reacting to ?

[Ginny]

Linda, I'm like Polly I react to coconut whether its flakes or milk and the Guar Gum will get me every time. Too bad because coconut helps some other people on this site. Glad you did well the second night. I'm jealous your hubby cooks!! Ginny

[Linda in BC]

I wonder what is in coconut that people react to. But you know, if it is truly a " nut", I suppose it has protein and lots of fibre just like other nuts.

And I am so grateful my hubby cooks! If he didn't I am afraid I would not eat half as well because cooking is not my fave activity by any means.

Linda

[JoAnn]

Linda, sorry you had that reaction, but it sounds like you're doing a good job tracking down the culprit. I'll be interested to hear if it's the coconut for sure. Then you'll have to try some without guar gum and see if that's it. It can take so much time to try to isolate things. I had been experimenting with coconut yogurt and have meant to post about it. I made wonderful batches that tasted great, but I was always looser or had D when I ate it. The only thing I can figure out (because I can eat coconut, coconut milk, coconut oil) is it must be the nature of yogurt itself with the probiotics. I used several different starters which included a dairy free one I paid a fortune for and I tried the probiotic that I take each day. I know my body has no problem with that particular probiotic. I'm just wondering if when you make yogurt that maybe your making a mega-dose of the probiotic which might be too much for mc. I've thought about reducing the amount of starter I use and see what happens. For now, I've put my experiment on the back burner until I get through the holidays. There's enough to cope with without creating problems for myself. Maybe Tex has some thoughts on this. Good luck on isolating the offending food and hope you're still feeling well on entocort. Love JoAnn

[tex]

Maybe Tex has some thoughts on this.

Not me - you're the expert on this. As Sgt. Schultz always said in the Hogan's Heroes TV series, "I know nothing–NOTHING!"

Love,
Tex

[Gloria]

JoAnn,

Beats me, too. I can't understand how you can eat coconut, coconut milk and coconut oil, but not coconut yogurt. Dang! I was hoping to experiment with it myself, but the DF starter is very expensive, as you mentioned.

I guess I'll stick with my coconut pudding for now.

Gloria

[JoAnn]

Tex! You made me laugh, and no one is going to believe "you know nothing". I'll bet you'll figure out a theory or two. BTW, Shultz is one of my all-time favorite TV characters.

Gloria, I used the following ingredients: 3 cans coconut milk, 1T honey, 1 pkg gelatin, and the probiotics. When I used the pricey dairy free start, I was always looser the next day, same with my own probiotics. I tried another one over the counter (can't remember the name right now, but it did not list dairy) and I had D. I wonder if it had some dairy that was not listed. Like I said, they turned out beautiful and had a good flavor. I had my husband try one and he even liked it, but he also had some digestive problems with it. That's why I'm suspecting the power of the probiotics or possibly the length of time to let it "incubate". I've let it sit in the yogurt maker for nearly 24 hrs. Do they multiply into some massive army??? Maybe a shorter incubation would help. After the holidays, I plan to experiment again and see what happens if I reduce the amount of probiotic I put in and maybe fiddle around with the time. When you use the pricey stuff, you only use 1/8 of a tsp. When I used my own probiotic capsules I tried 1 on one batch, but it didn't taste that great and was quite thin. I then went up to 3 capsules and it turned out to be a perfect consistency. After the holidays when I'm feeling braver I'll have to experiment with the amount and see if there's any difference, but right now Too many variables, JoAnn

[Linda in BC]

When I used to make yogurt years and years ago, i am sure we just used some already made natural yougurt as our starter/culture , the same way you do with sourdough. It has the little critters in it too and they do multiply like crazy if givine a perfect environment. So I am thinking maybe you could make a batch using the real yogurt first, throw it out but keep some to make your second batch and thenceforth always keep some from the previous batch. Or for that matter, you could use the bought probiotics, and then save some, so you wouldn't have to keep buying the bought starter. Also, I am wondering if the regular yogurt critters are different in some way and might make a less reactive yogurt?

Linda

[JoAnn]

Linda, more ideas for me to try! I read on line that for some reason using the dairy free start that it won't work as a start using the yogurt for a second batch, but who knows? When I give this a whirl again, I think I'll try that and maybe like you said it won't be as potent. Too bad we can't work together in a kitchen and put our mad scientist ideas together and see what we come up with. We might not produce what we wanted, but we'd have a lot of fun trying!
JoAnn

[Linda in BC]

Oh, that WOULD be fun!
Maybe they just say that so you buy more starter! Only one way to find out.

Linda