Fat Free... It's a big Fat lie!

I used to be one of those people who would buy fat free milk, fat free yogurt, fat free butter (seriously what was I thinking? No good can be in that?!), fat free salad dressing, fat free sour cream and so on. It doesn't surprise me that so many people think it's the 'healthy' thing to do. In my job I talk to so many people who tell me they eat healthy and start telling me about the fat free and whole wheat (that's for another day) products that they eat. I don't want to be discouraging, because at least they try to be healthy, but I sigh on the inside. What has the food industry done to make us believe we should eat all this man made fat free junk?

Why should you not eat artificially made fat free dairy products? 
- It often has more sodium in it 
- It often has more sugar in it
- It has a bunch of added ingredients in it to give it the right consistency (fat free yogurt would look like watered down cottage cheese without it)
- It doesn't keep you full like a full fat product does and you'll reach for other snack shortly after to fill you up again
- Full fat tastes better
- Your body needs fat to run properly
- And many, many other reasons...

Fat is not bad! This doesn't mean you should eat ice cream, cookies, or cake to get healthier. You still want to steer away from sugar (and fake sugars) and also the higher your fat intake the lower your carb intake needs to be. Make sure you get a good amount of fats from nuts, avocado, olives, olive oil, fatty fish etc. 

Chocolate dusted almonds

I've been slacking off! Maybe the wait makes you more excited to read the blog again :)?

Well I've been experimenting in the kitchen. I saw the chocolate dusted almonds they have in the store and wanted to get them until I saw the price. They're 12 dollars per pound, while I buy my raw almonds at 12 dollar per 3 pounds. So it only made sense to make it myself plus that way I can control what's in it.

Don't get me wrong though, raw almonds are better for you than chocolate dusted almonds. This is just my version of eating a healthy yummy snack. There's only a few people I know who don't like chocolate and in my humble opinion they're crazy (if you are one of those people, it's nothing personal :)). Almonds are a great source of healthy fats and dark chocolate is a source of anti-oxidants. The maple syrup in this recipe... well that's just good for the taste buds.


You need:
2 cups almonds
2 tbsp of organic maple syrup (or you can use honey or agave syrup)
4 tbsp of unsweetened dark cocoa powder
coconut oil for pan

The Result

Preheat oven at 275. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and cover it with light coat of coconut oil. Put almonds in bowl and pour maple syrup over top. Stir and make sure each almond is covered. Add cocoa powder and stir until all almonds are completely covered. Spread out on baking sheet and stir after 10 minutes and after 20 minutes. Bake for a total of 25 minutes.