making my own creamer

[nursleshunt]

I am conflicted regarding making your own stuff. In the book, it mentions not making pancakes, even if you are using compliant foods but its okay to make your own mayonnaise, ranch, etc. So it is against the rules to make your own creamer using coconut milk with added stuff like dates, cinnamon, or vanilla bean or does that fall under the same thing as making your own dressings?

[JulieP757]

Hey there - it's a no on the creamer:

 

Coffee: Yes

Yes, you can have your coffee. You’re welcome. You can drink it black, add compliant coconut milk or home-made almond milk, or add cinnamon or vanilla beans to the brew.  But remember, Whole30 guidelines exclude milk, cream, non-compliant milk substitutes, and added sweeteners—including stevia (more on that below). For more of our recommendations regarding your coffee consumption, read our Coffee Manifesto.

Tip: Regarding “Paleo” coffee creamer… sigh. We know there’s a recipe out there where eggs, coconut milk, dates, and some voodoo magic are combined with prayers to create a thick, creamy concoction that can take the place of your cream and sugar (or Coffeemate) and once again transform your undrinkable black coffee into sweet, dreamy caffeine. This is not okay–sugary creamer substitutes fall under the SWYPO rule. Instead, we’d encourage you to take a look at why you need this at all. Do you really like coffee, or are you drinking it for the hit of sugary flavor?

 

- See more at: http://whole30.com/2013/06/the-official-can-i-have-guide-to-the-whole30/#sthash.tBX5CgXl.dpuf

[nursleshunt]

This is where i am confused. How come its okay to add vanilla bean, cinnamon but not to use dates? Aren't they a sweet in a natural way?

[ShannonM816]

Part of the point of Whole30 is to change not just what foods you're eating, but your whole relationship with foods. Believe it or not, if you do follow both the rules and the recommendations for 30 days, you'll probably find you no longer need sweetness in your coffee -- or you may find that it was never about the coffee for you, that coffee was just a vehicle to deliver that sweetness, and you don't really need the coffee. But if you keep making your coffee sweet, you'll continue to need that sweetness and not change your taste buds at all. 

 

All we're asking is 30 days. Try it for that long, and at the end of 30 days, decide whether you need sweet in your coffee or not. 

[Tom Denham]

This is where i am confused. How come its okay to add vanilla bean, cinnamon but not to use dates? Aren't they a sweet in a natural way?

 

There is a world of difference between adding some vanilla bean or cinnamon to flavor something and adding date paste to sweeten something. 

[jmcbn]

This is where i am confused. How come its okay to add vanilla bean, cinnamon but not to use dates? Aren't they a sweet in a natural way?

Dates contain sugar in the form of fructose (lots of). Your body doesn't really care where the sugar comes from, or whether it's fructose or glucose, refined or unrefined - sugar is sugar is sugar - except that fructose can only be processed by the liver where it is stored as fat.

Yes they're naturally sweet, but capable of just as much damage as any other 'sweet' you can eat.

 

[praxisproject]

I was pretty surprised my first Whole30 to discover I didn't love coffee as much when it wasn't a "dairy carrier" (I never had sugar in it). I still drink it now, but I can do without it completely if I want to. Whole30 completely changed my food relationship with coffee.

 

It's not really about whether you're making it yourself, but more whether it's falling into SWYPO or non-template territory, that could hamper your results. It turns out dairy really doesn't agree with me and I wasn't really enjoying coffee that much, just the stuff I was adding in to it.

[Collice]

I find that GOOD coffee needs no additives. But I do mean GOOD coffee.