“I am so glad that I’ve decided to make smart nutrition choices, and now I never have to eat another chocolate chip cookie ever again!” …said no one, EVER! I am the first one to say that I truly do enjoy a disciplined life. I enjoy waking up and knowing that each day I will get my work done well, help my family accomplish and grow to be the best versions of themselves, give my body the nutrition that it needs to thrive, and push my body just a little bit further than I did yesterday during my workout - I love that kind of precision and drive! However, there’s just no way that I’m going to live the rest of my life without a treat now and then! Even better is that there’s just no reason to abstain when we can enjoy a delicious, satisfying, craving-busting treat, without ditching the food as fuel lifestyle idea!
Now here we are, with a screaming sweet tooth, and the go to solution is a quick trip to the store to grab the first sugar loaded confection we see, and let’s be honest, a night of guilt and incredible discomfort awaits. What’s considerably worse is the long term damage that every single one of these dalliances does to the body. Every single sugar indulgence sends a heavy stream of insulin surging into the bloodstream, but that’s good right? Insulin counteracts the sugar to help return the blood sugar level to normal? That’s true, when a normal, healthy amount of insulin is released in response to a healthy well proportioned meal. The higher concentration of insulin released following the ingestion of any kind of processed sugar, causes the arterial walls to swell, grow thicker, and ultimately harden, creating extra stress that the heart cannot withstand over long periods of time. Similarly, even one isolated incident of increased blood sugar can create swelling in the brain that leads to memory issues, often referred to as “brain fog”. When the brain receives a surge of processed sugar within the blood, the hypothalamus as well as the nucleus accumbens are activated. The stimulated nucleus accumbens (also known as the reward center of the brain) then trains the brain to continue to seek the positive reward created by the sugar rush. Furthermore, the triggered hypothalamus then sends the “I’m hungry” message to the rest of the brain. So we’re left with a “hungry” belly that has recently been reminded of how much it enjoys a sugary treat; where do you think we’ll turn next? Probably not the raw kale sitting in the fridge. Let’s rewind the clock to the original sweet tooth craving. Instead of heading to the store to let our emotions decide what the cause of guilt will be tonight, why not stay home, save time and money, and save our bodies from the pain and damage that one poor decision (that typically snowballs into many more) will cause.
Maybe… enjoy a bowl of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie dough?? Indulging in a smart treat like this one not only helps you dodge the bad stuff, but it actually comes complete with its own payload of nutritionally dense goodies. Starting off with coconut oil gives us a boost of healthy fatty acids that are necessary for every function inside of our body. The MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) in coconut oil also help in burning fat, especially dangerous abdominal fat, and even reducing hunger. The maple syrup provides antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, helps prevent cancer, and even fights inflammation throughout the body. Oatmeal is the star of this show with a unique polyphenol named avenanthramide, which has such powerful antioxidant properties that they are fully affective both in vitro and in vivo. Typically, these kinds of substances are not concentrated enough when found naturally to have any notable effect on a living organism (in vivo); so finding a substance so powerful that it can be eaten in small quantities, prepared in unremarkable fashions, and still benefit the whole body in such significant ways, is worth noting! It also contains a unique and potent polysaccharide called beta glucan, which boosts the immune system, and helps control and even reverse serious health issues like high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and high blood pressure. And of all things, we absolutely cannot ignore the most important ingredient of all, both for taste and for fancy shmancy health benefits, the chocolate! I know that I do a lot of blabbing about polyphenols, but that’s because their benefits are truly amazing - think antioxidants but on steroids! As if we needed more of an excuse to add chocolate at every possible turn, dark chocolate has one of the highest concentrations of polyphenols of any foods, 8% by weight! Specifically, the polyphenols: proanthocyanidin and procyanidin actually inhibit the growth of the cells that comprise blood vessels. What this means for anyone interested in ensuring their own health, is that these polyphenolic compounds inhibit the growth of new blood vessels to tumor cells, making it impossible for cancer/tumor cells to receive nutrition and even oxygen, and ultimately leading to their death - commonly known as antiangiogenesis. This is evidenced by the fact that cultures where people imbibe copious amounts of cacao have considerably higher concentrations of metabolized procyanidin in their discharges, and a statistically proven lower incidence of cancer than similar, adjacent cultures that do not.
So I know that the idea of caving every now and then to something other than raw veggies and sprouts is hard to fathom. But if you can suffer through it, your sweet tooth won’t be the only part of you to benefit from it! And in case anyone was wondering… it only took a little bit of arm twisting to convince the girls to finish their whole bowls, in a matter of seconds! And as if we didn’t already love Johanna enough, now there seems to be the idea that we’ll make a special treat every time she comes, so we may have to convince her to come live with us soon!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for Two:
2 Tbsp Coconut Oil, Melted
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Creamy, Natural Nut Butter
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/3 C Ground Oats
1/2 C 90% Cocoa (or more) Dark Chocolate, Chopped
Combine wet ingredients and mix well, then add oat flour and mix fully. Fold in chocolate chunks and enjoy!
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