Today it’s my pleasure to introduce Follow Friday, a new feature on my blog, which I’ll run two or more times a month. On Follow Friday, you’ll find out about awesome people, books, podcasts, non-profit organizations, healthy foods and other goodies.
Happy holidays. Here’s an awesome recipe for a tasty, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Eggnog that you can enjoy with family and friends.
Get Your Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Recipe as My Holiday Gift During the holiday season, most people eat, if not overeat sugary-fatty, carb-rich […]
Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, and Gluten-Free Treat to Try for Thanksgiving With Thanksgiving and other holidays around the corner, it can be hard to […]
Will you overeat on Thanksgiving this year?.. This year can be different. Today, I invite you to envision eating in moderation. Learn this super-simple THANKS tool
Enjoy this Halloween with a yummy, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Butter Cups from Lizette Marx.
You do NOT have to get “The Corona 15” (gaining fifteen pounds while in lockdown as college freshman do). While you’re homebound, […]
I totally forgot to announce that I recently (on April 15) celebrated 17 years sugar-free.
Isn’t that entertaining — that eating healthy is so second nature to me that I simply overlooked my 17 years anniversary of being sugar-free, well, mostly.
Learn now about at least 7 Benefits from Being Sugar-Free.
Which of these seven reasons most appeals to you?
Join the conversation. What is your favorite way to consume dark chocolate or cacao? Talk to us.
In recent years, one study after another has shown that dark chocolate can be healthy for you.
Cacao beansNow, new Swiss scientists have discoverd that it can be helpful to eat 50 milligrams of dark chocolate two hours before a stressful event.
In short, dark chocolate can soothe your stress!
Pretty cool, eh?
Specifically, the new study, which was published in the Journal of the American Colllege of Cardiology, reveals that dark chocolate blunted increases in cortisol and epinephrine.
Cortisol, as you may already know, is often called the stress hormone, and epinephrine — which is better known as adrenaline — is a hormone released by the adrenal glands and its major action, together with noradrenaline, is to prepare you for your infamous fight or flight response.
Of course, that fight-or-flight reaction helps us humans, as well as animals, to mobilize our energy rapidly so we can deal with threats to our survival.
Meanwhile, as resarchers have been finding for years, dark chocolate — but not sugar-laden milk chocolate or white chocolate — is healthy in at least 9 other ways, too.
For example:
Dark chocolate is nutritious, containing such goodies as fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, and manganese, as AuthorityNutrition.com points out.
It can lessen cravings for sweet, salty or fatty foods. That’s certainly good news for sugar addicts.
Dark chocolate is a powerful source of antioxidants. One study even called cacao a “super fruit” and found that it contains more antioxidant activity, polyphenols and flavanols than other fruits tested, which included blueberries and Acai berries.
Dark chocolate may lower your risk for cardiovascular disease;
And it may improve your brain function.
It can even boost enhance your coronary circulation.
It also raises HDL (the good stuff) and lowers LDL
Plus, dark chocolate has achieved recognition as an anti-depressant and mood leveler.
Dark chocolate may protect your skin aginst the sun.
Cacao-powderNow, please bear in mind that I’m not urging you to rush out and get sugar-filled chocolate!
Ideally, you want to eat dark chocolate hat has a high cacao content, is high in fat (yes!), and low in sugar.
To get some guidance on what to get, check out Mark’s Daily Apple’s wonderful review of the 5 best dark chocolate bars.
Now, if you’re really into being sugar-free, I highly recommend that you nibble on unprocessed cacao beans (it goes great with nuts).
Or you can use cacao powder to make a healthy smoothie.
In fact, every morning I add 2 or 3 tablespoons of organic cacao powder from either Navitas Naturals or Sun Foods in my sugar-free, super-healthy Cacao-Chia-Protein Smoothie. (Stay tuned, because I’ll post a recipe sometime.)
Anyhow, it’s exciting to discover that cacao also can help you deal with stress.
Join the conversation. What is your favorite way to consume dark chocolate or cacao? Talk to us.
Join the Conversation: Have you ever written a book or wanted to write a book?
I’m taking a few days away from emails and the Internet during this Easter weekend and post-Passover time to work on my next book.
At present, I need to get back to writing, but let me briefly share that this book is the follow-up to my first book, Sugar Shock, which Dr. Mehmet Oz praised, and Beyond Sugar Shock, which was published by Hay House and was endorsed by many health and empowerment gurus such as Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, Dr. Daniel Amen, Brian Tracy, Dr. Christiane Northrup and many others.
For my third book, I’m not going through a traditional publisher.
Instead, I’m taking the self-publishing route, and Balboa press Logo_MainI’ve signed up with Balboa Press, which is a division of Hay House.
My publishing contacts at Balboa Press are being so incredibly nice to me — I couldn’t be happier! — and they’re helping me implement some very innovative things. (More later.)
What’s really nice about self-publishing with Balboa Press is that I can speed up the timeline and schedule my book when I want it to come out.
I’ll announce the publication date soon, but it’s a pub date that may make you chuckle. Seriously!
Right now, I have to get back to writing my next book, but right now, let me share my fondest wish and deepest desire for this book — my mission is to help and serve people worldwide. Stay tuned.
Join the Conversation: Have you ever written a book or wanted to write a book?