Today is Day 36 of the 2017 Fall pollen season. I’m having trouble eating due to the dental work I had done yesterday. One of the people who worked in my teeth yesterday suggested that I drink smoothies. The temporary cap they put on might have to be there for 10 days, and smoothies sounded like a reasonable solution for someone who can’t chew right now.
Except, of course, it turns out there aren’t any places in town that can make a smoothie that doesn’t contain things that I’m allergic to. The photo above is of a wonderful pumpkin smoothie from Jamba Juice that I had last year. Of course, Jamba Juice changed the ingredients – and this year’s version is unsafe for me to consume.
The pollen count today was 7.3, which means things are getting worse. The weather has gotten noticeably cooler, and that should make the pollen calm down. But, of course, it continues to spew into the air. I really don’t need this right now.
The new version of Jamba Juice’s pumpkin smoothie contains milk and chia seeds. I’ve no idea if I’m allergic to chia. They made two new versions of the pumpkin smoothie, and neither one is safe for me.
I put effort researching online menus trying to find a smoothie that was safe for me to eat. Most places have coconut and strawberry in some of their smoothies. I’m allergic to both of those, and the risk of cross-contamination is too great.
One place had bee pollen listed as an ingredient in at least one of their smoothies. Bee pollen is NOT food! I’m allergic to bees, and pollen, and we are in the Fall pollen season right now. This fancy little place could make me incredibly sick from cross-contamination. I don’t even want to walk in there.
There was one place that had one smoothie that was safe. The menu said “peach – banana – peach juice.” Except, that turned out to be a lie. Shawn went through the trouble of trying to obtain a smoothie for me, and explained my food allergies to the server. She told him that all their smoothies contain coconut, but that she could make the peach smoothie for me with pineapple juice.
It sounded like a good try, and I can eat cooked pineapple. But, I can’t safely consume pineapple that isn’t cooked. So, Shawn had a smoothie, and I had a horrible, frustrating, day. I’m never going to try and get a smoothie from anywhere every again. There’s no point in trying.
Smoothie Fail! is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.
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