I wrote AND with capital letters because when trying to find vegan dessert recipes, most of the time I run into not too healthy recipes, mainly because of the use of plain white sugar (brown sugar makes no difference either). Or some margarine, or other not really healthy ingredient.
So what I keep doing is experimenting, mixing my knowledge with recipes around the internet, trying to replace unhealthy ingredients with healthy ones. It is always a big excitement to find out the taste, the look, the texture at the end.
This recipe ended with huge satisfaction: the chocolate chip cookies are heavenly! You will be surprised that you don't have to give up on the taste you love, but instead of harming your body, you actually nurture it.
Photos are not very good, cookies look better live, but most importantly they taste unbelievable!
Ingredients: 2 cups whole grain spelt flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup coconut oil 1 cup xylitol 1/4 cup rice milk 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup vegan and sugar free chocolate chips (sweetened with xylitol)
1. Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees Celcius 2. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt 3. Mix the coconut oil with the sugar (I did it over boiling water to melt the oil easily) 4. Add the milk and the vanilla extract to the oil mixture 5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and mix them 6. Add the chocolate chips (I didn't have enough chocolate at home, so complemented with flaked almonds and shredded coconut)
Form balls with your hands, place them on the baking tray covered with baking sheet, and press them a bit to get a rounded cookie form. They grow while baking, so keep this in mind. Mine became huge cookies :)
Bake them for 10 minutes, then keep checking them after every 2 minutes, until they are getting brown a bit, and are not too soft. I baked them for about 15 minutes altogether.
Wait until they cool and enjoy! (I'm sure you will! :) )
Jonathan Bailor recently released an interview we did a few months ago on the neurobiology of body fat regulation, and the implications for fat loss. It's a good overview of the regulation of food intake and body fatness by the brain. You can listen to it here.
Super Human Radio
Carl Lanore interviewed me about my lab's work on hypothalamic inflammation and obesity. I'm currently wrapping up a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Michael Schwartz at the University of Washington, and the interview touches on our recent review paper "Hypothalamic Inflammation: Marker or Mechanism of Obesity Pathogenesis?" Dan Pardi and I are frequent guests on Carl's show and I'm always impressed by how well Carl prepares prior to the interview. You can listen to the interview here.
The Reality Check podcast
Pat Roach of the Reality Check podcast interviewed me about the scientific validity of the "carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis" of obesity. The Reality Check podcast "explores a wide range of controversies and curiosities using science and critical thinking", and a dash of humor. This one should be very informative for people who aren't sure what to believe and want a deeper perspective on the science of insulin and body weight regulation. You can listen to it here.
Obesity Society conference
Next Thursday 11/9, I'll be speaking at the 2013 Obesity Society conference in Atlanta. My talk is titled "The Glial Response to Obesity is Reversible", and it will be about my work on the reversibility of obesity-associated hypothalamic neuropathology in mice. My talk will be part of the session "Neuronal Control of Satiety" between 3:00 and 4:30, specific time pending. See you there!
I have a secret. I�ve never done the hCG protocol.
How could that be? Did Dr. Simeons� do his own protocol? I don�t know, but I do know this- you don�t have to do the protocol to witness the miraculous healing it provides to every human body that does it properly.
Over the last 5 years I have monitored thousands of patients through Dr. Simeons� hCG protocol, documenting metabolic rates, body-shape change, body fat compositions, fitness testing, assessments of hunger and energy, as well as perceived difficulty, and other physical and emotional observations. I�ve heard every fear, every complaint, and I�ve listened to testimony after testimony about the healing phenomenon of the hCG protocol. Much of these findings I published two years ago in my book, Weight-Loss Apocalypse.
Yes. It has been two years since I published Weight-Loss Apocalypse. Since November 8, 2011, I�ve continued to observe patients closely, but have also expanded my observations to people across the United States and to countries around the world. But the majority of people I work with outside of the clinic don�t come to me for help with the hCG protocol. They are seeking help with residual emotional complications with eating disorders and other addictions.
I�ve been given the opportunity to work with patients who�ve had troublesome addictions to opiates and narcotics, alcohol, gambling, exercise, food, dieting, exercise, sex, as well as religious addiction. If you�ve watched any of my videos on YouTube you might understand why.
I knew when Weight-Loss Apocalypse was published that it was a very dry and basic outline of how to approach the protocol for emotional eating. I didn�t include the complex web of influence that underlies why people choose to eat emotionally and why they continue to struggle to abandon their deeply rooted emotional need for food. To be honest, I didn�t include this detail because I didn�t know how to write it.
There were six chapters I had written (and re-written a few times) that I chose not to include in Weight-Loss Apocalypse because it was too complicated for me to write in simple and understandable terms. My editor was brutally honest about how confusing, how boring, and how not-publish-worthy those chapters were. As a temporary fix, I decided it would be better for me to capture and share this information in recorded sessions with patients. The goal of these YouTube videos was to show the Mind:Body Method in action and to expose the emotional challenges that are so difficult to understand and to describe in words.
How do you describe what it takes to redeem yourself from addiction? How do you describe the isolation, the shame, the fear of rejection, the self-hating control, the intense panic, the fear of death and desperation to live, and the need to hide from it all? How do you explain how to forgive the unforgivable? Is there an easy way to paint a picture with words that reaches down into a deep grave of mental illness? How do you breathe light and hope into a soul near emotional collapse? The protocol is simple to understand, it�s relatively easy to do, but it can�t give you the love you didn�t receive from your parents, it won�t replace your husband, and no amount of weight loss will fulfill a happy life- and that is the part I omitted from Weight-Loss Apocalypse.
Even though I�ve never done the hCG protocol, I have saved my soul from a life defined by addiction and mental illness. I have overcome an eating disorder, addiction to exercise, and an obsession with having the perfect body. I know what it took for me to recover my identity from being brainwashed by fear of rejection and fear of God, and I know what it took for me to forgive a rapist, to forgive myself, and to forgive my life.
Since publishing Weight-Loss Apocalypse, having been given the opportunity to help people through emotional confusion, I�ve been witness to more than just physical healing. Because of this I�ve been able to refine my communication and am now confident I can express this exposing and healing process in written word.
As I take this year to write the parts I left out of Weight-Loss Apocalypse, I hope you get the opportunity to watch the videos I�ve posted on YouTube. Some videos are simple and some complex. I can be insensitive, harsh and I often throw out F-bombs and other various cuss words. You will witness my passion, my love for complete strangers, as well as my impatience for people�s refusal to take responsibility. Sometimes I�m offensive and abrasive but the message I bring is with good integrity.
If you have in any way been helped by the these videos or by the concepts in Weight-Loss Apocalypse, please share what it is that has helped you.
Here are the last few sessions I�ve posted that will give insight into what will be in this next book.
Do you want a flat tummy and beautiful curves while wearing that pretty dress?
You are still in time to make a decision and
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The last massive 2013 team-race for Health and Performance was this past weekend in Hamilton at the Road2Hope half and full marathon! The team showed another ridiculous level of improvement. If you recall, two weekends ago, a PBPB (personal best personal best) was set in the total number of personal bests achieved. This past weekend, fewer athletes raced, so it was impossible to achieve a new PBPB. HOWEVER, we did manage to reach a new personal best DIFFERENTIAL personal best- a PBDPB. In other words, the sum of the total minutes taken off our previous PB's was the best we have ever seen at one given race. Great work team!
Jordan and Greg hammering away!
Here are the results along with the PBD (personal best differential): Full Marathon- CLICK for full results. Jordan Schmidt went 3:02, good enough for 40th overall, and 7th in his AG. PBD: 44mins Coach Dyce finished in 3:05:59, earning him 55th place overall, and top 10 in his AG. PBD: 35mins Val went 3:11:38, earning her 2nd place in her AG, and 8th place overall! PBD: 2 mins (from a few months ago!) Graham finished in 3:27:37, an amazing improvement in a short period of time! PBD: 18 mins Helen ran 3:56:44! Another amazing improvement! PBD: 8mins Total PBD for the marathon: 107mins Half Marathon- CLICK for full results. Coach Sean went 1:17:48, 7th overall, 2nd in his AG. PBD: 6 mins Craig ran 1:32:20- his first real half, and beat coach Gill by ONE SECOND! PBD: N/A Coach Gill ran 1:32:21, earning her 24th overall, and 3rd in her AG. PBD: 9 mins Dragan ran 1:39:56, placing him 30th in his AG! PBD: 11mins Lori ran 1:54:58, an amazing result considering some injuries she is facing. PBD: 5 mins Amy had a great race, coming in just over 2 hours! PBD: 3 mins Mark ran his first half ever on no training- hopefully he can walk today! PBD: INF Total PBD for the half marathon: 34mins And the grand total is....
Some of the team the day before our PBDPB
TOTAL PBD: 141 mins...or 2 hours and 21 minutes! And NEW PBDPB! Thanks everybody for a great racing season! We have big plans for next year including; Around the Bay, H+P TT record-breaking attempts, more marathon PB's, 5 and 10K PB's, some cycling races, ENDURrun, multi-sport stuff and more!
One of my most popular posts of all time was a recipe I published in 2010 for sourdough buckwheat crepes (1). I developed this recipe to provide an easy, nutritious, and gluten-free alternative to flour-based crepes. It requires no equipment besides a blender. It's totally different from the traditional buckwheat crepes that are eaten in Brittany, in part because it's not really a crepe (I don't know what else to call it, maybe a savory pancake?). I find these very satisfying, and they're incredibly easy to make. They're especially delicious with fresh goat cheese, or scrambled eggs with vegetables, but they go with almost anything. Chris Kresser also developed his own version of the recipe, which is fluffier than mine, and more like a traditional pancake (2).
Buckwheat is an exceptionally nutritious pseudograin that's rich in complete protein and minerals. In contrast to most whole grains, which have low mineral availability due to phytic acid, buckwheat contains a high level of the phytic acid-degrading enzyme phytase. This makes buckwheat an excellent source of easily absorbed minerals, as long as you prepare it correctly! Phytase enzyme works best in an acidic environment, which may be part of the reason why so many cultures use sour fermentation to prepare grain foods. My original recipe included a sour fermentation step.
But there's a problem here. Buckwheat doesn't ferment very well. Whether it's because it doesn't contain the right carbohydrates, or the right bacteria, I don't know, but it spoils rapidly if you ferment it more than a little bit (using a strong sourdough starter helps though). Others have told me the same. So here's my confession: I stopped fermenting my buckwheat batter about a year ago. And it tastes better.
