Gluten Free Chocolate Coconut Bread

I have now been gluten free and sugar free for 16 months. It has been a long, hard process. I have taken great insight from the various blogs and recipe books I have found, however, I felt almost fearful of trying any of these fabulous things! I think mainly I felt afraid due to the unfamiliar ingredients and a new way of cooking. I have grown tired of the same meals and have begun to venture out a bit. I have made several things lately but for whatever reason found that I really prefer to make a recipe fit more my taste and fast-paced life. I do not like having to use a lot of ingredients or reading so many steps in a recipe.

This week I found a fabulous Paleo Coconut Bread that I made. Of course, I had to tweak it a bit to fit my needs. I did not use the honey in the recipe and added another flour instead of all coconut. But the bread came out very tasty and moist. Today I thought I would experiment further and the Chocolate Coconut Bread is the result.

As I continue on this journey it is evident that I need to branch out and step out of my comfort zone!

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Coconut Bread

6 eggs
15 drops of Stevia
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa
1 cup of freshly ground coconut (carefully use a food processor or coffee grinder to pulverize your flaked coconut…it only took a couple of pulses and it was more like a flour)
2 cups of Almond Meal Flour
1 tsp vanilla

Whip the eggs, Stevia, and vanilla. Add the baking powder and cocoa to the coconut and almond meal flour. I mixed together with a fork to make sure there were no lumps. The coconut will have a texture and that is okay. Add your wet ingredients to the dry and mix together. The batter will begin to get thick. I used a glass bread pan but you can also use a metal pan. Grease the pan with Coconut Oil or use parchment paper. I used Coconut Oil.   

Bake for 45 minutes at 300 or until a knife comes clean from middle of bread

This is not very sweet. I think next time I may add five more drops of Stevia but I love the taste.

I served a slice with Almond Butter but you could also use Peanut Butter

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Pursuing Health

I have been away from blogging for awhile now. I miss writing and now that my family is rapidly growing up and heading into young adulthood I feel that I have more time to pursue again one of my passions which is journaling.

This year I have been in a great pursuit of health. I have struggled with my weight for about two decades now. Wow! Just writing that is very sobering. I have used willpower, fad diets, exercise, and other ways to lose the weight. I realized that my main issue is in my head and in fact, a control issue that I desperately needed to turn over to my Lord and Savior. This go around feels different. I am not on a 'diet' for one and the other key is I know I have to exercise every single day. Do I love it? Uh No! Am I learning to love it? Uh sort of. Do I know I have to do it? YES!

October 1st, 2011, I decided to go gluten free to see if some issues I had struggled with for more than twenty years would disappear. I was not sure if I could do it but I read many blogs, books, medical reports, and really prayed about what to do. I have seen a huge change in how I feel and stomach issues that have plagued me for years disappeared! Hallelujah!

Four years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I had no idea what to do. I was depressed and discouraged. I think more than anything I was disgusted with myself. In December I began to really get serious about testing my blood sugar to see what was effecting me and when. My poor little fingers were a battleground for several weeks. I can say now I only test in the morning, sometimes at before lunch, and always before dinner in the evening. I have seen my blood sugar drop significantly and I know when I am having issues. It has been a God-send to get in tune with my body!

I also changed my eating habits even more dramatically in December when I went lower carb and no sugar! So now I am eating lower carbs and by that I mean no empty carbs. I really keep track of what triggers my blood sugar to spike and carbs really do a number on my blood sugar. I can say that the weight is melting off of me. My husband is calling me the "Shrinking Woman".

I think more than the food changes and added exercise is what I have been doing with my mind. I truly confessed all those things that triggered me to eat sweets or to rationalize eating 'just a little' of something that I desired. I have never been a binge eater or someone that ate large amounts of calories at once. I was a snacker. I ate very healthy for the most part but I have found that all the whole grains that I was eating like whole grain pastas, breads, etc were killing me! I thought I would doing something great for my body but because of my obvious gluten issues I was not. It is a huge blessing knowing that I have found the main cause of my weight issues and subsequent illness. I have given myself permission to fail and yet in doing so my desire for my former triggers just went away. I have learned what makes my body tick and how much work it is to work off those desirable calories. I choose to eat sensibly and get my workouts in so that at night I can enjoy my treat of either berries with cream or sugar free gelatin or pudding with whipped cream. It is a little decadent and given what my carb count is for the day I decide on whether I have the pudding or the gelatin. The gelatin has 0 carbs and the pudding has around 12 carbs. Zero is always better!

Keeping track of my emotions, reason for hunger, how much H2O I have consume, carbs, protein, blood pressure, exercise, and blood sugar was overwhelming at first. Now it is second nature. I try not to beat myself up like I would do in the past. I tell myself I am not on a diet but living my life eating healthy, moving, and getting in touch with what makes me and my body function.

I am going to post a few of the things that have really helped me as I pursue better health.

Until next time....