Not really getting SWYPO concept

[tomcat244]

I'm having trouble understanding what is and isn't swypo when it comes to subbing foods. I totally get the "no baked goods" rule because we're trying to change some old/bad habits and broaden our food horizons. But with regard to using better ingredients to replace unhealthy foods, such as using tapioca starch to make gravy in place of flour. Is this SWYPO? I get that gravy is maybe a comfort food. However, I made chicken broth gravy with TS and it was amazing!! I loved it. I wish I had known about it long before now, but so glad I found it. I'll never use regular butter and/or flour for gravy again. So is this SWYPO? If so, I don't understand why. I found a healthier alternative with compliant ingredients, so isn't that a good thing? I've wanted a flour free life for SO LONG (which has proved impossible until now, living in the deep south), and now with Whole30, I am learning how to have it. I LOVE IT!! I'll never look back!! But I want to understand the rules and really get all I can out of this, in the spirit in which it was offered, so any help is much appreciated!!

[SweetEnough]

Great topic, @tomcat244. I'm listening too!

[SugarcubeOD]

3 minutes ago, tomcat244 said:

I'm having trouble understanding what is and isn't swypo when it comes to subbing foods. I totally get the "no baked goods" rule because we're trying to change some old/bad habits and broaden our food horizons. But with regard to using better ingredients to replace unhealthy foods, such as using tapioca starch to make gravy in place of flour. Is this SWYPO? I get that gravy is maybe a comfort food. However, I made chicken broth gravy with TS and it was amazing!! I loved it. I wish I had known about it long before now, but so glad I found it. I'll never use regular butter and/or flour for gravy again. So is this SWYPO? If so, I don't understand why. I found a healthier alternative with compliant ingredients, so isn't that a good thing? I've wanted a flour free life for SO LONG (which has proved impossible until now, living in the deep south), and now with Whole30, I am learning how to have it. I LOVE IT!! I'll never look back!! But I want to understand the rules and really get all I can out of this, in the spirit in which it was offered, so any help is much appreciated!!

Nope, the gravy is okay!  Now, if you had a massive gravy habit before Whole30 and you never ate anything that didn't have gravy on it, we'd say to leave it off.

A good rule of thumb is 'is this going to be a lot of work and a lot of mucking about to make something that slightly resembles something else'?  Gravy, no... zoodles, no... making some sort of (gross) cheese substitute, yes...