Because of the wealth of unhealthy snacks lining the grocery store shelves these days, snacking has gotten a bad rap. However, it does not have to be that way.
Snacking does not have to be about pre-packaged foods, bright and enticing packaging and dead ingredients. Nor does it have to include the traditional not so healthy home baked treats that most of us grew up with.
Done correctly, snacking not only fills a “hunger” need, but can actually contribute to our daily nutrient intake.
Creating your snacks and treats using raw ingredients is the answer.
Raw Ingredients
Truth is, you can make a cake without baking it, or whip up delicious desserts like chocolate mousse, cookies and ice cream without using sugar, flour, dairy, soy or eggs as ingredients. Deceptively simple in design, you can create raw treats that are not only sugar-free, but wheat-free, gluten free, dairy free, and unprocessed yet loaded with flavor and nutrition.
Preparing “raw snacks” is a fairly new culinary pastime, largely experimental but growing rapidly. One of the most important reasons is that the enzymes in raw food help make the other foods we eat more digestible. This in turn provides our bodies with a wider range of nutrients to choose from than is available in food that have been cooked.
Eating raw food also allows excess body fat to melt away…a real bonus to dieters. Other benefits include – increased energy levels, feeling satisfied and full after eating without overeating, clearer skin and eyes and an improved overall sense of well-being. Eating this way offers a good chemical balance between alkalinity and acidity which results in better overall health.
Raw snacks, treats and desserts make for the perfect guilt-free meal.
All recipes found in “100 Raw Snacks and Treats” are nutritious and sweetened by nature’s own sweeteners. Made with raw foods, they are easy to prepare, unprocessed, vibrant, and full of life and nourishment.
Nature has provided us living foods – sunlight foods that contribute rather than subtract from our health.
The sun, air, soil, and rains have all done their jobs. Now the rest is up to us. Don’t waste their efforts.
Even desserts and treats can be healthy and offer the essential nutrients your body needs to operate efficiently.
For more tools and resources from Carolyn Hansen to assist you in attaining your health and fitness goals and achieving the success you desire in life, please visit:
Enjoy Galaxy Brownies
- 2 cups pecans
- ¾ cup macadamia nuts
- 1 cup dates
- 2 tablespoons dried coconut,
- ½ cup cocoa/carob powder
- 2 tablespoons agave nectar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- ½ teaspoon
- cinnamon, pinch salt.
- Grind the nuts until coarsely ground
- Add dates then chocolate, agave nectar, vanilla and coconut.
- Continue processing until the mixture starts to stick together.
- Press into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish.
- Let set in fridge. These brownies freeze well.
- Roll these into cookie balls.
- Swap dates for raisins or dried cherries.
- Use a variety of nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts.
