Happy Birthday to my baby Kai. He turns 1 today and I wish I could be with him.
If you read labels you might see ingredients like oligofructose and inulin starting to show up on food packages. These 2 words are called 'prebiotics' in the nutrition world. Prebiotics are non-digestible foods that make their way through our digestive system and help good bacteria grow and flourish. Prebiotics keep beneficial bacteria healthy. They are found in small amounts in many plants. Plants with large amounts of oligosaccharides include chicory root. About 90% makes it past digestion in the small intestine and reaches the colon where it performs a different function: that of a prebiotic.
Just Like Sugar contains 96 grams of inulin fiber per cup! The ingredients of Just Like Sugar = Chicory Root, Calcium and Vitamin C.
Prebiotics help increase probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria that help keep your digestive system healthy. The majority of my clients have malfunctioning digestive systems for a variety of reasons. Our typical 'Western' eating habits and stress can all negatively impact the ‘good bacteria’ in our gut. Probiotics are helpful micro-organisms that live in our intestinal tract. In a healthy body, good bacteria make up most of the intestines’ micro-flora and protect digestive health. If you have primarily good bacteria, your immune system will function optimally and it will help you extract essential nutrients in the foods you eat. In order to feed our cells, we need to absorb the nutrients from our food, otherwise our brain will keep telling us to eat until the cells are fed.
Here are the most common warning signs of a bacterial imbalance, if you suffer one or more of these problems it is quite likely that eating prebiotics and taking a probiotic supplement could help you get your ‘system’ back on the right track:
1. Allergies and food sensitivities
2. Difficulty losing weight, sugar/carbohydrate craving
3. Frequent fatigue, poor concentration
4. Frequent constipation or diarrhea
5. Faulty digestion, acid reflux and other gut disorders
6. Sleeping poorly, night sweats
7. Painful joint inflammation, stiffness
8. Bad breath, gum disease and dental problems
9. Frequent colds, flu or infections
10. Chronic yeast problems
11. Acne, eczema skin and foot fungus
12. Extreme menstrual or menopausal symptoms
There are many stresses and factors that can kill your 'friendly bacteria' every day. Here is a summary of some of the commonest good-bacteria-KILLERS:
1. Antibiotics
2. Birth control pills
3. Steroidal & hormonal drugs
4. Fluoride (added to toothpaste and sometimes to drinking water!)
5. Chlorine (added to water to kill bacteria...it kills friendly-bacteria too!)
6. Coffee/Tea
7. Carbonated drinks
8. Stress
9. Preservatives
10. Additives (colorings, flavorings and chemicals in processed foods)
11. Pesticides (choose ORGANIC fruit and veggies to avoid this!)
12. Fertilizers (choose ORGANIC fruit and veggies to avoid this!)
Our moods are directly correlated to the intestinal flora of our gut...the nervous system actually come from the gut to the brain; in the past scientists thought the nervous system ran the other way. This is why what we put in our stomach is so essential to our mental health. Having healthy intestinal flora; which you can achieve with probiotics and fermented foods, increase our moods and decrease our cravings. To read more on Probiotics and Cravings, check out my book Secrets to Controlling Your Weight Cravings and Mood.
So BRING on the JUST LIKE SUGAR! Click HERE to find.
"Healthified" Cookies
1 cup SunButter OR Pumpkin Seed Butter
1/2 cup Just Like Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Erythritol (or Just Like Baking Sugar)
1 tsp stevia glycerite
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 ChocoPerfection Bar, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray a cookie sheet with Coconut Oil cooking spray. Mix the sweeteners and SunButter together until smooth. Add in the egg, vanilla, salt and baking soda. Mix until smooth. Chop a ChocoPerfection bar and mix in the pieces.
Place round mounds of dough on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set in the middle of each cookie. Remove from oven and cool.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per cookie)
Traditional Sunflower Cookie (using Honey) = 278 calories, 11g fat, 5.1g protein, 30 carbs, 3.1g fiber
"Healthified" Cookie = 149 calories, 11g fat, 5.1g protein, 5.7 carbs, 3.7g fiber
Recipe inspired by Sugar Crafter blog.
If you read labels you might see ingredients like oligofructose and inulin starting to show up on food packages. These 2 words are called 'prebiotics' in the nutrition world. Prebiotics are non-digestible foods that make their way through our digestive system and help good bacteria grow and flourish. Prebiotics keep beneficial bacteria healthy. They are found in small amounts in many plants. Plants with large amounts of oligosaccharides include chicory root. About 90% makes it past digestion in the small intestine and reaches the colon where it performs a different function: that of a prebiotic.
Just Like Sugar contains 96 grams of inulin fiber per cup! The ingredients of Just Like Sugar = Chicory Root, Calcium and Vitamin C.
Prebiotics help increase probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria that help keep your digestive system healthy. The majority of my clients have malfunctioning digestive systems for a variety of reasons. Our typical 'Western' eating habits and stress can all negatively impact the ‘good bacteria’ in our gut. Probiotics are helpful micro-organisms that live in our intestinal tract. In a healthy body, good bacteria make up most of the intestines’ micro-flora and protect digestive health. If you have primarily good bacteria, your immune system will function optimally and it will help you extract essential nutrients in the foods you eat. In order to feed our cells, we need to absorb the nutrients from our food, otherwise our brain will keep telling us to eat until the cells are fed.
Here are the most common warning signs of a bacterial imbalance, if you suffer one or more of these problems it is quite likely that eating prebiotics and taking a probiotic supplement could help you get your ‘system’ back on the right track:
1. Allergies and food sensitivities
2. Difficulty losing weight, sugar/carbohydrate craving
3. Frequent fatigue, poor concentration
4. Frequent constipation or diarrhea
5. Faulty digestion, acid reflux and other gut disorders
6. Sleeping poorly, night sweats
7. Painful joint inflammation, stiffness
8. Bad breath, gum disease and dental problems
9. Frequent colds, flu or infections
10. Chronic yeast problems
11. Acne, eczema skin and foot fungus
12. Extreme menstrual or menopausal symptoms
There are many stresses and factors that can kill your 'friendly bacteria' every day. Here is a summary of some of the commonest good-bacteria-KILLERS:
1. Antibiotics
2. Birth control pills
3. Steroidal & hormonal drugs
4. Fluoride (added to toothpaste and sometimes to drinking water!)
5. Chlorine (added to water to kill bacteria...it kills friendly-bacteria too!)
6. Coffee/Tea
7. Carbonated drinks
8. Stress
9. Preservatives
10. Additives (colorings, flavorings and chemicals in processed foods)
11. Pesticides (choose ORGANIC fruit and veggies to avoid this!)
12. Fertilizers (choose ORGANIC fruit and veggies to avoid this!)
Our moods are directly correlated to the intestinal flora of our gut...the nervous system actually come from the gut to the brain; in the past scientists thought the nervous system ran the other way. This is why what we put in our stomach is so essential to our mental health. Having healthy intestinal flora; which you can achieve with probiotics and fermented foods, increase our moods and decrease our cravings. To read more on Probiotics and Cravings, check out my book Secrets to Controlling Your Weight Cravings and Mood.
So BRING on the JUST LIKE SUGAR! Click HERE to find.
"Healthified" Cookies
1 cup SunButter OR Pumpkin Seed Butter
1/2 cup Just Like Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Erythritol (or Just Like Baking Sugar)
1 tsp stevia glycerite
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 ChocoPerfection Bar, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray a cookie sheet with Coconut Oil cooking spray. Mix the sweeteners and SunButter together until smooth. Add in the egg, vanilla, salt and baking soda. Mix until smooth. Chop a ChocoPerfection bar and mix in the pieces.
Place round mounds of dough on the cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set in the middle of each cookie. Remove from oven and cool.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per cookie)
Traditional Sunflower Cookie (using Honey) = 278 calories, 11g fat, 5.1g protein, 30 carbs, 3.1g fiber
"Healthified" Cookie = 149 calories, 11g fat, 5.1g protein, 5.7 carbs, 3.7g fiber
Recipe inspired by Sugar Crafter blog.
Maria-my husband is a chemist, and receives C&EN (Chemical and Engineering News) in the mail. They had a nice article about prebiotics, mentioned chicory, FOS, etc. and also got into a bit about gut flora and tied that into breastfeeding vs. formula. It was a pretty interesting read.
ReplyDeleteIt was titled Feeding Your Gut Microbiome. It is only available with a log in currently it seems, but if I can find a public link I'll link it up here.
Thank you!!! I would LOVE to read it!
ReplyDeleteMaria - how do you find that the "just like sugar" products do in cooking? Erythritol has the cooling effect but does not bother me at all. But stevia causes weird neuro symptoms in me, so I have to avoid it. Can I use the just like baking sugar and just omit the stevia in this recipe, or is the stevia needed to make it work? Thank you, I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteNope, there is no cooling effect. I think you would really like it!
ReplyDeleteHappy eating!
I actually just read a label with oligofructose on it yesterday. It was on 'Kraft milk & Gronola bars'.It also had 'fractionated palm kernel oil' in it. That was the first time I had seen 'fractionated' oil?
ReplyDeleteI recently discovered your blog and love your recipes. I most recently made a bowl of your cream of wheat and loved it! I was skeptical about the nutmeg, but in the end that was the flavor that "made it" for me. Thank you for a satisfying breakfast treat on a cold morning!
ReplyDeleteMy question is about caramelizing the inulin in the Just Like Sugar products, as in some of your candy/nougat recipes. Have you seen any research on whether the polysaccharide molecules break-down into fructose molecules in the high-heat/ caramelization process?
It is difficult to find information on this subject online, but several sources seem to lean towards the answer of "not sure, but probably". I am curious if you have any information on diabetics testing their glucose levels after eating something made out of caramelized inulin to see if there is a noticeable gycemic surge. I would love to try some of your candy recipes, especially with Halloween upon us, but I would like to learn more about the behavior of these long-chain fructose molecules when exposed to melting temperatures. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for such a wonderful, informative and fun blog!
Gabriela
Thank you for your interest gabriela!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your kind words.
I have not read anything about heating it... Do you have any links to studies that I can read?
Thanks again!
Currently I am trying to get a handle on my Candida but Love food and love to cook. I'm having a really hard time not having any type of sugars (usually fruit would help but can't really have that for now). Donna Gates talks a lot about Lakanto, but it's super expensive. Do you think the Just Like Sugar could be a safe sugar alternative to give me some sweetness relief until I get a good handle on the candida? It sounds like it would for the Prebiotic properties but I'm still pretty new at this so I thought I'd ask. Thanks and love your blog!
ReplyDeleteSo can I use just like sugar products and omit the stevia?
ReplyDeleteYep Stacy, you can do that;)
ReplyDeleteRB- Just Like sugar would be a safe alternative to use if you have candida.
ReplyDeleteHappy Eating!
Hi Maria,
ReplyDeleteWith respect to heating inulin and its possible breakdown into fructose, the idea came to me by looking at how agave syrup is processed (from Mary Rait’s Healthy Label Makeover: Sweet Alternatives at http://www.organicprocessing.com/opmayjune11/opmj11ingredients.htm):
"To create this syrup, the agave piña is ground up with hot water, releasing the inulin from the fiber. The remaining fiber is filtered out, leaving dilute inulin syrup, which is then processed with low heat to break down the inulin into fructose and glucose. The result is about 80 percent fructose and 17 percent glucose."
Although this information is about very slow wet cooking, which would not apply to quick caramelization, it is still of interest in that it does break down the inulin into fructose.
I also found from Jim Mitchell in Innovations & Development at Ciranda, Inc. (at: http://coconutbliss.com/sites/default/files/Agave_Syrup_9.4.09.pdf):
"The [agave piña] syrup is processed with either high heat (primarily used in the tequila industry), low heat and extended time, or low heat and enzymes. All processes break down the inulin into fructose and glucose."
Something good I found about the molecular breakdown as far as prebiotics are concerned (at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/fk87200341u35603/):
"Dry heating at 195 °C induced complete degradation of the fructan chains and the concomitant formation of low-molecular degradation products, most likely di-D-fructose dianhydrides. …preliminary data may point to the hypothesis that heat-treated inulin or its degradation products may cause improvements of the gut microflora superior to native inulin.”
Although possibly good for digestive purposes, my concern is how these broken down fructose molecules affect glucose levels in diabetics.
Finally, on the paper Heat-Induced Degradation of Inulin by A. Böhm, I. Kaiser, A. Trebstein and T. Henle (at:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/8pu972c42h9rma12/):
"Dry heating of inulin from chicory for up to 60 min at temperatures between 135 and 195 °C resulted in a significant degradation of the fructan ranging from 20 to 100%. ... Inulin degradation must be taken into account when fructan is used as a prebiotic ingredient in thermally treated foods like bakery products."
As you can see, I do not have any definitive proof of anything, just concerns –and a lot of articles that make me raise an eyebrow. I have spoken to various technical/medical friends who seem to think it is “logical” to assume that high heat would break the molecular bonds (perhaps explaining how a “fiber” can brown/caramelize). I was just hoping you had looked into this, or have access to better data than I have. I guess food for thought… Who knows, maybe I’ve planted a bug in your ear and I’ll soon be reading your own article about this on your blog (I hope!)
Thanks for listening.
Gabriela
Hi Maria,
ReplyDeleteI just bought your kids cookbook and these cookies are cooling on the rack -- we can't wait to try them! How many cookies should the recipe make to hit the nutritional info you've listed? I think we made them a little on the "large" side :)
I think it was 12 cookies. :)
Delete