by Christina | Dec 29, 2018 | Member Exclusives, Wellness
There is a popular myth that eating 5 or 6 small meals a day is optimal because it “keeps the metabolism up,” but eating that many times a day could actually be a very bad idea if you’re looking to optimize your digestion. (Eating that often also doesn’t even improve your metabolism, but that’s for another time.) While there are certain situations when people need to eat more often, the majority of people would be best off eating three large meals a day with plenty of time in between. We simply need to look at the digestive process to understand why, and it’s all because of something called the Migrating Motor Complex.
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by Christina | Dec 24, 2018 | Recipes, Wellness
I know I’m biased, but these are the best paleo chocolate chip cookies you will ever eat. Trust me on this one.
I’ve always wanted to post a classic, simple paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe to my blog, but I never did because there are a million other paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes out there. Why add another to get lost in the shuffle, ya know?
In the last month or so, though, I have been CRAVING chocolate chip cookies. Really delicious, soft, chewy, rich chocolate chip cookies with the perfect amount of sweetness. Classic chocolate chip cookies. I set out to make some, but I was still resisting making “regular” chocolate chip cookies, since I know there are so many others out there. That led to my sugar-free, paleo, keto chocolate chip cookies (which are, by the way, absolutely delicious!).
Even though they’re delicious, they’re not the same as an old-school chocolate chip cookie, though. So I gave in and decided to just make the classic, my way. It was a long time coming.
A mistake I’ve made in the past, and one I see a lot of other bloggers make as well, is paying too much attention to what other people are doing in the health and wellness space. About a year and a half ago I decided to unfollow a lot of food bloggers and try to not see what other people posted, because I realized it was disrupting my own creativity. When I started really focusing on my own content and paying less attention to what others were posting, I became much happier and felt much more inspired. I stopped worrying about whether or not someone else had already done something similar, and things started flowing. The truth is that not much is really original anymore, anyways. There’s too much on the Internet. Plus, people don’t go to bloggers’ pages for originality, necessarily – they just want to see the way that person does things.
Recently, though, I’ve tuned out a lot more “noise” than ever before. The last few months I’ve barely listened to any other podcasts, I haven’t bothered reading other people’s blogs, I stopped scrolling on Instagram, and overall I’ve focused simply on making my own content and spending time with people in real life. It wasn’t really a conscious effort, and it wasn’t anything against anyone else. It was mostly just because I was feeling overwhelmed with so much content in general and needed some silence, so to speak. Mental space.
How does this relate to my chocolate chip cookies? Well, I realized I didn’t really want to search on the Internet for a paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe that I thought might really hit the spot, because I didn’t want to spend that much time searching on other people’s blogs. I also realized that if I wanted the cookies to taste exactly how I imagined they would taste, I would have to make the recipe myself.
I’m so glad I made these, because they will definitely be a staple recipe for me. I feel satisfied now that I have my simple, go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe up on my website! This way, you guys know exactly how I like my cookies. I feel confident making these for ANYONE.
And yes, they taste exactly how I imagined them to. I didn’t want them to taste like a “healthy” chocolate chip cookie, persay – I wanted them to taste like real chocolate chip cookies. The ones I used to love when I was a kid. The ones I made for Santa on Christmas Eve. The ones you dip in a glass of cold milk while you curl up on the couch watching a movie. Real damn chocolate chip cookies!
How do you get that flavor? Butter and sugar. The perfect ratio of both, and the right type. To replace conventional butter, I decided to go with ghee. Most people who don’t tolerate dairy do well with ghee, which is clarified butter that’s had the milk solids removed. Ghee also has plenty of health benefits – it’s a rich source of CLA, butyrate, and vitamins A, E, and K, and it helps to improve digestion and reduce inflammation. Ghee is definitely important for the flavor of this recipe. Even though coconut oil will work, if you really want to get as close to the taste of regular chocolate chip cookies as possible, ghee will provide that flavor.
I decided to go with an unrefined, natural sweetener – maple syrup. Maple syrup is my favorite natural sweetener because it fits perfectly in any cookie recipe. Honey tends to stand out a bit more and also loses a lot of its nutritional value when baked. Maple syrup also contains plenty of antioxidants as well as vitamins and minerals like zinc, manganese, potassium, and calcium. I also love maple syrup because a liquid sweetener provides better texture than a granulated sweetener, in my opinion. The best part is that these need hardly any sweetener for the whole batch – only 3 tablespoons! And trust me – it’s plenty!
These are everything I could ever want in a cookie. I’m warning you now – they’re addicting. They have the perfect amount of sweetness – they’ll satisfy your sweet tooth but aren’t sickening or heavy. They’re soft and fluffy while also being moist and chewy. Not too soft, not too firm. Melt-in-your-mouth!
If you’re looking for the perfect, classic chocolate chip cookies – these are for you. I wish you could’ve seen how excited I was when they came out of the oven and I took my first bite. I honestly surprised myself with how perfectly they came out, and I was even happier when my friends immediately fell in love with them as well. The best part about these is that they taste exactly like a classic chocolate chip cookie, but they’re healthy, and they won’t upset your stomach like other sugar/wheat-filled versions might. Honestly, I’ve tried plenty of paleo cookies that are too heavy, too sweet, and still don’t leave me feeling that great. That is NOT the case with these beauties!
These chocolate chip cookies are paleo, gluten-free, and dairy-free. They can be made egg-free if you replace the egg with a chia or flax egg. If you can’t do ghee, then you can certainly replace the ghee with coconut oil, but just remember that the ghee gives the buttery flavor. Butter-flavored coconut oil would work as well! You can replace the maple syrup with any other liquid sweetener that you prefer instead, but I personally like maple syrup the most! I like to use 100% cacao chips or Enjoy Life chocolate chips for the chocolate chips, but you can use any that you’d like. Lastly, feel free to sub the almond butter with another nut butter if you so desire! This is simply the version that I love the most and tastes the most like “traditional” chocolate chip cookies. Remember, though, never be afraid to put your own twist on a recipe!
Classic Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes: 10 cookies
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp raw almond butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips (You could use Lily’s, Enjoy life, 100% cacao chips, etc.)
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350*F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix all ingredients except for chocolate chips together until well combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Form the dough into cookies about 2 inches wide, placing them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom edges of the cookies start to turn golden.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool so the cookies set completely. Enjoy!
by Christina | Dec 21, 2018 | Recipes, Wellness
I’ve wanted to create a sugar-free paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe for a long, long time. And trust me – I have tried many times. My first attempts were while recipe testing for my #NoSugarNoProblems Part 1 ebook, but I could not get them right. I grew frustrated with all of the failures, so I decided to leave it for another time.
I tried once again a few months later, but still couldn’t get it right. Then I made #NoSugarNoProblems Part 2, and after that sugar-free accomplishment I felt like I was finally ready to nail down a really good, sugar-free chocolate chip cookie recipe. This time, I was DETERMINED to actually do it.
If you follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, you might have enjoyed following along as I tried over and over again to make these cookies. I made them four different times this month, tweaking the recipe and getting different friends’ opinions as I went. Why were these so difficult?! The texture was perfect straight off the bat, but the flavor needed a bit of work.
Sugar-free desserts are tricky because there’s a population of people whose taste buds are used to sweetener-free desserts, and those people usually perceive anything that contains 100% dark chocolate and nut butters to be sweet. They’re easy to please. I’m one of these. Then you have people who don’t eat sugar, but they still consume sweeteners. Those people are harder to please, because they’re often used to the taste of stevia, which happens to be 200-300 times sweeter (in powdered form) than sugar, or sweeteners like monkfruit or xylitol, which are also plenty sweet as well. Then there are people who are use to regular ole’ sugar-filled desserts.
With certain sugar-free dessert recipes, my goal is simply to appeal to those who enjoy sugar-free, sweetener-free desserts, or who don’t need something excessively sweet to be satisfied. With other recipes, though, I’m determined to make something that truly anyone would like. And for others, I want to make something that anyone who generally eats healthy food would enjoy. I really wanted this recipe to be a relatively general crowd-pleaser, rather than a recipe that only those who already liked sweetener-free desserts could appreciate. Otherwise, I would’ve been done after my first try!
After my first attempt at this recipe (this time around), I personally loved the taste of the cookies, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else would. My friend Liz, who I’m sure many of you know, also loved them, but I don’t trust her taste buds either – they’re too similar to mine. Ha! So I made them again, slightly sweeter, and I tested them on another friend, who is more used to sugar-free desserts but does use some sweeteners. She told me the taste needed work, so I tried again, and then gave them to another friend. She wasn’t into them either, so I tried one FINAL time, and I decided to add a sweetener. Still sugar-free, though. I had to give in – because sugar-free chocolate chip cookies really DO need a sweetener to taste anything like a chocolate chip cookie.
I was trying to avoid using any sweeteners, like the desserts in my #NoSugarNoProblems ebooks, but it’s really just not possible to make a plain chocolate chip cookie that has sufficient flavor without it. What people might not realize is that what gives a chocolate chip cookie its distinct flavor really is the sugar and butter. I could replace the fat, but without any sweetener, it just tastes too plain. Not bad (like I said, I personally loved them and ate them all), but just plain. Too plain for most people. It’s easier to make flavored cookies without any sweeteners, because you can just amp up the extra flavor and highlight that. But when the flavor IS the sweetener, it’s another story.
I obviously wanted to keep these chocolate chip cookies sugar-free, low-carb, keto-friendly, and paleo, though, so I decided to use just a smidge of my favorite low-carb sweetener – yacon syrup, which is also the star ingredient in my Paleo / Keto Gingerbread recipe. Yacon syrup does not get the attention it deserves, in my opinion. It’s definitely my favorite keto-friendly, sugar-free sweetener! I prefer whole-food-based sweeteners, which is why I like maple syrup or honey if I don’t mind the recipe being a little higher in natural sugars, or yacon if I want to keep it keto-friendly.
Yacon syrup is an extract from the root of the yacon plant, and in its syrup form it looks and tastes similar to molasses. I love yacon syrup because you only need a very small amount to provide a lot of sweetness! Better than that, though, is that it actually has plenty of health benefits.
Yacon syrup is high in antioxidants and fructooligosaccharides, a type of prebiotic fiber that supports digestion and helps keep you feeling full! You can also find FOS in fruits and vegetables like bananas, garlic, onions, leeks, jicama, and asparagus. These prebiotics pass through the upper GI tract undigested and act as “food” for the beneficial bacteria in your gut. We want to make sure the “good guys” in the gut are nice and happy so that the “bad guys” are crowded out. For this reason, yacon syrup can be great for digestion and help reduce constipation for many.
Yacon syrup has also been linked with reduced insulin resistance, easier weight loss, better bone health (because it increases calcium absorption in the body), and better immunity. It also contains cancer-fighting properties! I’m not sure why yacon syrup doesn’t get much publicity, but I really think it should! It’s a great low-glycemic sweetener with added health benefits, and like I mentioned, a little goes a long way. If you follow a low-sugar diet, then I think this is a great staple to have in your kitchen to use in baked goods or any drinks that you’d like to sweeten.
It just took a dash of yacon, and these were finally perfect. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this recipe – these are some of my favorite cookies!! They’ve been approved by people with “normal” taste buds – don’t worry. They’re delicious but not overpowering, and you can always add more yacon if you want them even sweeter. Or, use even less if your taste buds are well-adjusted to sweetener-free desserts! They’re my ideal consistency as well – the perfect combination of soft and chewy!
If you love a good chocolate chip cookie but don’t want the sugar, these are for you! These do not last long in front of me… and they’re extra delicious when dipped in some coconut milk or almond milk! This recipe is sugar-free, paleo, low-carb, and keto-friendly, and you can also make it vegan if you replace the egg with a flax egg or chia egg. If you’ve been looking for the perfect sugar-free cookie recipe, this might be just what you need!
Sugar-Free / Paleo / Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes: 10 cookies
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut butter
- 2 tbsp cashew butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2.5 tsp yacon syrup (can add more to taste)
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup 100% dark chocolate bar chopped, or 100% cacao chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix all ingredients except for chocolate in a large mixing bowl until well-combined. Fold in the chocolate.
- Use the dough to create cookies about 2 inches wide, placing them on the baking sheet about an inch apart.
- Bake in the over for about 10-12 minutes (closer to 10), or until the bottom edges start to turn golden. Remember, they’ll keep cooking as they get out of the oven.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing.
- Once the cookies have cooled and firmed up, serve and enjoy!
What are the best chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever had?!
by Christina | Dec 16, 2018 | Member Exclusives, Wellness
Having sufficient levels of stomach acid is key for healthy digestion. Without sufficient stomach acid, you might experience symptoms like acid reflux, heartburn, bloating, and constipation, and low stomach acid could eventually lead to dysbiosis in the gut. Most people with bacterial overgrowths often struggle with low stomach acid. If your body doesn’t have enough stomach acid to break down the foods you eat, then that means only partially-digested food will be moving through the digestive tract. This food can get “stuck” in the GI tract and sit there, putrefying! People who feel like they can’t digest protein, specifically, or feel like food leaves a “lump” in their stomach often have low stomach acid, as do people with a history of using NSAIDS, proton pump inhibitors, or antibiotics. Most conventional doctors will give acid-blocking medications to people experiencing heartburn or acid reflux, which only further depletes the person’s stomach acid and makes the situation worse.
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by Christina | Dec 16, 2018 | Member Exclusives, Wellness
If you pay attention to the health space or shop at Whole Foods, you’re probably no stranger to kombucha. Drinking kombucha is a popular health trend that’s exploded all over the internet (especially Instagram) in the past year or so, and many people now consume it on a regular basis. But what’s the TRUTH about kombucha? Is it really healthy? How often should you be consuming it? I get asked about kombucha constantly, and it’s time to finally set the record straight.
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