So, here’s the thing…  I have a nut allergy.  It doesn’t appear to be as severe as it once was, but I am not going to test that theory out by ingesting any!  I may however go back and get further testing as it’s well over 7yrs since I last had it done and it could have changed since then.  After all, our bodies work in 7yr cycles.

But I digress…

I am trying to get into this whole clean eating lifestyle, and follow a low carb, moderate meat and fat diet.  You’d think the whole paleo movement would really help with that, but no.  Sooooo many of their recipes contain nuts.  I can deal with that.  Nuts are good for people without allergies, and also, cavemen are known to have snacked on them when they couldn’t eat meat!  Ok, maybe that’s not a fact but it sounds logical to me!

What bugs the life out of me is reading a nice recipe and seeing it’s classed as “nut free”, then reading through the ingredients and seeing that half way through that you need to add coconut flour!  It’s infuriating!

In fairness, the same can be said for the “free from” ranges at supermarkets in the UK.  They don’t class a coconut as a nut either for some reason.

Can someone please explain this to me?!  It’s got “nut” in it’s name!  It’s Latin name is Cocos nucifera which totally screams “nuts” to me.  It grows on a tree – the palm tree.  Most other nuts grow on trees too.  After all this though, coconut is classified as a fruit.

It can be classified in whichever food group or family it wants to be.  I don’t care much for titles!  But this is where it bugs me when people get all “you’re an idiot because it’s a fruit so you can’t be allergic to it”…….

A PEANUT IS A BEAN!  

Peanuts are actually part of the legume family.  If a peanut is the king of all nut allergies, and is not a nut at all, why can’t sodding coconut get the same classification?!!?

Seriously… can someone explain this to me?  I don’t understand.  I may be missing something incredibly basic.  Tell me!  I may feel like a fool for not knowing before, but then at least I won’t feel so angry each time I read that a recipe or an ingredient list has coconut listed despite being nut free!

If people can’t get on board with it being classed as a nut, fine.  But can we please link it to the nut allergy like we have sesame?  Everyone knows to ask about that one.  Lets get coconut in there too.

I actually got so mad again that my shoulders are tight and up covering my ears.  I need a massage.  But not with coconut oil, BECAUSE IT COUNTS AS A NUT IN MY WORLD!!!!!!!

Grrrrrrrrrrr.