We have been eating a bit of 85% chocolate mainly because on holidays we weren't able to source anything stronger. BTW the Green & Black's 85% with Madagascan vanilla is far superior to the Lindt equivalent.
I also want to try eating more slowly and waiting (15-20mins) to give myself a chance to feel full.
I'm also taking the advice from The Sweet Poison Quit Plan of sticking to sweetener alternatives rather than glucose while we wait for our addiction and appetites to come under control.
Anyway I've gotten hold of Natvia which is I suppose the best of a bad bunch. It is derived from a natural source, part of the Stevia plant, is much sweeter than sugar but has many less calories. However, it hasn't been used for a very long time so the jury's out as to whether it has any harmful effects. A good thing however is that I don't think it has as nasty an after taste as some of the other sweeteners.
So here's our first go at baking with Natvia. We made banana muffins, a variation on the blueberry muffin recipe found on the natvia website. Find the recipe here. And while they're not fructose-free because of the banana, 2 bananas are spread over 22 muffins...
Our's were about half the size of the recipe so only needed 15mins. And they were quite crumbly so I may have over cooked them.
None of us could stop at one. They were a success all round. Even little badger thoroughly enjoyed his.
I have been using Stevia for nearly a year now and am used to the taste. I am also doing the research on it. It has been suggested that in other parts of the world, Stevia is used widely and has been for a very long time. Reading different articles suggests Stevia has been tested and found to be safe. Also, you can get PURE Stevia, just Stevia with nothing added, in liquid form for example, at the health food store. I'm switching to pure Stevia. Cheers, Caroline.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Caroline. So helpful when other people do the research :-) I'm curious to know which countries were the ones which used Stevia extensively? And thanks for the liquid Stevia tip I'll look in to it.
ReplyDeleteHi Louisa,
ReplyDeleteHow are you settling in? I hope all is going well for you. I just wanted to say that I too am trying to be good. I have cut out most carbs during the day apart from breaky and not having any sugar, but a small amount of fruit. I haven't looked into the 'fructose'thing - why is it so bad for you? I have based some of my thoughts on the blood diet. Basically just trying to eat well but only on pure and healthy foods - no junk!
Miss you at church - God bless and I pray 2012 brings all you are hoping for. xo hugs from Liz
Thanks Liz.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're on a good plan. The thing with this plan is that the fructose (which is 50% of normal sugar and the sugar which is found in fruit) is really bad for weight gain, diabetes and heart disease among other things. It also makes you hungrier generally. So on this plan you cut down sugar but you increase fat so that your body doesn't realise you're on a diet and so doesn't slow down your metabolism or increase your hunger signals. And the weird thing is that you tend to lose weight without feeling deprived. I do recommend reading the book The Sweet Poison Quit Plan (Cranbourne library has a copy) for the whole story but it's been fantastic for our whole family - we were all sugar addicts I think...
Missing you all too. Lxxx