Palm Oil

[CrazyCatLady]

I was just wondering to what extent people here avoid palm oil? Xxx

 

[CrazyCatLady]

I would love to avoid it as much as I do animal products. But right now I'm working on just making myself aware as to where it is. At the moment I'm limiting my purchases of products with it in (which is good because it's in a lot of snacky items I would buy!) xxx

 

[mary1]

I don't really avoid it. The palm oil I do consume is in Daiya and Earth Balance products--they claim to be ethically sourced.
Other than that, I don't really consume it. It's kind of "on accident" that I don't consume it though since I avoid processed food (where palm oil hides in everything!)

 

[KLS52]

I am so happy that I was able to switch from EB to Willow brand margarine (no palm oil). I found it at my health food store and now they aren't carrying it anymore. I asked them three times if they were going to get it in stock again and they told me, each time, that they would order it. It's been almost three months and no Willow margarine.

 

[mary1]

I don't think they sell that in Canada. Does it taste like EB?

 

[KLS52]

Yes...it is very good, hence my disappointment. My daughter is going to check Whole Foods for me next time she goes.

ETA: I've only seen it in stick form. No tubs.

 

[Pickle Juice]

Yes...it is very good, hence my disappointment. My daughter is going to check Whole Foods for me next time she goes.

ETA: I've only seen it in stick form. No tubs.

Oh is that Willow Run? I'd been using that since the late 70s. I can't find it where I live now though.

 

[mlp]

I'm avoiding it. I'm using coconut oil instead of EB, much to the dismay of Sebastian, one of my cats, who has a passion for EB.

 

[Pickle Juice]

Haha! Mine has a passion for Soyatoo. If he hears the noise from the spraying he comes in and looks at me as if to say "well, where's mine?"

 

[yally]

I'm avoiding it. I'm using coconut oil instead of EB, much to the dismay of Sebastian, one of my cats, who has a passion for EB.

Does coconut oil not have the same problems as palm oil? I'm not sure I know enough about this...

 

[KLS52]

Yes...it is very good, hence my disappointment. My daughter is going to check Whole Foods for me next time she goes.

ETA: I've only seen it in stick form. No tubs.

Oh is that Willow Run? I'd been using that since the late 70s. I can't find it where I live now though.

Oh, possibly, now that you mention it. I only bought it that one time, a few months ago, before they stopped carrying it.

 

[nav0413]

Using coconut oil would be better.

 

[AeryFairy]

I try and avoid it as much as possible - if there are two similar products, one with and one without, I tend to buy the one without. Thankfully, it's not in a heck of a lot of the things I would eat anyway

 

[SummerRain]

Myself and my fiance have just decided to try to avoid palm oil as much as possible from now on, with the goal of eliminating all palm oil in the things we buy. It's in almost everything, toiletries, cosmetics and lots of processed foods, so we're not sure how acheivable it will be, but our goal is to eliminate it and I think we'll manage it. I think it's going to be easier than I thought. Most things I have found in our cupboards with it in, there are other brands of the same item that don't use it (peanut butter, biscuits, etc).

Lots of palm oil is apparently disguised as "vegetable oil" on packaging though so I've no idea what to do about that. A couple of vegan products I use use "sustainably sourced" palm oil, and Sainsburys is trying to phase out unsustainably sourced palm oil by 2014 and label their products if they use sustainably sourced palm oil too.

But it seems that most things there's an easy alternative atm, and a lot of the things we buy don't have it in anyway - our shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, etc, didn't have it in. So hopefully we'll be successful.

 

[LuvOurMother]

Dr bronners has products with ethically sourced palm oil.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

May be a stupid question, but is bottled vegetable oil palm oil?
I know a lot of companies list 'vegetable oil' as an ingredient, which 99% of the time turns out to be palm oil, just not stated so xxx

 

[Second Summer]

May be a stupid question, but is bottled vegetable oil palm oil?
I know a lot of companies list 'vegetable oil' as an ingredient, which 99% of the time turns out to be palm oil, just not stated so xxx

I suspect it's typically not, but don't really know. I've heard it's often cheap oils such as corn and sunflower. In any case, I would try to avoid it if I were you. If they can't be bothered to specify what oil is in the bottle, then that is surely a bad sign. Also, it's cheap which in this case means less healthy and less good quality.