Approved or recommended - Fiber, Kombucha, Maca, Pine Pollen, Kava Kava

[hottxman459]

Hi,  I have been scouring the message boards, looking at the approved/compliant vendors, review recommended products on partner sites (via the whole30 site) and my question is pretty simple.

 

Yes, I know that the program is about getting everything you need from whole food - but I would like to add fiber supplementation and I don't see any recommendations - Do you have any? Are the following supplements allowed?

Maca, Pine Pollen, Kava Kava?

 

The Kombucha has about 20 different threads.  Is it allowed and if so,  do you have a recommended brand?  (I travel 80% of the time and have no desire to make my own)

 

Can I also recommend that you offer a "search" option on the message boards?  I think many of your members/commentators would appreciate it.

 

Thanks 

Happy whole30

 

[hezzer78]

I think the only approved whole30 kombucha option is GT's. You need to read labels however - lots of brands add evaporated cane sugar to their 'booch.  I think there are a few flavors of GT that do that, but the varieties escape me at the moment. Most of the GT's I've found are compliant, though. 

 

I'll let someone else speak to the rest of your question  

[Jihanna]

There's a search option here on the forum. I'm not sure where it's located on the mobile app, but in the browser it's up in the top right. There are just two problems with it -- first, if your window isn't large enough, the social media buttons overlap the search, making it impossible to use; second, it isn't very good in terms of a search engine, so even the mods generally recommend googling "Whole30 forum ______" where the blank is whatever you're wanting to find here. Having the in-forum search behave like google would definitely help, though.

Kombucha is allowed in a general sense, but as with all things it depends on ingredients.
https://whole30.com/kombucha/ gives the rundown, but the essential information at the bottom -- kombucha is fine, even store-bought stuff, as long as the ingredients are totally compliant, which includes not having sugar named as an ingredient. Most people I've spoken to personally lean toward JT's when it comes to a brand, but always always always review those ingredients to make sure it's good to go (i.e., fruit juice is fine, but sugar is not).

I can't speak on the rest of it, I'm afraid. I did look up kava kava, maca, and pine pollen, but personally saw more in the reading that would turn me away from those than reasons to use them, especially the kava since it seems to be a social drink similar to alcohol in some areas... so even if the supplements themselves are compliant, I think whether or not they'd be suggested during Whole30 might depend in part on how and why they're being used... but there could be a different official stance on that, so those are just my thoughts