What do you think about balancing blood sugar and sustaining your energy with plenty of healthy fats?
Let me explain...whenever we eat a source of carbohydrate, it should be accompanied by a quality source of fat (along with protein). Fat slows down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream and prevents sugar highs and ultimately a sugar crash. Fat keeps us full longer, provides your body with an energy source, can help reach or maintain a healthy weight.
What happens when we attempt a low fat diet? First, we replace the fat in our meal with sugar and refined carbohydrate, because removing fat from food also removes flavor and moisture. Second, we experience sugar cravings and frequent hunger. This happens because fat provides satiation and satisfaction after a meal, while carbohydrates alone do not. Often we're left unsatisfied and just want more simple carbohydrates, which lack the vitamins and minerals we need. This cycle can develop into insulin resistance and lead to type 2 diabetes.
When it comes to choosing fats, opt to skip anything that requires a factory to produce it. Corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil and margarine are all highly processed and highly inflammatory. As a rule of thumb, enjoy fats that allowed your ancestors of 10,000+ plus years ago to thrive. These include fats from grazing animals, like butter, egg yolks, ghee, avocado, wild caught salmon & tuna, nuts, seeds and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).
Coconut oil is another excellent option...
Coconut oil is an amazing source of fatty acids. Yes, it might be full of saturated fat, but when you do consume it, you’re also giving yourself a really healthy boost of fatty acids.
Most of the fatty acids that you can find in coconut oil are medium-chain, which means that they are metabolized differently from long-chain fatty acids found in lots of other foods. This means that, despite saturated fat being bad for you, it’s not actually all that terrible when it comes from natural, raw coconut oil. Be sure to choose organic unrefined cold pressed virgin coconut oil.
The fatty acids found within coconuts are digested, sent to the liver and then quickly used as an energy source. If they’re not used as energy, they are turned into ketone bodies, meaning that you won’t simply gain fat if you don’t use the energy created by these fatty acids.
This recipe is the perfect chance to test out the facts on sustaining energy and blood sugar when including healthy fat into your meal plan.
Coconut oil chocolate fat bombs
Ingredients
· 1 Cup organic unrefined cold pressed Coconut Oil
· ½ Cup Pure Cocoa Powder
· ½ Teaspoon vanilla bean powder or pure vanilla extract
· Pinch of Sea Salt
· 1 teaspoon of Organic Peppermint Extract or ½ teaspoon Peppermint Essential Oil
· 5 Drops of Liquid Stevia, Raw Honey or natural sweetener of choice (optional)
Instructions
1. Process all the ingredients together in a food processor until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
2. Pour into ice cub trays or silicone molds and freeze.
3. Once frozen, pop the coconut oil fat bombs out of the molds and store them in a freezer zip lock or jar in the fridge.
Enjoy!
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