Crazy for the Coconuts

So while the balmy summer weather continues, the coconuts are still flowing in our house.

For today’s coconutty treat, I am making choco blueberry muffins. Sure to please everyone as an afternoon treat, or what the hell, even a breakfast treat, I clearly have no other food in the house!

For today’s batch I have used;

2 cups of self-raising flour

2 eggs

4 tablespoons of raw sugar…. completely up to your own taste as to how sweet you want these babies

half a cup of coconut flour

half a cup of coconut oil

Approximately 6 heaped tablespoons of Greek yogurt, I love Jalna.

I used a couple of handfuls of blueberries, which can be fresh or frozen. However I feel that a good 2 cups of any chopped fruit is really needed for the muffins to stay moist. The more fresh fruit you add, the less sugar you need.

Now for the hero ingredient, a choc-coconut spread by ‘nui’. It is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan friendly and oh so delicious!

I added a heaped tablespoon of the spread to the mix and then made mouth love to the remnant on the spoon.

Blend together and then get your coconut cup cake on!

Really there is no excuse for not making muffin/cup cake combos, especially if you own any form of electrical mixing device. For 10 minutes of minimal effort and 15-20 minutes of laying on a deck chair time, it is well worth it.

Your children will love you, your friends will love you, your arse will love you… maybe not that last one, but no one can see your arse when it is firmly planted in a deck chair!

Megan Georgoulas

30 day challenge Done!

So my 3o day no sugar challenge is up, and to be honest it wasn’t as hard as I had thought it would be.

Yes, I had a couple of innocent slip ups, but apart from that I stuck to the program.

Unfortunately I have no miraculous benefits to report of, and to be honest,  I haven’t really noticed much of a change at all. Even so, I do intend to continue living the sugar-free lifestyle, as I really have lost my sweet cravings and my palate for sweets has really changed.

That is not to say that I won’t indulge when the opportunity presents… after all what is life without cheese cake anyway?!

Pearls of wisdom I have learnt from this challenge are…..

1. Sugar tastes SO SO SO good!

2. Rigid diets have never, and will never work. Dietary changes need to be implemented gradually into someones lifestyle, so that it is a permanent change, not just a fad.

3. Keep a diet diary while implementing change. It’s a great tool to keep track of foods you eat too much, or too less of, or that you may react to.

4. Sugar is EVERYWHERE in our current society. I believe it is a drug for the masses and we are swallowing it up and then asking for seconds.

5. Hormonal or emotional cravings are tough to resist! Make sure you have a healthy alternative on hand during those times, or don’t be afraid to use supplements etc to help ward off these cravings. For example I used the LifeWave Sp6 patches to help with my pre-menstrual sugar cravings.

Fruit Salad Sugar & dairy free Muffins

While on my 30 day no sugar challenge, I have been coming up with all sorts of variaions of all my old ‘sweet’ favourites… this one so far has been the most palatable!

Now I know these are heavy on the fruit, and yes fruit is full of dreaded fructose (see David Gillespie’s book Sweet Poision for more info on that one), so maybe I should re-name these muffins ‘Table sugar’ free…

anyway everyone in our house loves them, so enjoy!

Fruit Salad Sugar & diary Free Muffins

2 cups of wholemeal self-raising flour (next batch I’m going to use gluten-free self-raising flour)

2 eggs

1/2 cup of vegetable oil (or you can use butter)

1 1/2 cups of soy milk (I have been playing around with the amount of milk I add, if the mix seems too dry, I add a little water as I go)

Beat or stir together until smooth… Now for the fruit!

1/2 cup of peeled and chopped pear

1/2 cup of peeled and chopped apple

1/2 cup of frozen blueberries

1/2 punnet of fresh strawberries chopped

1 mashed banana

add 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to the mix and stir through till combined.

spoon into lightly greased or lined muffin trays and cook on 180 degrees for up to an hour… time in oven will really depend on the size of the muffins. I like them big, so obviously they will take longer to cook.

If everyone in the house is ok with nuts, then sprinkle some chopped or slivered almonds on top before cooking.

just check they’re cooked through before taking them out of the oven.

enjoy hot or cooled.

Hot with a dollop of greek yogurt is a real dessert winner!

Whoops! A Sweet Slip up

Things had been going so well, but after 9 days of no Sugar, I have accidently slipped. I was making rice pudding for the boys late this evening in a zombie like state after a 5am start this morning, and I added sugar, as I usually do, and tasted the rice as it was cooking… Whoops…

The initial sweetness was overwhelming even though I hadn’t added a lot of sugar, however, and I am a little ashamed to say, damn it was good!

So instead of feeling that I have failed and that all is lost, I’m using this as a lesson. I really set out for this challenge to be the catalyst I needed for a diet and lifestyle change, and consuming sugar even in small quantities is a given in our society… and especially with my sweet tooth.

So I guess as long as it is only occasional and it is a conscious eating choice, then it ain’t so bad.

But after my sweet slip up I am back on track with 21 days still to go of my challenge.. I’m looking forward to it!

Diet dodge or No idea?

I found this interesting advertisment for sugar on the net.. not sure of its origins or date of publication, but it certainly tickled my funny bone!

Day 1; A Success

So day 1 of my 3o day challenge without sugar is nearly over, and so far, so good.

I think the novelty of the challenge hasn’t had time to wear off and has helped boost my will power when it comes to cravings.

I made sure I was busy today, taking the boys out for a long walk this morning and going to yoga tonight.

However I can see I may have trouble down the track with post meal sweet cravings, especially after lunch and dinner…

So tomorrow I’m hitting the kitchen to test some new sugar-free recipes… cant wait, of particular interest to me is a recipe for sugar-free pastries, yum yum!

Kicking the habit- No more sugar!

So the time has come, I’ve been putting it off for some time now…

I’m quitting sugar… yes the white, highly addictive, sweet stuff.

Sounds easy right, well I’m not so sure…

I am undertaking this feat for a few different reasons;

Firstly I am in the process of reading David Gillespie’s book ‘Sweet Poison, Why sugar makes us fat’ (http://sweetpoison.com.au), which is reminding me of all the nasty effects sugar has on the body.

Secondly as a Naturopath, who dishes out a lot of advice, I think it’s healthy to take a dose of my own from time to time and to also be reminded of just how challenging it can be to break dietary and lifestyle habits.

Finally, and this is perhaps the strongest driving force behind my challenge, is pure Vanity!

I would like to measure the effects of removing added sugar from my diet on my weight and overall body shape, my skin clarity and texture, my moods, my hormones, my mental clarity and concentration and also my fitness level and endurance.

I would like to measure just how long it takes to make it through the sugar ‘withdrawal’ period, and then see how easy it can be to enevitably relapse.

I am also interested in finding all the ‘hidden’ sugars in our packaged foods, especially in so called ‘health foods’.

So here’s the deal;

I have chosen a period of 3o days to remove sugar from my diet… an impossible task? Well we will just have to wait and see…

so tomorrow is day 1, stay tuned for daily updates…