Ep. 323: Cheat or Treat, Let's Talk Sweets!

In this episode, Stacy and Sarah are helping you prepare for America's sugar holiday, Halloween! Find out Stacy's and Sarah's strategies for empowering their kids to make good choices around trick-or-treating candy, mindset tips for navigating sugar cravings and getting back on track after overindulging, and why raw honey is such a unique and powerful natural sweetener!
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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 323: Cheat or Treat, Let's Talk Sweets!

(0:00) Intro
(0:40) Today's topic: how to successfully navigate the sugar holiday, Halloween!
Let's change the way we think about Halloween and focus on how we treat ourselves (self care) versus how we treat ourselves (sugar) to get rid of the guilt and shame mentality.
This topic goes beyond just Halloween. Halloween kicks off a two month stretch of indulgent holidays!
Think "I'm choosing to treat myself" versus "I'm cheating on my diet."
Sugar, in small doses, doesn't have to be detrimental to your health and it can offer some benefits like social comfort and enjoyment.
Paleo Treats is this week's podcast sponsor!
Paleo Treats "changed Sarah's world!"
They were one of the first paleo desserts on the scene.
Sarah's and Stacy's favorite Paleo Treat is the Bandito. It's like a peanut butter cup -- but paleo!
In addition to the Bandito, Paleo Treats has a number of delicious treats including the Cacao Now (açaí and chocolate), the Mac Attack (coconut cookie), the Mustang Bar (oatmeal cookie), the Rocket (espresso brownie), and the Brownie Bar (flourless chocolate cake).
The Bandito is a great options for those seeking a low sugar option because it only has 7g of sugar from honey!
Try these delicious treats for yourself: www.paleotreats.com/thepaleoview and use code PALEOVIEW for 10% off!

One strategy Sarah uses to be mindful of her dessert intake is that she'll freeze cookies or sweets. Then, when a craving strikes, she must defrost the treat, which allows time for her craving to lessen or go away. Paleo Treats are great for this because they're stored frozen!

(19:38) Natural Sweeteners
Paleo Treats uses honey to sweeten their treats (no refined sugar!).
In researching her new book about the microbiome, Sarah has discovered really cool research about honey, which separates it from any other sugar.
Before we get to honey though, Blackstrap molasses is definitely on a pedestal. One tablespoon has just 42 calories, 20% of your RDA of calcium and iron, most B vitamins, and is a great source of chromium. It has more iron per calorie than steak and more calcium per calorie than cheese.
But it's a very strong sweetener so it's primarily used in gingerbread flavored foods.
Stacy uses blackstrap molasses in sauces or in her Asian Short Ribs recipe. It's also great in her Chewy Molasses & Ginger Cookies!

Honey is non diabetogenic. For some reason that researchers are still trying to figure out, it doesn't elicit the insulin response you'd expect and doesn't seem to contribute to insulin resistance the way you'd expect.



Studies show that diabetics can sweeten with honey which dysregulating their blood sugar. Honey doesn't create the same response as cane sugar or maple syrup, two sweeteners that have a very similar saccharide breakdown.
Honey has incredible anti-microbial properties.
Raw honey has fermentable substrate in it, which feeds our gut bacteria. It increases microbial diversities and selectively feeds probiotic stains that are very desirable. It's incredibly beneficial to the gut microbiome! So Sarah puts honey on an equally high, but different pedestal as blackstrap molasses.

(24:26) Honey versus raw honey
There are certain properties of honey that are lost when it's pasteurized or cooked. It has unique compounds that are similar to phytochemicals that we haven't completely characterized. There really isn't another food like honey! But when you heat things, c