Most healthy, least reactive oils?

[BirthKathy]

My 1-year old son has tested positive for the following IGE allergies:

walnut, sesame, almond, cashew, pistachio, peanut, soy, filbert, pecan, flaxseed, dairy, wheat and corn

He just had an IGE reaction to coconut flour.

He also has many IGG and ALCAT intolerances. His main symptom is severe eczema, which has improved greatly since we removed many foods.

He is primarily breastfed, and we are slowing introducing foods. I am eating about 15 foods now, with olive oil as my only fat (besides what is in the food I eat). I was eating coconut oil also, but I stopped all coconut products after his reaction last week to the flour.

So, I wonder what you Moms would suggest for healthy oils/fats we can trial? I am using olive oil to pour on my rice and bread, but don't find that I need it to cook in. So I just need a couple choices for pouring on my prepared foods, and a couple choices for baking. I had just purchased a bunch of coconut products from Tropical Traditions, and I bought Palm shortening. I wonder how that relates to Coconut?

[sbgrace]

My son shares the nut/seed allergies with yours and it's hard to find oils that aren't cross contaminated with either nuts or seed oils. That makes it harder. Tropical traditions has the only coconut products (I believe I called every single coconut oil and product manufacturer) that weren't cross contaminated with nuts. Was that the coconut flour company? If not I'd wonder if the flour was cross contaminated possibly? It would be nice if you could do coconut oil (I'd do refined which Tropical Traditions does sell...more on that below).

We use ghee. My son was dairy allergic (outgrew-IGE allergy) and he tolerated ghee when he was dairy allergic. Not every kid would and everyone has their own comfort levels but something to think about (Purity Farms is what we used/cross free). We use the Tropical Traditions oils. I would try to stick with refined with your child I think. He's more likely to develop new reactions to cold pressed oils. I'd want something that is less likely to contain proteins. Palm has a really strong taste though ours was unrefined. Did you get refined? If he tolerates that it would be good for baking. So would ghee or coconut oil if he handles it. We do ghee, coconut, olive with my son. I tried to find an uncross-contaminated rice bran oil but couldn't.

[BirthKathy]

Hi Rachelle,

Thanks for your response! The coconut flour was Tropical Traditions. I put a little on his lip for a test, and after an hour he was OK, so I gave him a small muffin that I had made with the flour. A few minutes after he ate it, his lip swelled right where I had put the flour and his face swelled slightly as well. There was also coconut oil in the muffin.

So are you saying that you are comfortable using oils of foods that your son is allergic to? I have heard that the oils are not supposed to be allergenic, but I'm nervous. I would love to keep using the coconut oil. It's so tasty, and it is very helpful in baking. I just checked, and the ones I have right now are all unrefined cold pressed, so I definitely won't use those again.

I will check out the ghee idea, thank you for bringing that up. I had read that some people can tolerate it, but had forgotten about it. I would love to use it. And thank you for telling me about Purity Farms. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me.

[sbgrace]

I won't use an oil of a nut/seed Caleb's allergic to nor one processed with oils he's allergic to. The nuts/seeds are always cold pressed I believe for one thing and he's anaphylactic. But we did successfully do ghee with a dairy allergy. I do know some people do successfully use highly refined versions of allergenic oils (soy, I've even heard of peanut oil being used ok). MCT oil (nestle I believe makes one that is nut and sesame cross free) would be highly, highly refined from coconut and healthy for you imo in that it's rich in medium chains the body easily uses. But the nut trace free MCT oils are very pricey (too much/I wouldn't do it without a metabolic condition reason here) and it isn't good for baking or high heat so not really helpful. I'm sorry your son is apparently coconut allergic. Yuck. I was hoping he was reacting to cross instead of actually coconut.

I do think it's smart, since you're dealing with such a wide range of allergies, to use the refined oils so he is less likely to sensitize. I hope the ghee works for you. I don't know if palm cross with coconut but I'd use refined (and nut and sesame coconut cross free of course) if you try it.

You're dealing with a really hard mix of allergies. Wheat allergy with nuts/sesame alone is a real bear since the gluten free stuff is so heavy with nut cross. I do have gluten free nut and sesame free flours and such source information if you need it. I would say I"m free of all your allergens in my sources (I'm certain some are) but I've never had to worry about corn cross. Did I already give you the list though? I may have. I forget stuff lately...

[farmerjess]

I would think that animal fats might be your best choice. My ds doesn't react to pork, so we use alot of local pastured lard. If your lo is ok with beef (mine's not) you could do 100% grassfed beef tallow. That would have no corn/soy problems in case he is v sensitive to what the animals eat.

[BirthKathy]

Originally Posted by sbgrace

I won't use an oil of a nut/seed Caleb's allergic to nor one processed with oils he's allergic to. The nuts/seeds are always cold pressed I believe for one thing and he's anaphylactic. But we did successfully do ghee with a dairy allergy. I do know some people do successfully use highly refined versions of allergenic oils (soy, I've even heard of peanut oil being used ok). MCT oil (nestle I believe makes one that is nut and sesame cross free) would be highly, highly refined from coconut and healthy for you imo in that it's rich in medium chains the body easily uses. But the nut trace free MCT oils are very pricey (too much/I wouldn't do it without a metabolic condition reason here) and it isn't good for baking or high heat so not really helpful. I'm sorry your son is apparently coconut allergic. Yuck. I was hoping he was reacting to cross instead of actually coconut.

I do think it's smart, since you're dealing with such a wide range of allergies, to use the refined oils so he is less likely to sensitize. I hope the ghee works for you. I don't know if palm cross with coconut but I'd use refined (and nut and sesame coconut cross free of course) if you try it.

You're dealing with a really hard mix of allergies. Wheat allergy with nuts/sesame alone is a real bear since the gluten free stuff is so heavy with nut cross. I do have gluten free nut and sesame free flours and such source information if you need it. I would say I"m free of all your allergens in my sources (I'm certain some are) but I've never had to worry about corn cross. Did I already give you the list though? I may have. I forget stuff lately...

Thanks again. Yes, you did send me the list - it was very helpful. Wheat and corn were positive on one IGE test, but negative on another, so we're hopeful that they are false positives. They were both lower than the other allergens. I'm still not planning to eat any, but I'm not as concerned about contamination with those. I have been eating spelt bread for a few weeks (thanks to your list), and he is continuing to improve. Haven't given it to my son yet, but he did not react to spelt flour on his lip.

I'll check out the ghee, palm oil and MCT. Thanks!

[BirthKathy]

Originally Posted by farmerjess

I would think that animal fats might be your best choice. My ds doesn't react to pork, so we use alot of local pastured lard. If your lo is ok with beef (mine's not) you could do 100% grassfed beef tallow. That would have no corn/soy problems in case he is v sensitive to what the animals eat.

I've been eating meat for about 6 months now after being a lacto-ovo vegetarian for about 15 years. It's been fine, but I have no idea how to use lard. Do you use it in place of butter in baking? Does it taste like pork?

He tested severly intolerant to beef on the ALCAT, which is too bad because we have a grass-fed beef farm about 2 miles away from us.

I'm eating turkey, chicken, salmon, and just started pork. They have all been fine. Do you make your own lard, or buy it from the farm? Thanks for your help!

[AllyRae]

Have you tried avocado oil? Our mainstays are olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil, and it sounds like the first two are out because of allergies...

[farmerjess]

I was veggie for about 15 years too. I started eating meat a few years ago, but very seldomly. This allergies thing has really thrown me for a loop. My lo is sensitive to pretty much all veggie proteins (dairy, soy, beans, nuts, seeds, etc.) I like eating meat alot now, but I eat it for 3 meals a day, and sometimes it gets really old and not really what I wanted or ever envisioned myself doing, so I know how you feel. Pork is one of our best meats, so we eat it alot. We usually buy the lard already rendered from the farm. It is usually cheap here because nobody wants it. I have rendered it myself and I think it tastes better. Either one, I don't think it tastes very porky. I am not a big baker, so I usually use it for sauteeing, roasting, etc more like you would for olive oil, but it's more heat stable.