A healthy treat for this holiday season
In the South of France there is a tradition called "The thirteen desserts of Christmas". My personal favorite is the "mendiant" - or beggar: made of chocolate, pieces of dried fruits and nuts.
When it comes to healthy eating, relying on will power is torture and is not a system that works long-term. Instead, creating an environment that sets you up for success is paramount.
Staying healthy during the holidays is a matter of intention, mindfulness and creating the right conditions.
I wanted to share this recipe, so that you can treat yourself with something that is a little sweet.
I love making them because I'm not much of a baker, and I don't have hours to spend in the kitchen.
All you have to do is melt some chocolate and add dried fruits and nuts then let cool down. Done!
With only 0.5 grams of added sugar per square, my go-to chocolate is Lindt 90%. Trust me, I’ve looked at labels of every option on the market (at least here in Alberta, Canada), and this one can’t be beat on the sugar content.
Benefits of dark chocolate include:
the release of endorphins, feel-good brain chemicals
being a brain food
the improvement of mental and physical performance
bringing some magnesium. Over 35% of Canadians have inadequate magnesium intake.
controlling food cravings through lower sugar content
The traditional recipe for the beggars calls for raisins, but I couldn't find any without canola oil (what in the ??), so instead I chose dates. Canola oil, along with soybean, and sunflower oil are industrial seed oils are rich in omega 6. The lipid content of these oils tend to be pro-inflammatory.
Also, Frenchies don't use pumpkin seeds. But I've been having a lot more since I saw that it's part of the dietary guidelines in a study published by Doctor Kara Fitzgerald showing that lifestyle can reverse hour biological age by 3 years.
I also use macademia nuts, and pecans that I soaked and roasted, which are not in the traditional recipe, because I love them. I soak pecans in water for 12 hours with some lemon to remove some of the phytic acid, a compound that impairs the absorption of beneficial nutrients such as zinc (which is high in pumpkin seeds).
Ingredients for 18 beggars:
2 bars of Lindt chocolate 90%
Walnuts x 1/4 cup
Pistachios x 1/4 cup
Pecans x 1/4 cup
Macademia x 1/4 cup
Pumpkin seeds x 1/4 cup
Dried apricots x 1/4 cup
Dried Figs x 1/4 cup
Raisins x 1/4 cup
Dates x 1/4 cup
Instructions:
In a muffin pan lined with parchment paper cups, place one square of chocolate.
Melt the chocolate in oven on lowest setting.
Cut the dried fruits in small pieces.
Top the melted chocolate with dried fruits and nuts. Mix and match the flavors.
Cool down (you can use the freezer for faster result).
This might seem like a costly recipe - dark chocolate and nuts - but you only need a few tiny pieces of fruits and nuts per chocolate square. I got them in bulk to avoid having too much left. I love dried fruits, but they’re highly concentrated in fructose, which feeds some unfriendly bugs in our gut, so it’s more of an occasional treat for me and my family.
Now you can have a delicious and fancy treat, knowing that you are nourishing your body with care.
If you are dealing with uncontrollable cravings, difficulties regulating blood sugar and are concerned about your relationship with sugar, I have many tools to offer! These are simple and actionable tips that I have used myself and with my clients who have successfully crushed their cravings. Sign up to receive therm, straight to your email:
