gestational diabetes — Blog — Tara Allen Health

Baby it's cold outside! And, with the holiday parties, cookie exchanges, and uber-sweet festivities practically upon us, we need a new cookie recipe!!!

For me, baking Christmas cookies with my mom is an annual tradition and one we haven't missed for even one year. We follow my Grandmother's recipe and I feel bittersweet knowing although I never had the chance to meet her, that we are now 4 generations of girls/women (plus Jagger and sometimes my husband) being connected every year while we follow the instructions on this well-loved piece of paper that is stained, falling apart, and very hard to read. But, it was hers! There are just some things that don't need upgrading.

However, with shortening, loads of butter, mounds of sugar, bleached / refined flour, and artificial food dye, I just can't let that go over with my very young toddler. We'll reevaluate as she gets older (this motherhood thing is a constant moving target), but as for now, she eats only foods that *cause* health. As for baby Jagger, well, he won't be eating (or missing out) on any of these cookies this year.

So, what's a sensitive-daughter-and-granddaughter slash health-conscious-mama slash Christmas-tradition-lover to do? Come up with a new recipe that's just as fun to make, tastes like a treat, and adds some extra fuel to our day! It's almost-Winter and absolutely cold & flu season - let's stack the deck….ok? ;-)

These cookies are easy to make and work well with your favorite cookie cutters. Feel free to decorate them as you choose.

What they have: protein & fiber.

What they don't have: refined sugar, gluten, dairy, soy, flour/grains, artificial anything, trans fats.

The dough is chilled and ready to be rolled out and made into festive shapes!

HOLIDAY SPICED SUGAR COOKIES

Ingredients:

2.5 cups almond flour
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1.5 T coconut oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
coconut flour (for dusting cookie cutters and rolling out)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all ingredients in a food processor, mixer, or with (clean!) hands.
Flatten dough to about 1/3 - 1/2 inch thickness. Cover and allow to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Place dough between wax paper, sprinkle with coconut flour, and roll out with rolling pin.
Dust again with coconut flour before using cookie cutters.
Collect "scraps" and repeat steps 4 & 5 until all dough is used.
Place cookies on a baking sheet greased with coconut oil.
Decorate as desired or leave cookies plain.
Bake 7-10 minutes (until edges start to turn golden-brown). Thin cookies will cook faster - keep your eye on them.

They were a big hit and I didn't get any pictures on the finished product. I'll take that as a good sign instead of an oversight. ;-)

Please leave me a comment or an email if you make these cookies. I'd love to hear about your holiday celebrations!

Peace, Joy, and Health,

Tara

Ugh. Alrighty, sorry for the spoiler. If you are amongst the many millions of people that still drink soda on a regular basis, pay attention. And if you've kicked that habit long ago, I still want you to watch this video so you can become an anti-soda ambassador for your friends and family. :-D

In this video, I show you - teaspoon by teaspoon - how much of the white stuff is actually in one serving of this particular ginger ale. It's frightening!

Let's talk about something real quick that the giants in the food industry try to keep secret from us - the "bliss point". This is a chemically created "magic point" of sorts that results from a combination of sugar, salt, and/or unhealthy fat that turns on the pleasure sensors in our brain the same way cocaine does. This bliss point is actively sought out by the chemists that CREATE food-stuff in a lab. It leaves us with intense cravings and addiction to these products. Not cool! And guess what? The more you consume, the greater the sugar, salt, and/or unhealthy fats are needed to achieve the same "high". Doesn't this sound a whole lot like substance abuse? Unfortunately, it IS a very similar process. Here's the caveat… our bodies are really amazing and can buffer a lot of damage we do to it for quite some time. I know this sounds like a good thing, but think about it this way - you can be doing a ton of harm to your organs, digestive system, brain, cells, etc. and not know until wayyyy later in life.

If you have been diagnosed with Diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, hormonal imbalances, an auto-immune disease, or anything else that you consider to be your 'wake-up call', there's a silver lining. Your body just does not want to let you get away with too much damage. Your body is asking for you to clean up your act earlier on. That's great news!

Watch this video and please let me know where you stand, currently, with your soda consumption. I want to be the catalyst for you to hold yourself accountable. I promise I won't be too harsh. In fact, I believe in very small and sustainable changes over time for lasting results. So don't give up your Coke cold-turkey (unless you feel confident that you can). Instead, how about ONE less soda THIS week? Drop me a comment or email and let me help you. :-)

Now, brace yourself for this… ONE serving of soda equals HOW much sugar?!?!? ...