Our house is full of real food. I think you would have a difficult time finding an item in our cupboard that had more than six ingredients and even those would be organic and straight forward items like rice, dates and peanuts. I do nearly all of our baking from scratch and even though it’s gluten free and dairy free, it’s still healthy with substitutes like rice milk and applesauce. Our diet is a FODMAP based diet and some days we are sugar free and other days we are not, but everything comes down to reading labels and eating smart.
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Coffe-Mate is a well known American brand that has even recently branched out with a Natural Bliss variety. For the purposes of this post I’m going to talk about the Sugar Free Coffee-Mate French Vanilla flavor. It’s the flavor a lot of people drink because it has a lower sugar content, but it is so ridiculously unhealthy. Coffee-Mate uses acesulfame potassium or ace K to sweeten its French Vanilla flavor because it is a calorie free sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar. The FDA continues to say ace K is safe, but The Center for Science in the Public Interest has insisted since 1988 that this sugar substitue can cause cancer, hypoglycemia and aggravate blood sugar counts.
Ace K
The French Vanilla flavor of Coffee-Mate also has corn syrup solids or more refined corn syrup (more sugar), partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil or the oil from a soybean or cottonseed (oil), sodium caseinate or milk mixed with an acid that is also used by dentists (whitener) and dipotassium phosphate which comes with a warning for pregnant women. Dipotassium Phosphate is used in fertilizers as well as in coffee creamers and sports drinks. Dipotassium phosphate is used as a source of phosphoric acid which is not something I’d like to be cleaning with let alone eating, ever. Close to the end of the label Coffee-Mate tries to sneak in their natural and artificial flavors, which seem to be popping up on every packaged product in the supermarket, but I did my research and was absolutely stunned by what I found. This video discusses these natural and artificial flavors that have been removed from the VP house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Wh3uq1yTc
French Vanilla Coffee-Mate is a lifeline for some people and their morning coffee, but I’m not certain that it’s really food, so I went the extra mile and found some really good replacements for everyone that are actually food. First of all, sugar free French Vanilla has 15 calories per one tablespoon serving and it’s full of chemicals that could cause cancer, harm a pregnant woman or take the scum off your shower door and regular whole milk or half and half has only 20 calories per tablespoon with no chemicals, whiteners, or special flavors. You could stop right here and be done. If it’s the French Vanilla taste you’re looking for, however, I’ve got you covered.
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Deliciously Organic has an entire list of recipes that are not only FODMAP friendly, but after looking them over I’d say they can easily be adjusted for rice milk and soy milk. These recipes cover everything from pumpkin to vanilla to mocha and are completely organic. Coffee should be a beverage that is enjoyed, not feared because of its ingredients. If you stop buying Coffee-Mate and products like it you will feel better and you will be amazed at how different your food tastes.
About The Author
Nicole
Member of Team VP, knitter and Mama to Blue and Franks. Life, is bloody good.
