Ease the chill with a treat!

Why hello, my cancer companion friends!  I don't know about you, but I came home from work today and had to fend off a major urge to go to Starbucks for a hot chocolate.  But I knew I wouldn't feel happy about it afterwards, so I came up with this.

This is the quickest blog entry, and it has been a work in progress!  My cousin Lily just figured out the missing ingredient: cinnamon!  Now I think you will really enjoy this treat.

So this is in the spirit of the upcoming holidays, enjoying warm, cozy time with a pretty mug in your hands along with your friends and family.

Hot Cacao
Serves 2

1 1/2 cups fresh almond milk

1 heaping Tbsp. raw cacao

1 Tbsp. coconut crystals

2 tsp. agave nectar

2 tsp. raw honey

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine in a pan.  Whisk vigorously to absorb the cacao.  It will take a minute or two of whisking--stick with it.  Heat gently, and please don't let it boil.  Pour in a pretty mug and enjoy!  For adult taste buds, you can add a light sprinkling of chili powder for a Mexican Hot Cacao!

That is it today, my friends.   More soon!

Raw food Heals

Since I continue to be so excited about raw foods and its benefits for ALL people, but especially anyone living with or wanting to prevent cancer, I think I will be touching on this topic more often.  There are some fantastic cookbooks out there.  I just have bought:

-Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo
-RAWvolution by Matt Amsden
-Superfoods by David Wolfe

The Raw Foods Institute recommends dozens of titles, but these were the three I was most excited about.

To increase the amount of raw and living foods into our diets, to give us more enzymes, micronutrients, and cellular power, we need to make raw foods more interesting. You can't live on salad--it's just not interesting enough.  Soon enough you will be craving something bread-y, something chip-y, something dessert-y, something pasta-y.  These cookbooks provide us for recipes with all of these, to make our food dynamic & healing at the same time.

Because we have a sweet tooth over here, I made a raw dessert the other night: Chocolate Coconut Macaroons.  It was a huge hit.  They assemble in minutes and get eaten just as quickly...and they are actually good for you!

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Adapted from the Raw Foods Institute

3 cups coconut flakes (I use large and fine flakes, combined)

1/3 cup coconut butter

1/2 cup raw cacao powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup maple syrup

-combine in your Kitchen Aid, or with a mixer in a large bowl.

-form into small, tablespoon sized balls

-chill until firm, 30-60 minutes

-store in the refrigerator to keep firm

DELICIOUS!!!!!

Reducing (or Eliminating) Sugar

As if it weren't difficult enough to find out that your loved-one has cancer, then you have to break the news to them that they have to change their diet. As I mentioned in my opening blog ("I am not a cancer expert..."), adapting to a new food-lifestyle can take a lot of time, encouragement, and a lot of experimentation. It requires a lot of bravery, too (a recurring theme with cancer, clearly.)

I have tried and tried again to make cookies without sugar. They are terrible. I'm convinced there is a recipe out there for me, but I haven't discovered it yet. My biggest success yet was the Magic Muffins recipe I shared with you last.

The point, however, is key: one of the first things a nutritionist should tell you if you've been diagnosed with cancer, is that you should be eliminating sugar from your diet.

To get into the science behind it, sugar is as "bad" as high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is about 45% glucose and 55% fructose. White refined sugar is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Cancer cells thrive on glucose. In addition, sugar and HFCS have a high glycemic index and therefore cause the secretion of insulin and insulin growth factor, both which are hormones promoting the growth of cancer.  Gary Taubes explains in the April 17, 2011 issue of the New York Times Magazine, "Is Sugar Toxic?" "Many pre-cancerous cells would never acquire the mutations that turn them into malignant tumors if they weren't being driven by insulin to take more and more blood sugar and metabolize it."

Enough said. There is abundant evidence that cancer cells love sugar, so let's work to eliminate it from your cancer patient's diet! There are fantastic alternatives to sugar, many of which I have happily discovered recently:

-Agave Nectar
-Raw Honey
-Maple Syrup
-Brown Rice Syrup
-Stevia

My mom now happily puts raw honey in her tea (and so do I!) And we have come up with quite a few treats that have more-than-satisfied her sweet tooth.  I am going to give you TWO of them today. These recipes really could not be easier. For both of them you just pop the ingredients into a blender/Cuisinart and...voila! Delicious! For both I use the this raw cacao, but you can use any cocoa powder...of course raw and organic is best, and make sure it includes no sugar or additives.

This first recipe is from Tory Marsh, who runs an incredible chocolate company in New York called http://www.torymarshchocolate.com/. Check them out! And then check out this recipe. It will delight you in its deliciousness and healthfulness.

Crystal Chocolate Smoothie

1.5 cups fresh almond milk
2 frozen bananas
1 heaping Tbsp. raw almond butter
1 heaping Tbsp. raw cacao powder
1 heaping Tbsp. raw coconut crystals
1 heaping tsp.  raw mesquite powder (optional)
a pinch of sea salt

Blend in a high powered blender. Enjoy!


This next recipe is from my wonderful aunt Susanne, who passed it along from a friend, because she knows how much my mom loves chocolate. It could not be tastier or healthier! (My mom never in a million years guessed that there was avocado or dates in there...)

"Healthy Chocolate Yum Yum"

In a cuisinart, combine:
1/2 an avocado
6 majool dates, chopped into small pieces
4 Tbsp. organic raw cacao
a splash of water

This can be eaten by the spoonful, on apple slices, or crackers.....fabulous treat.