Sugar - no more.

Before I started the Cohen's Diet, I had read some of David Gillespie's books in the "Sweet Poison" series. Basically in a nut shell it talks about how sugar is so bad for our bodies. When it contains anything other than pure glucose, the body struggles to process it and, in turn, it makes us fat and generally unwell. Fructose is the biggest offender, and it is in EVERYTHING! But fructose is ok to eat in it's natural form in fruit - but only when it is eaten in its natural state with all its fibre (ie. not juiced.)

It was an enlightening read. Trent and I have been trying to decide how to structure our eating habits in our home to try give our child(/ren) the best nutrition habits in life. Trent and I both naturally love to indulge in junk food often. We know this is a bad example and doesn't make us very happy with our bodies. It also puts us at risk of all of the nasty diseases and side effects related to obesity.

"Sweet Poison" seemed to be such a sensible solution. So before I started Cohen's diet, I decided to clean out our pantry & fridge of all our sugar (fructose) containing products. Some we kept for when we have visitors etc. but generally, everything with sugar got donated or thrown out. I have since replaced our cooking supplies with Gillespie's suggested substitute products of Dextrose and Rice Malt Syrup.

I found a great read on Sarah Wilson's blog about how bad sugar is. See this link: http://www.iquitsugar.com/is-sugar-really-that-bad-for-us/

I have not been able to experiment with these products yet, as my Cohen's diet has not allowed sugary foods (surprise, surprise!). And I have not been game enough to cook and try not to taste test my products.

Now I am nearing the end of my diet, I am getting a collection of recipes together of what I want to try cooking with my substitutes. I thought I would document them as I go.

Below is a list of recipes I want to try. I will continue to add to this list and remove them as I document the results on its own post.

Recipes I want to try:

Milk Arrowroot Biscuits
http://melangerbaking.com/2011/07/13/homemade-milk-arrowroot-biscuits/

Apple Cobbler Bars
http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2013/06/apple-cobbler-bars.html





Old Fashioned Lemon Icebox Pie
http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2013/06/old-fashioned-lemon-icebox-pie.html


My Mum's Boiled Chocolate Cake

Pavlova






Strawberry Chiffon Squares
http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2010/01/strawberry-chiffon-squares.html










Auntie Crae's Plantation Chews
http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2012/06/auntie-craes-plantation-chews.html






Coconut Cream Pie
http://www.nlrockrecipes.com/2007/11/best-coconut-cream-pie.html

My mouth was watering reading this recipe!!!








Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
(couldn't find link on FB so just copied the details here)

 Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups canned* chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter (can use PB2 from gym to make healthier, check your labels)
1/4 cup (80 grams) honey (agave would be amazing too!)
1 teaspoon baking powder**
a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it
1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips

* My can was a 400 gram can, 240 grams without the water, and I used all but a few tablespoons

** If you need grain-free baking powder, you can use 1 part cream of tartar + 1 part baking soda + 2 parts arrowroot.

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C.

Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined.

Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.

With wet hands, form into 1 1/2″ balls. Place onto a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don’t do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Yields about fourteen 1 1/2″ cookie dough balls.
*** Don't even try with regular peanut butter! They'll come out oily. You MUST use natural peanut butter.





 Amazing Tomato Basil Pasta
(not a sugar recipe - but I want to try this with Spelt or GF pasta)
 http://myfridgefood.com/ViewRecipe.aspx?recipe=21011



Almond Joy Coconut Brownies - By Katrina Smith.