells out the source, such as Soy Lecithin? If so, then this might be a safe product.
After that, we further look at all of the ingredients and cross-reference it against the list of hundreds of names for palm oil, knowing that palm oil can be hiding under many different ingredient names.
We introduce new foods sparingly and always one at a time. We watch for symptoms. If he is symptom free, the next time we will give him a little bit more. Once we determine it’s safe, we will add it more regularly.
Asking companies about palm oil in their ingredients
When we find something that seems safe, we email to ask the company about it — many times they don’t respond. Many times they don’t know. Oftentimes, they respond saying there isn’t palm oil in it but after pressing further, we learn there is.
Companies changing ingredients to include palm oil
We’ve also learned to always check labels before buying these products above. Companies change ingredients often. Since we learned of our son’s palm oil intolerance, there have been many processed food items he was able to have until they changed ingredients.
Some of these include Peanut M&M’s, Mr. Goodbar, Honeycomb Cereal, Life Cereal, Oreo cookies, and Tillamook Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream. No loss on not having these products except that it’s discouraging to see more and more companies and products using palm oil.
For most products, I keep the packaging with the UPC codes as a reference. I also take pictures of them and mark them as Favorites so I can easily find them on my phone while I’m in the store.
Companies discontinuing products that they made without palm oil
We’ve also found this happen many times. There were many KIND bars my son was able to safely eat until they discontinued them. (KIND still has a few palm oil free snack bars that are palm oil free that we buy.) It’s happened with several store brands of crackers and snack bars as well.
Palm oil free certification labeling is important
When a company has a product which earned Palm Oil Free certification, that’s of tremendous help. That means the company has taken the time to submit their product ingredients to an independent third-party organization. The organization checks all the ingredients in the product(s).
They check them down to the source — from the supplier. An example: We see Citric Acid on a label. The Palm Oil Free certifying organization will dig deeper to find out the source of that Citric Acid — what is in it?
Two independent Palm Oil Free certification companies are:
Our family seeks out products certified with a No Palm Oil label.
What do you eat if you can’t have palm oil?
We are using his palm oil allergy/sensitivity as a positive reminder to eat healthier food.
We have learned SO MUCH about all the chemicals in foods and all the ways they use inferior ingredients to save money.
Our son knows how to read labels. He knows the common ingredients to look for which include Mono- & Diglycerides, Glycerin, Glycerine, Polysorbate 60, Polysorbate 80, Tocopherols, and anything with Stearate, including Magnesium Stearate and Calcium Stearate.
If he is in doubt, he doesn’t eat it.
We’ve learned to assume everything has palm oil in it and be happily surprised when it doesn’t. He knows what he can order at the fast food restaurants if he’s out with friends. He says “no thank you” a lot to food. Sometimes it’s difficult.
He’s a kid in a processed food, snack-all-the-time, food-rewards-for-everything world.
However, I started this website as a way to empower our family — to feel like we were doing something to create awareness about the way palm oil is hidden in so many products. See About Us.
I also learn a lot by trial and error and like that we can log everything here, on this website, so we can reference it.
We wanted other people to start reading labels and to see how companies are hiding palm oil in so many ways.
Most people just toss a box of Pop-Tarts and everything else in their carts without considering the ingredients.
We didn’t think our son could be the only one who has a palm oil allergy or palm oil intolerance. Even for consumers who don’t have symptoms from palm oil and palm kernel oil, we know many avoid it for environmental reasons.
There are a lot of people who even if they don’t give up palm oil completely, might be interested in buying it less often. These are our favorite items which make it easier to live without palm oil.
Focusing on real foods
The best thing we’ve done is to focus on healthy choices. We talk about all of the ingredients and chemicals in foods.
We try to empower our son to make his own choices. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean we have to eat it.
He and I get a great deal of satisfaction from hearing from readers via the comments below as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Please follow us.
We like to thank the companies for making products without palm oil ingredients so they will know consumers care and want these types of products.
Sometimes companies change their ingredients to include palm oil derivatives. It’s important to read ingredients every time.
Please note, we do not guarantee these products are palm oil free. The only way to know for certain is if it has earned Palm Oil Free certification.
Thank you for caring about this issue, either from a health perspective or an environmental perspective — or both! Learn more about palm oil health and the environmental aspects of palm oil. Even if you don’t try to give it up completely, there are many ways to learn how to use less palm oil each week.
As we try to live palm oil free, we think it’s better to focus on what we CAN HAVE rather than what we can’t have.
This is a running list of the foods my son eats that he can safely have. We try to vary his foods so he doesn’t tire of them.
Also, there are other foods without palm oil on our other lists. These above are the ones he likes and eats. We continue to update this list. Thank you for reading and caring about this issue! See Costco foods without palm oil for what we buy there for ideas.
This list is specific to personal care items with a palm oil intolerance.
A
Thursday 11th of May 2023
Can you confirm that The Market Pantry Animal Crackers are palm free? I noticed natural flavor and spices in the ingredients.
editor
Monday 15th of May 2023
My son has been able to have these without issue; however, as they aren't Palm Oil Free Certified, I do not know for certain. You may want to skip them because I am unable to get an answer back from the Market Pantry brand to confirm either way.
I'm wondering if the Natural Flavor is a type of vanilla. Vanillin can be produced naturally or synthetically. It's often made from pine resin. But it's a controversial ingredient because when made synthetically, my understanding is it's made from petrochemicals. Again my understanding is it doesn't contain palm oil.
Regarding the spices, I don't think they would be an issue.
Michaela
Monday 26th of September 2022
I struggle with palm oil intolerance along with a coconut allergy and lactose intolerance. I also realized recently that butter, which I used on occasion because it only has trace amounts of lactose, was triggering symptoms similar to my palm allergy. Sore throat, lethargy, abdominal pain. Unfortunately I learned that butter has a high palmitic acid content. I read online this is due to dairy farmers feeding their cows palm oil based supplements more frequently now in order to increase product fat content and yield. On the bright side, it’s been a breeze to swap butter out for an oil in most recipes. Olive is my favorite and I’ve grown to love the flavor! I just wanted to share that in case anyone experiences anything similar. I’m 30 years old and was only able to fully realize my allergy to palm/coconut 2 years ago after years of symptoms and being dismissed. You are truly doing your son and all of us a service by advocating for his health and spreading awareness, so thank you!!
editor
Monday 26th of September 2022
Thank you for writing in with your experience and for discussing how dairy farmers feed their cows palm oil based supplements. Another reader (the person may have been from Canada, I can't recall) mentioned about cows in the comments on one of my other posts. It's so disheartening to hear this as I use organic whole milk and butter regularly. It will be really upsetting and even more challenging to have to eliminate and be wary of even more foods when my son is away from home.
That's great you are using olive oil. I use avocado in baking when possible (or butter). I like avocado oil because it's tasteless.
Thanks again for writing. It's very helpful to everyone who avoids palm oil due to dietary, health, and environmental reasons.
Cristy D Young
Saturday 23rd of October 2021
Hello. Thank you so must for this site. I am 52yrs old and only In the last few months discovering my Palm oil allergy/intolerance. I was instructed to do a food diary and document any foods that gave me a adverse reaction in conjuction with foods that I ate that I had zero adverse reaction only about 2 and a half months ago. I found food food containing palm oil or and derivatives of it made me have extreme excessive mucus production/constant clearing of throat/the feeling of choking/violent vomiting episodes which all happened in conjuction with each other at the same time sometimes lasting hours at a time. Bless you sons heart because I do know his pain and struggle very well now. Prior to to food diary I'd been having these symptoms for many years but often times I was being most diagnosed with other things like acid reflux/Gerd or sinusitis. Which led to being given the unnecessary or wrong/incorrect medications for years on end. It has been rough. Thank God you have figured out the hard parts of food navigation. Let your son know even though he has had to endure the worst effects of his allergy/intolerance his triumphs and experiences have and do help others like me identify/navigate through this rough terrain of avoiding the culprit. Tell him thank you for being brave, strong and getting himself through it. I don't know about you but avoiding the food isn't my only stresser..getting doctors/allergist to accept it as "REAL" Allergy has been a nightmare. Most completely dismiss the idea as it is not in the medical references and guidance information they are privy to. Because there is nothing in their medical journals showing factual proof from studies or clinical documentations on the subject which in their minds seem to prove it doesn't exist as it isn't a common situation that has the medical worlds validation . However you, your son and myself know for ourselves it it a very real thing that is present in our everyday lives. I am currently hospitalized after having a harsh reaction to my prescibed medications which I only realized after the fact had derivatives of Palm Oil or Palm oil in them. Due to using a prescribed allergy nasal spray & Loratadine (claritin). It lasted from 10pm until 6:00 am the next morning. My experience here on the hospital where I've been 9 days now has mostly been trying to convince the allergist and ward doctors that the problem is the palm oil in my medications. I refused to take any more of the 24 medications I'd been prescribed for years after the episode prompted me to research each medication I'd been prescribed and actively daily using. I was floored when I saw they all had it..either under the names Magnesium Stearate, Poloysorbate 80 and or Citric Acid. I stopped all of it cold turkey on last week Thursday. By doing this I noticed my entire body became in appearance smaller or slimmer looking (4 days or so into my stay) Which has led me to believe the toxins had swollen my face and body due to being in my body over years of. On stop daily use. I was devastated learning and then realizing I was daily fir years on end slowly poisoning my system. I also discovered it in the 10 vitamin supplements and over the counter medications I was using also. Now the E.R Pharmacist on call the night I was admitted confirmed that the medications did actually contain the palm oil ingredient as suspected. In the meantime I've been fighting to get them medical team to acknowledge this Plam oil is the root problem. I, in just the last 2 weeks had newly discovered all prescription and over the counter medications, store bought vitamins, my toothpaste), mouthwash contained palm oil. While also realizing I was in trouble because now what could I use to buffer my other ailments effects since there wasn't any alternative medications that I could locate nor the doctors locate to substitute and control those illnesses. I also found a new longer list of alternative names for palm oil all equally upsetting. This is a link to the alternative names I found over 600. https://www.palmoilfreecertification.org/alternate-names-for-palm-oil I just want to add you and you sons journey isn't in vain. You experiences help others get through their journey. Thank you again.
editor
Saturday 23rd of October 2021
Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to write and for sharing your experiences. I will definitely show this to my son. Thank you and best wishes with all you are going through!
Rob
Saturday 25th of September 2021
Thank you sooooo much for compiling and posting your detailed report!!! It has helped me immensely and vastly improved my allergy health and life in general!!! Your family is the best for finding out about this allergy, which I have, and posting in such detail about it! Thanks again!!!