The Art of Self-Regulation

                                           
Recently, I received some feedback from a woman who said she would never buy my cookies again because she ate a 1 pound bag in 3 days. Her email was full of bold letters and exclamation points.

A different woman sat on her couch eating her 1 pound bag of cookies like chips, one cookie after the other. Three quarters of the way through the bag, she knew she had seriously over eaten! She called me and described her experience. Here are the highlights of her description: "seriously stuffed" and then she made a grunting sound. Besides the feeling of having eaten too much, she realized the cookies had a high nutrient content because she did not feel hungry again for many hours.

She really loved the cookies and strongly suggested I package them in single portion sizes so that she could self-regulate her consumption of them.

I have to admit that when I don't eat my cookies for awhile and then have some, I feel that old familiar addiction response kick in. I want to eat as many as I can, for like forever!! But now I know that If I exercise my self-regulation skills, I can enjoy them without feeling like grunting afterwards. When I'm baking large amounts of them, I am surrounded by cookies that seem to be whispering "Eat Me", Alice-in- Wonderland-style, but I just glare at them and walk away. I reward myself with 1.5 ounces after my weekly Friday afternoon swim. And then don't feel like eating again till 7:30 pm.

These cookies have very high nutrient dense food value. I make them with sprouted, dehydrated almonds, fermented chia gel, shredded coconut and coconut oil. They are really power packed and one doesn't need much of them to satisfy.

It's similar with the baked breads and bread mixes. I think that when we have a taste of gluten-free bread that is "real food", we want to consume a lot of it to make up for the absence of good bread for way too long. I must confess that I gorged on each bread recipe as I perfected it but now I've found that one Muffin Top works well for a snack, one English Muffin is great for a meal and 1/8 of a bread mix flat bread is really enough. We just need to listen to our bodies about when we're truly satisfied and give ourselves a chance to self-regulate.

Last summer I brought some cookie experiments to my brother's house where his wife, 2 kids and I plowed through a lot of cookies, tasting and critiquing as we ate. I had to hide some away for my parents, who were next on my itinerary. There were cinnamon cookies, ginger cookies and my original recipe, vanilla spice. My young nephew said "Aunt Sharon...is chocolate gluten-free?", whereupon I said yes...whereupon he said "then I think you should put chocolate chips in your cookies".

I've been tinkering again and believe I have perfected the ginger cookies. The cinnamon cookies are close to perfection. Of course, adding mini chocolate chips to anything makes it better so the chocolate chip cookie doesn't need any more work. I used a chip that was dairy, soy and nut free. Alas, it has evaporated cane juice in it also known as sugar, but I think it's okay for the occasional treat (rather than consuming massive quantities at once). There's that self-regulation idea again. 
                                
                                Cookie dough ready to bake
                              
                                       Cookies baked
If my price points seem high, please remember that I invest in high quality organic ingredients rather than fancy packaging.

I really need some feedback on the cookies so I will happily include some free samples in any orders I ship out in April. If you are interested in receiving samples, please check "Yes" on the shopping cart contact info page. Please let me know any and all feedback about them.

 
Chocolate Chip

  
Cinnamon  

 
Ginger          

Customer sales update:
The woman who swore she would never buy them again has just purchased a 3 oz pack!

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Using Nuts in my Diet

       

When I first learned I was highly sensitive to gluten, dairy, eggs and soy, I added nuts and seeds into my diet to make up for the protein that was in those foods I had eliminated from my diet. I added them to hot breakfast cereal and salads.

A few months later I read about the nutritional benefits of soaked nuts and seeds in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

I tried soaking various nuts and seeds at night to use for breakfast. I noticed a "calmer, smoother" feeling in my stomach after eating them. I also noticed a bit more energy through the day. When I occasionally forgot to soak nuts the night before, I noticed my stomach was working much harder than when I soaked the nuts.

Soaking Almonds

Draining Almonds

Dehydrating Almonds

Principles of Soaking Nuts
for easy digestion

The seed is the spark of life, a living and perfect food with all the elements necessary for vitality. Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods  Definition of a Seed from Wikipedia:
A seed is a small embryonic plant. A typical seed has three basic parts.

1. an embryo
2. a supply of nutrients for the embryo
3. a seed coat
Seeds, grains, nuts and beans are all "seeds" and contain a potent store of nutrients when prepared properly. Soaking seeds mimics the germination process making them easier to digest and making more nutrients available to us.
Throughout history, traditional cultures from around the globe soaked or fermented their foods. Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions

 I am selling properly soaked and dehydrated Almonds and Pecans by the pound.

They are USA-grown, Organic, Raw, and Unpasteurized.
They are processed in Gluten-Free facilities.

They are soaked and dehydrated in my Gluten-Free kitchen.

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Contact me if you have questions.