I’m not calling this vegan because I used honey. Yet again I don’t really care about labels as long as my food is healthy. An yes, I used organic honey which I received from my dear mother.
As everybody and anybody I do like to eat something sweet once in a while. Even though I take all the sugar I need from my day to day food, I sometimes crave for something special.
Why do we need sugar in our body?
The answer is that we don’t actually need sugar, we need it’s molecular form of glucose in particular. Glucose is found in carbohydrates and it is the energy your body uses to keep going, I mean it is literally fuel to your cells. It is metabolized in the blood stream and our body either uses this glucose imediately or stores it in our liver or muscle cells for later use. You can find carbohydrates in mostly any foods: fruits, vegetables, cereals, grains.
Does fructose do the same thing as glucose?
Not really. Fructose is only metabolized in the liver and it’s not our body’s prefered source of energy. Because it doesn’t stimulate the release of insulin which is a regulating hormone it’s a much more dangerous type of sugar and recent descoveries suggest that it behaves more like a fat in your body.
So, why is added sugar unhealthy?
Added sugar it’s found mostly in processed food. When sugar is eaten your body separates it in glucose and fructose and while it uses glucose as an energy source simultaneously stores fructose as fat. This fat collects in your liver and around your other organs which is much worse that the fat under your skin. It also leads to insulin resistance which creates metabolic problems such as diabetes.
So you do need a type of sugar but not the type that you find in refined carbohydrates ( like white pasta, white rice, white sugar even the brown one, white bread ), the type you find in sugary treats and drinks and the type you find in processed food. That is bad sugar, it’s gonna give you an extra something ( hint *health problems ) besides the energy your brain and muscles need.
Stay close to and eat fresh fruits and veggies, wholemeal cereals and grains, nuts and seeds. When you eat this way you have a balanced intake of sugars so you can use natural sweeteners like honey, stevia extract, maple syrup because I’m sure you’re not gonna mindlessly pour it on your every meal.
That being sad let’s move on to the good stuff.
Raw Coconut and Cacao Cake
Ingredients:
Crust
1 cup hard nuts ( almonds, hazelnuts, etc. you can even use oats )
3 tbs coconut oil
Coconut filling
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tbs coconut oil
2 tbs honey or prefered sweetener
1tbs water
Cocoa topping
4 tbs cocoa powder
4 tbs coconut oil
2 tbs honey or prefered sweetner
Method:
1. Use a cake form of 15 cm or 6 inch diameter. To be honest I just used a cling film lined soup plate.
2. For the crust blend the nuts in a food processor until they are finely chopped. Add the melted coconut ( use bain marie to keep it raw ), blend it into the nuts and pour it in the form. Use a spoon to level it.
2. Melt the coconut oil, blend all the ingredients for the coconut filling, pour it onto the crust and level it.
4. Again, melt the coconut oil, mix it with the cocoa and sweetener and pour it over the coconut filling.
5. Leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Eat it! Enjoy!
For me a serving is enough, even though this was so good I ate more 🙂
Looks good..;)
Thank you ! It tastes really good also + very healthy