The Way To A Women’s Heart

Chocolate is certainly a way to a woman’s heart. This healthy chocolate recipe found a special place in mine during a particularly challenging and pivotal time in my health journey. Finding a healthy alternative which totally hits the spot shows how nutritious food can be used medicine in situations of unbearable food cravings.

This recipe developed as a product of many kitchen experimentation’s. As a foodie and health fanatic at the time this recipe came about, I would put great effort into researching health foods from alternative sources then carefully interpreting their dazzling health claims. Back before this recipe, using coconut oil was daring. It was high in calories and swimming with artery-clogging saturated fat which traditional university dogma had taught me to fear. Using “alternative” foods with outrageous health claims felt as if I had taken a complete 180-degree turn on traditional nutrition knowledge. My academic tutors had taught me to be a critical thinker and a cynic when it comes to alternative views.

However, experiencing challenges in my own health and happiness lead me to plunge away from this traditional thinking and begin to question “what did the experts really know?”

When studying nutrition at university in my early twenties, my relationship with food was best described as dangerous. As an A-type and perfectionist, I had encountered an inner battle where I could never be thin enough, exercise enough, ‘liked’ enough, study enough, and my grades could never be perfect enough. Eating to perfection was another obsessive outlet which, to my shame, not even I could seem to nail.

This ideology of the correct way to behave was enforced in traditional nutrition science which, alike many concepts in health, is portrayed as black and white. Healthy eating is determined by a set of guidelines. For nutrition students and in guiding public health messages, the prescribed supposed current evidenced based knowledge was drilled into us as propaganda – for those of us who are unhealthy, we’re lead to believe that poor health is because they’re either not following the guidelines correctly, or if they are, there is there’s nothing more beyond current guidelines one could do to better their health anyway.

How totally and utterly backwards: 

As a student overwhelmed by food cravings and the inability to eat perfectly, challenging beliefs and views began to bubble as I started experimenting. Eating raw cacao and healthy fat was a symbol of my learning to tune into what my body really needed. In raw chocolate, raw cacao is rich in antioxidants and minerals. Coconut oil and nut butter are a beautiful source of natural fat which provides energy and satiety. For me, this was a nutritional medicine supplying what was chronically missing from my “perfect” low fat and largely vegetarian diet.

Now over a long and twisty health journey of trying, failing, and succeeding, I’m thankful to have learnt health is absolutely not about getting it all one hundred percent. It’s a process with no prescription. Being active is not about getting a complete 60 minutes of intense exercise per day despite how exhausted you already are. Healthy eating is not about ticking off all the essential nutrients so that your diet meets the green ranges on dietary analytical software. Heath starts with learning to acknowledge how you really feel and how to connect with your environment.

Since this experience, my journey has continued with ongoing learning’s. I don’t have it totally nailed by any means, but I use my personal insight in clinical practice playing an advocate of the power of real food with good quality nutrition. It’s not ever just one experience that forms wisdom, but the ongoing journey and sequence of synchronicities. My previous challenges make me grateful to be open minded to new learning’s rather than remaining closed off to scientific dogma.

Now for that recipe – Sylvia’s Healthy Chocolate

A Life-Giving Nutritious Wholefood Recipe

Ingredients:

½ Cup Almond Butter

1 Cup Coconut Oil

1 Cup Raw Cacao Powder

2-4 Tablespoons Raw Honey Or Stevia To Taste

1 Pinch Natural Mineral Salt

Toppings Of Your Choice: Raw Macadamias, Goji

Berries, Tart Cherries….

You Will Also Need

 Small Sauce Pan

Lined Slice Pan Or Tray

Freezer Space

Method

Warm the coconut oil and almond butter in a small pot over low heat.

Stir through cacao powder, sweetener, and salt.

Adjust sweetness to taste. This will vary with the quality of cacao used and natural sweetness of the nut butter.

Pour into a lined baking tray aiming for roughly 0.5-1 cm thickness. Sprinkle with toppings as desired. Some toppings will sink through the liquid chocolate, if this happens you can let is semi set for 10 minutes before adding the toppings.

Freeze until solid.

When set, break into chunks and store in an airtight container in the freezer.

 Enjoy…

Please leave us a comment on your thoughts to this alternative recipe, we’d love to hear from you.

 

 

This recipe and many other exciting dishes from around the world can be found in the cook book “Recipes That Make You Go Mmm…” If you’d like to pick up your copy – Please Click Here

The front cover of Recipes That Make You Go Mmm… Has been designed by Marnie Higgs – “The Female Cornucopia” (www.marniehiggs.com)