Chaos and trauma can cause chronic inflammation, wreak havoc on long-term health, and prevent your ability to digest and absorb the necessary nutrients you need from the food you eat and supplements you take.
I believe in healing through whole foods. So many ailments can be reversed or improved by changing your diet. Food is medicine.
Many of you may know that I didn’t do any sweeteners (and very little fruit) for 15 years or dairy for 25 because autoimmune and inflammatory conditions impacted my digestion and caused chronic pain. I made everything I ate from scratch for 15 years and very rarely ate out. This caused me to get creative in the kitchen and layer spices and flavors because things such as sugar and dairy, which add dimension and flavor, weren’t an option for me.
There are so many different factors to consider when addressing self-care: addressing harmful habitual thinking through meditation and interrupting your thoughts, building embodiment, boundaries, and awareness around what feels good to you so you can make conscious choices, and attending to your body’s basic needs through exercising, resting, drinking enough water, supplements and eating foods that nourish you.
Finding sweetness in the chaos
While I healed 8 years ago, enough to digest anything I want, most of my friends are low or no-sugar eaters now. Treats that were once considered weird by others now seem to be the norm and are popular on social media.
With collective fear on the rise and increased stress, many people are having health flare-ups. What our body can digest one day may not be what it wants or can tolerate another day. Respect this and give it a break periodically.
One of my favorite treats currently has no refined sugar or gluten and can be made with or without dairy. I’ve brought it to a series of gatherings and friends have requested the recipe.
Here is my recipe for Date Bark.
Note: If you do bigger batches, be sure to soak your dates, or you run the risk of breaking your food processor.
Ingredients
- 12oz dates ( soak them in hot water for 10 mins. if you don’t soak them, be careful not to overly stress your food processor with double batches. You don’t want them overly soft because you want a nugget consistency at the end, not too pasty, like a spread. If you accidentally oversoak, add some almond flour or to create a thicker consistency).
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped pistachio or nuts of choice (or hemp seeds)
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (can be semisweet)
- zest from a Meyer lemon
- 1 tsp or cap of orange blossom water or rose water
- Blue lotus flower petals (or any dried edible flowers for color)
- Toasted black and white sesame seeds
- Cinnamon to taste
- Cardamom to taste
Directions
- Blend- dates, tahini, salt, meyer lemon zest, and vanilla in a food processor or blender
- Put the date mixture on parchment paper or a silicon mat. Place a piece of parchment on top and roll it out with a rolling pin. If you want a thicker bottom date layer, do not roll too thin, otherwise, roll out as thin as you can.
- Create a double boiler by boiling water in a small saucepan and placing a bowl inside the pan over the water. Lower heat and melt chocolate. Add spices to taste and orange blossom or rose water.
- Pour chocolate over the dates and use a spatula to spread out to cover evenly.
- Sprinkle petals, pistachios, sesame seeds, and a bit of sea salt on top.
- Chill in the freezer or fridge before cutting it up.
- I prefer to keep it refrigerated because I like the crunch of hard chocolate (especially amidst chaos 😉) .
