stevia if I grow it myself in the garden and eat raw, and vegan margarine?

[Lexical]

Apparently I was told that stevia isn't allowed because of the way it is harvested, etc. However, if I grow it (I have several stevia plants) and eat the leaves raw or boil the leaves in water with my tea, would that be allowed? 

 

Also is vegan margarine allowed? Most margarine has milk in it, but what about the vegan olive oil and rapeseed oil spreads? Plan to start whole30 in a few days and want to have everything worked out before then. 

 

 

[GFChris]

Stevia is a no, period. No sweeteners on a Whole30.

On the vegan margarine, assuming you're doing a Whole30 modified for a vegan way of eating, you'd need to check ingredients for compliance. For example, there was a recent discussion of Earth Balance, which would be out due to corn, plus canola oil is allowed for dining out only. http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/1186-earth-balance-butter-soy-free/

[ShannonM816]

Stevia isn't allowed because it's a sweetener, regardless of what form it's in. This thread has a little more explanation.

 

I'm not really familiar with vegan margarine. If you mean something like Earth Balance, it's got soybean oil, which is a no, canola oil which is allowed only so that people can eat in restaurants but is not recommended to be used at home, natural flavor derived from corn would be a no, and pea protein would be a no.

[Lexical]

I meant make my own margarine- part avocado oil, part sea salt, part coconut oil (which naturally solidifies at room temp) and a tiny bit sesame seed oil. Mixing it together and blend and you get a nice, healthy fat spread that goes on more or less like margarine.

 

I know most of the stuff in the stores is bad for you, even the so called "healthy" stuff like Becel. 

[ladyshanny]

I meant make my own margarine- part avocado oil, part sea salt, part coconut oil (which naturally solidifies at room temp) and a tiny bit sesame seed oil. Mixing it together and blend and you get a nice, healthy fat spread that goes on more or less like margarine.

 

This would be fine.

[Lexical]

Thought so, wanted to check. Thanks. I am going out to get stuff to make my mayo tonight- eggs, mustard powder, light olive oil, lemons. None of the store bought stuff I found was any good, and I checked about 8 different mayos.