Is Your Heart Healthy this Valentines Day?

In honor of American Heart Health Month, here are simple tips to reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.  My favorite HEALTHY recipes I've included here too!

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in America today and it's a disease that is largely preventable and directly attributed to lifestyle.  The traditional American diet is filled with too much white flour and sugar which studies have proven to be the real culprit for heart disease.

Your risk of heart disease can be lowered if you follow some simple rules most days of the week:

1. Substitute Stevia for sugar in coffee and where ever else possible.  
2. Substitute coconut flour, arrowroot flour, almond flour for white flour. White flour and many gluten free grains turn to sugar in the body and have the same blood sugar spike as regular white flour.   Finding recipes that support these types of flours is best.  Here is a good resource: 'Paleo Desserts' for baking and 'Against All Grain ' for regular cooking.  
3. Eat grass fed beef only once a week or less.  
4. Eat high quality fish once a week
5. Adopt a vegetarian diet most days of the week.
6. Ditch soda and diet soda

Here are a couple of Valentine's Day desserts you can feel heart healthy about!

This recipe was adapted from the ebook, 'Indulge' by Carol Lovett

Vanilla Custard 

1 1 /2 cups almond milk, (375 mL) 1 tbsp vanilla extract, (15 mL) 1 /2 cup raw honey, (125 mL) 4 large egg yolks 2 1 /2 tbsp arrowroot powder, (37.5 mL)

In a medium sized pot heat until boiling, almond milk and vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks. Slowly temp the egg yolks by pouring a little bit of the heated almond milk mixture with the egg yolks and stirring continuously until you have poured all of the almond milk into the egg yolks.

 Mix in the raw honey and arrowroot powder. Put the mixture over a double boiler. Place water in the pot and turn the heat to medium. Stir continuously until the consistency is the same as pudding and take the custard off the heat.

 Makes about 1 cup of custard. If you are not using the custard in the baked custard recipe, put the custard in a bowl, place plastic wrap over the custard, (touching the custard). Refrigerate immediately.


This recipe was adapted from the ebook, 'Indulge' by Carol Lovett

Raspberry Fudge Bars

 2 ripe avocados ¼ cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder ¼ cup + 2 tbsp raw honey *Use less if you prefer the taste of dark chocolate 1cup + raspberries (fresh or frozen)

 Peel the avocados. Place the avocados, cocoa powder and honey in a food processor and blend until smooth. Mix in the raspberries.

 Cover the inside of a 4 x 8 loaf pan with wax paper. Pour the mixture into the dish and freeze. Once frozen, lift out the fudge and cut into squares and place back in the freezer. Eat once frozen. Makes 16 small squares of fudge


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