Healthy Ingredient Replacements

​You may wonder why I substitute some of the below ingredients in "healthy" recipes I find online. You may be surprised that some foods commonly considered as a healthy alternative, actually are not all that helpful. I love experimenting in the kitchen with new ideas, which keeps me from becoming bored with mundane meals and snacks. And I like to make sure I’m using ingredients that heal my body. ​I hope this guide makes substituting healthy ingredients in your recipes easier to do and cooking fun again! (Scroll down for an easy-to-use table of substitutions.)

Things You Should Know
Sugar - depletes the body of minerals and B vitamins and causes a high inflammatory response in the body. It is a poison; without the insulin buffer, we would die. Limiting the amount of sugar will allow your body to heal more efficiently. Your brain, heart, adrenals, pancreas, and liver will thank you, and those pesky hot flashes may even improve!

Dried Fruit - Choose sugar free, dried fruit is super high in sugar, use in moderation.

Soy - can be an endocrine disruptor as it blocks the estrogen ports on the cell. It is lower in estrogen than what your body creates. So, if you are a woman, and your body is OK with that lower amount of estrogen, then soy “might” be OK for you to eat regularly. However, it will not be enough if your body is typical. If you are male, soy should be taken in only in small amounts, as you will potentially raise your estrogen level too high. Either way, whether you identify as male or female, soy, more often than not, can be problematic. It is also hard on digestion, so take your enzymes and HCl-supportive supplements when you eat soy.

Coffee - should be consumed in moderation or not at all. However, I understand the delight that coffee brings. So, I offered an alternative below. But unfortunately, coffee affects the adrenals and blood sugar, flushes water out of the system, and since adrenals and the thyroid regulate the heart, it also impacts the cardiovascular system's health.

Grains - are inflammatory to the gut and the rest of the body. Some grains do offer nutrients, B vitamins, iron, etc. However, the grains we are using nowadays are pretty much stripped of nutrients, and the only thing they offer is the high sugar spike after they break down quickly into sugar. Grains include wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, and rye. So, if you go for a grain, choose something like buckwheat or one of the ancient grains and ferment them overnight in water and natural salt/Himalayan to break down the phytates that are so hard on the gut. And use it occasionally. 

Olive oils and Avocado oils - are not all that they are made out to be on the bottle, usually. Crime syndicates have taken them over. The companies that have stayed pure (for now) are Bragg’s for Olive Oil and Primal Kitchen for Avocado oil. Other brands are mostly soy oil or vegetable oil with fillers and flavoring. Gross!

Substitutions

Ingredient	Use Instead
Sugar/Cane Juice ​	Coconut Crystals
Honey, Maple Syrup, Soy Creamer	Coconut Cream If tolerated Cow or Goat's Milk Cream
Dried Fruit	Choose Sugar Free
Vegetable Oil	Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil
Margarine	Grass-fed Butter
Brown Rice Syrup	Maple Syrup
Powdered Sugar	​Coconut Sugar Blended w/ Arrowroot Powder
Soy Milk Powder	Grass-fed Milk or Coconut Powder
Granola	Nuts & Seeds ​(Purely Elizabeth is grain-free and tasty!)
Coffee	Teeccino ​(Dandelion Dark Roast is Barley-free)
Soy Creamer	Coconut Cream or Cow’s Milk
Oatmeal	Overnight Oats is Grain Free

Recipe Suggestions

Coffee with Cream
​Teeccino (Dandelion Dark Roast is Barley-free)
Coconut Cream or Cow’s Milk
​Dates or banana as a sweetener (banana ice cream is yummy!)
Stevia drops in coffee instead of sugar (drops are not bitter like the powder is)

Banana Pancakes - feeds two people
4 eggs
2 bananas

Always Remember
Choose healthy fats like Grass-fed Butter, Bragg's Olive Oil (not heated), Coconut Oil in Glass, Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil.
Choose organic veggies and fruits as much as possible.
Choose grass-fed meats, pastured chicken, and wild-caught fish as much as possible.