Wanna meet my husband? Here’s an old photo from 2001, when we began dating.
- This is Jy. Like guy, but with a J.
He’s super handsome, right? We are closing in on our sixth year of marriage. Anyway, tonight Jy mentioned he had chocolate cake on the brain. (Welcome to my every thought, honey.) So, I made him one! He doesn’t know that tomorrow morning I am going to hit him up for a couple hours out with some girls to see the movie, The Help. So sneaky, so very sneaky.
I tried something new tonight and made a chocolate coconut cake. I used coconut flour, coconut oil and drizzled the sucka with cream cheese & powder sugar frosting. Not only was the cake a hit, it was a bit healthier than it would have been had I used white flour and vegetable oil. Let me ‘splain. Scratch that, let’s allow Maria Emmerich to explain:
Coconut Flour is very high in fiber, low in carbohydrates and a good source of protein. It gives baked goods a rich, springy texture (but needs a lot more liquid than other flours.) – Marianutrition.comCoconut oil is unique in nature with medium chain fatty acids that are also found in human breast milk, with volumes of research showing that it leads to a faster metabolism and weight loss. Weight loss associated with coconut oil is related to the length of the fatty acid chains contained in coconut oil. Coconut oil contains what are called medium chain fatty acids, or medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). These medium chain fatty acids are different from the common longer chain fatty acids found in other plant-based oils. Most vegetable oils are composed of longer chain fatty acids, or triglycerides (LCTs). LCTs are typically stored in the body as fat, while MCTs are burned for energy. MCTs are directly sent to the liver, where they are quickly burned. As a result, MCTs are less likely to be stored as fat. Coconut oil is immediately converted to energy, so after eating coconut oil, energy levels soar as a result of the metabolism of MCTs.
Emmerich, Maria (2011). Secrets to Controlling your Weight, Cravings and Mood: Understand the biochemistry of neurotransmitters and how they determine our weight and mood
Let me show you what my cake batter looked like.
A little different, huh? The batter was really fluffy and at times harder to mix than I had expected. Here’s the recipe I used:
2 c. raw cane sugar
3/4 c. cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 c. coconut oil
2 c. boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla
A diet filled with a fat-free Yoplait yogurt for breakfast, a Slim Fast for lunch and a “Healthy Choice” frozen meal for dinner, starves our bodies at the cellular level. Poor nutrition can result in lower levels of brain chemicals, specifically serotonin. Vitamins B6, C and E (the stress vitamins) are particularly important to consume everyday!
