Our guest Kelley Herring is the founder and CEO of Healing Gourmet, a leading provider of organic and sustainable recipes, and meal plans for healthy weight loss. In 2006, she founded Wellness Bakeries with her husband, where she produces delicious gluten-free, low-glycemic, blend-and-bake mixes.
In today’s podcast Kelley shares with us:
- Tips for dealing with sugar cravings and crashes
- All-natural baking substitutes for sugar, oil, and flour
- A coupon code for Wellness Bakeries just for Spa Dr. readers
Is there a sugar substitute that actually helps balance your blood sugar? Find out at the 9 minute mark.
Substitute Sweets
Blood sugar is linked to our risk for all kinds of chronic diseases, not to mention physical aging. The problem is that once you’ve incorporated significant amounts of sugar into your diet, it’s hard to give it up cold turkey – especially around the holiday season!
“Sugar is probably the biggest thing in our food supply that ages us”
Luckily, there are ways to satisfy your sweet tooth without spiking your blood sugar using alternative sweeteners. Alternative sweeteners that are low on the glycemic index won’t spike your blood sugar, and can help you break out of your sugar craving-crash cycle while still enjoying the occasional sweet treat.
Wellness Bakeries
Kelley founded Wellness Bakeries in 2006 with her husband with the aim of creating delicious guilt-free sweet treats and desserts. Wellness Bakeries has since expanded to offer over 20 products, ranging from cakes to cookies and bread. The company offers ready-to-mix packages with the perfect ratio of ingredients and a low glycemic index – all you have to do is blend and bake!
Listeners and readers can enjoy 10% off their Wellness Bakeries order using the coupon code drcates.
Natural Sugar Substitutes
- Stevia – Natural sweetener extracted from a herb that is 300x sweeter than sugar and actually helps to balance blood sugar levels.
- Erythritol – Unique compound found naturally in many fruits that are 70% as sweet as sugar.
Replacing Sugar in Recipes
Replace 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of erythritol and 30 drops of stevia. Kelley recommends using Wholesome! brand erythritol and stevia drops from SweetLeaf.
Natural Grain Flour Substitutes
The problem with grain flours is that they are high on the glycemic index, and therefore increase your blood sugar. This will eventually lead to a crash in your blood sugar, which will trigger a cycle of sugar cravings. Certain non-grain flours, on the other hand, have very little impact on blood sugar. Two of Kelley’s favorites are:
- Blanched almond flour
- Coconut flour
The Best Oils and Butters for Baking
- Semi-refined organic avocado oil
- Coconut oil
- Grass-fed butter
- Macadamia nut oil
- Tava ghee
Other Baking Ingredients that Add Flavor without Sugar
- Real vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
Links to Check Out
Kelley Herring
Kelley’s passion for nutrition stems from her own personal experiences dealing with diet-related health problems as a pre-med student in college. She founded Healing Gourmet 15 years ago as a resource for healthy and healing recipes and meals plans. Together with her husband, she is also the creator of Wellness Bakeries, where she produces over 20 delicious low-glycemic bake-and-blend mixes available online.
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