The Restore Your Body Programme has 6 categories and healthy eating is one of them. Managing sugar is perhaps the most important aspect and I have written many blogs on the subject.
Let’s face it, most of us have grown up eating too much sugar and still do. However, if you try to cut it out completely, it just keeps coming back. Or you pretend to be sugar free by eating only:
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Dates/date syrup
- Fruit juice
- Agave
These above common ingredients in a so called sugar free diet are possibly more damaging for your health than plain old sugar. Why? Because they are all high in fructose. And what’s so bad about fructose?
Try these for starters:
- Insulin resistance and obesity
- Elevated blood pressure
- Elevated triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol
- Depletion of vitamins and minerals
- Cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis, and gout
Let Dr. Mercola tell you more – click here for a great infographic on the subject
So what can we eat?
I believe we should allow ourselves to eat something sweet and enjoyable on a regular basis. A passion of mine is making homemade chocolate, and if you include the ingredients below…
Chocolate goes from a sin food to super food.
You can even enjoy it for breakfast!
The ingredients that go into all my chocolate recipes are packed with healthy fats, fibre and antioxidants. They are also low in sugar and have no grain so suitable for those who follow a ketogenic or diabetic diet (Note: always check with your specialist before making dietary changes).
Low carb plus high fats = sustained energy
And that is what this lifestyle programme is all about…having good energy levels to cope with life’s challenges. Challenges come from all aspects of our lives and can impact our body, our health and our mind.
This is a programme that helps you to get the right balance of exercise, relaxation, body awareness and nutrition. And I put food at the top of the list.
So, let’s get a balance and that balance starts with managing sugar. To embrace this side of healthy eating, and to make great homemade chocolate…here’s what to fill your cupboards with:
- Raw cacao nibs, butter, powder, liquor
- Coconut oil
- Desiccated coconut flakes (unsweetened)
- Various dried berries
- Cashews and pecans
- Almond and peanut butter
- Sunflower and pumpkin seeds
- Milled linseeds
- Coconut palm sugar
- Raw yacon syrup
- Monk fruit (Luo Han Guo)
- Stevia drops
- Vanilla/cinnamon/ginger powder
- Himalayan sea salt
- Medicine Flower essences
For you, your family and the planet, where possible, please buy organic and fairly traded products.
Many of these will be available at your local independent health food store. For others you can try online. I tend to order large batches as it works out as much better value and I make a lot of chocolate.
In the UK, my current favourite website for all nuts, seeds and cacao is:
Less usual ingredients
To keep the recipes tasting like they’re loaded with sugar and more like the ones you buy in the super market, I use a mix of 3 safe and healthy sweeteners. Even cinnamon and salt can bring out sweetness, but in addition, I often use the following:
Raw Yacon Syrup
This is made using a natural process from the root of the yacon plant. It is high in fibre and hardly registers on the glycemic index, so doesn’t affect your insulin levels like sugar. The bonus is that it is a pre-biotic, which means it feeds the healthy bacteria in your gut.
It’s a real win win but I find that on its own the recipes aren’t quite as sweet and a little too fruity. So, I tend to use a mix of coconut palm sugar, yacon and lou han guo/stevia.
Please check your local health food shop. Otherwise, online.
In the UK, please visit (in person or online) – Earthfare in Glastonbury – I buy 2 x 1 litre bottles! The kids love it drizzled over organic plain yogurt with a few dried mulberries sprinkled on top.
Stevia
Stevia is a herb with zero calories and has no affect on your insulin levels et its around 200 time sweeter than sugar. However, many sugar companies now mix stevia with their regular sugar. Please avoid this temptation as you can do this yourself with coconut palm sugar which is lower on the glycemic index (35) than regular sugar (65).
You can buy stevia in powdered form or as liquid drops. Beware, some people find a bitter after-taste from the powder or by over using the liquid. You really don’t need much. When I have experimented with stevia as the only sweetener, it has never worked out and I don’t use the powder.
In many of my solid chocolate recipes, I use the liquid drops and the best company I have come across is SweatLeaf. Search for the larger (4 oz) bottle of Stevia Clear as it will last for ages.
Monk fruit (luo han guo)
This is a small melon like fruit that grows naturally in Asia. It has been used medicinally for thousands of years and like stevia has zero impact on insulin levels and is 200 – 300 times sweeter than sugar. I have tried a few varieties of monk fruit, but so far can only recommend this one. It’s in a powdered form and has no bitter aftertaste yet is very sweet.
Many of my cake bases and cookies have only 1 teaspoon, yet this is enough to keep the sugar content very low.
Note, as going to press, this is out of stock and I can not even get on the Naturally Green website. For now, try 5 to 10 drops of liquid stevia as a good repayment for 1 teaspoon of luo han guo.
One more thing – flavour essences
Some of my recipes call for orange extract, or caramel, etc. If you use more regular flavour essences from your local supermarket, be aware that they are usually in alcohol and contain mostly sugar. Just check the label.
I prefer flower essences, but here in the UK these are hard to get hold of due to the current laws on essential oils.
However, they are fine to buy in the US. They’re not cheap, but do last for ages and bring a real flavour intensity to many recipes. I like this website of medicine flower essences – Weblink here. Please note that the caramel flavour uses butter, so not vegan.
Look out for my free 6 recipe online e-book: more info here – Raw Chocolate Guru
Take care
Enjoy your body and your homemade chocolate!
Thanks Danny
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