almond flour

Gingerbread Coconut Muffins (a gluten-free/low oxalate recipe)

July 28, 2023 By Trudy Scott 12 Comments

If you have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease and/or dietary oxalate issues (pain, anxiety, insomnia, restless legs, hearing loss, eye issues, unresolved thyroid issues, bladder issues and more) and yet really miss the occasional muffin this Gingerbread Coconut Muffins recipe is a delicious gluten-free and low oxalate option. I see way too many so-called healthy gluten-free recipes using almond flour. This is concerning given that almonds are high in oxalates. Keep in mind that wheat is also high oxalate.

I’m finding dietary oxalate issues to be underappreciated especially in menopausal women when symptoms can show up and be more severe. If you’re new to the dietary oxalate issues you can read more below.

I have also found that using almond flour and other nut flours in baking affects your zinc/copper balance, increasing copper and hence causing more anxiety and even panic attacks.

If you don’t have dietary oxalate issues, you can certainly enjoy this recipe too. But watch the overindulging and binge-eating (more on that and using amino acids below).

Gingerbread Coconut Muffins (a low oxalate recipe)

Ingredients

6 eggs
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2-3 teaspoons ginger powder (or liquid ginger extract)
3/4 cup sifted coconut flour
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds

Method

Melt the butter over low heat and add the coconut sugar and molasses. Once it’s cooled add the eggs and mix well. Stir in the coconut flour, salt, ground flax seeds and ginger powder.

Spoon the mixture into two greased mini muffin pans. Bake at 400 degrees F/ 205 degrees C for 12 – 14 minutes. The muffins will rise nicely and will start to turn dark brown. Remove and cool on a cooking rack. Makes 24 mini muffins.

Eat warm or when cooled. Serve with butter and/or cream and/or coconut butter. For a little added sweetness a small amount of raw honey can be spread on a muffin too.

My adaptation from a gingerbread cookies recipe

I adapted this recipe from a Gingerbread Cookies recipe in Cooking with Coconut Flour by Bruce Fife ND. I pretty much always do this when I cook – adapt recipes to my needs and likes – and always reduce the sugar. In this instance, I halved the sugar and used coconut sugar instead.

I also increased the ginger because I love all things ginger. I upped it from 1 teaspoon ground ginger to 2 teaspoons and will actually try 3 teaspoons next time I make them. Ginger can be an issue if you have oxalate issues so you’d want to see how much you can tolerate – so far so good for me. If you do have issues with ground ginger you could always use a liquid ginger extract which is low oxalate.

I omitted the cinnamon and cloves to emphasize the ginger taste. I also added ground flax seeds for added fiber.

I decided to cook them in mini muffin pans instead of making cookies on a baking tray but you could always try this option. Use the same temperature and cooking time per the original recipe.

The blackstrap molasses makes them so flavorful too and takes me back to my childhood. Molasses is nutrient dense too, providing calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, iron, vitamin B6, and selenium. Just be sure to use molasses made from sugar cane and not sugar beets (which are high in oxalates).

They were surprisingly soft and moist and eating them with butter and/or cream made them even more delicious. I always like to include some healthy fats. If dairy isn’t tolerated, coconut cream could be substituted. I suspect coconut oil could be substituted for the melted butter but have not tried this yet.

Here is Cooking with Coconut Flour by Bruce Fife ND. You can find it on Amazon here (my link). I’ve baked a number of recipes from this book and I’m impressed. I really appreciate that it’s all coconut flour recipes with no almond flour or other gluten-free flours used.

If you do battle with sugar cravings and binge eating – use amino acids

It’s ideal to keep baked goods – especially the ones shown on the cover of this book – to a minimum. But for an occasional treat this recipe book is excellent.

If you do battle with sugar cravings and binge eating, don’t forget how useful the amino acids are for stopping your cravings with no willpower and no feelings of deprivation. You can learn more about this here: The individual amino acids glutamine, GABA, tryptophan (or 5-HTP), DPA and tyrosine are powerful for eliminating sugar cravings, often within 5 minutes.

I discuss cravings/emotional eating and how to use amino acids in my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings. More here. I also cover how low blood sugar can lead to both anxiety and cravings and how to prevent this by use glutamine and eating for blood sugar stability.

If you’re new to dietary oxalates as a possible health issue

This blog post is a helpful one to start with if you’re new to dietary oxalates and the issues they can cause: Oxalate crystal disease, dietary oxalates and pain: the research & questions

These are the common medium-oxalate and high-oxalate foods that many folks have problems with: nuts, nut-butters and nut-flour (especially baking with almond flour and something to watch when eating Paleo or GAPS), wheat, chocolate, kiwi fruit (very high – see the raphides image on the above blog), star fruit (also very high), beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, legumes, raspberries, spinach and soy.

In the above blog post, I share an overview of oxalates, my pain issues with dietary oxalates (severe foot pain and eye pain), and deeper dive into the condition called oxalate crystal disease (with some of my insights and questions).

The big take-aways are that calcium oxalate crystals are sharp and can cause far reaching harm beyond pain – such as unresolved anxiety, thyroid issues, neurological symptoms, eye issues, hearing loss, bladder issues, headaches, fatigue, insomnia, restless legs, autism symptoms and more. You can have issues with dietary oxalates and not have kidney disease/kidney stones, although there is very little research supporting the latter.

You may find these oxalate blogs helpful too:

What dietary oxalates issues have you experienced and has a low oxalate diet helped you?

If you have dietary oxalates issues can you handle ginger?

Do let us know if you make this recipe and enjoy it.

Feel free to share a favorite recipe of something you’ve adapted to be low or even medium oxalate.

If you have questions and feedback please share them here too.

Coconut Macaroon Mini Muffin recipe (low oxalate)

January 20, 2023 By Trudy Scott 18 Comments

If you have dietary oxalate issues (pain, anxiety, insomnia, restless legs, hearing loss, eye issues, unresolved thyroid issues, bladder issues and more) and yet really miss the occasional muffin this Coconut Macaroon Mini Muffin recipe is a delicious low oxalate option. I see way too many so-called healthy gluten-free recipes that use almond flour and it’s concerning given that almonds are high oxalate foods. If you’re new to the dietary oxalate issues you can read more about this below. I’m finding it to be underappreciated as an issue especially in menopausal women when symptoms seem to be more severe in susceptible individuals. I have also found that using almond flour in baking affects your zinc/copper balance, increasing copper and hence causing more anxiety and even panic attacks.

If you don’t have dietary oxalate issues, you can certainly enjoy this recipe too. The addition of flaked coconut does make it similar to macaroons.

Coconut Macaroon Mini Muffin recipe (a low oxalate option)

Ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup coconut sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
2 cups coconut flakes

Method

Melt the butter over low heat and add the coconut sugar. Once it’s cooled add the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the coconut flour and coconut flakes.

Spoon the mixture into a greased mini muffin pan. Bake at 375 degrees F/ 190 degrees C for 18 – 20 minutes. The muffins don’t rise at all but will start to turn golden brown. Remove and cool on a cooking rack. Makes 12 mini muffins.

Eat warm or when cooled. Serve with butter and/or cream and/or coconut butter. For a little added sweetness a small amount of raw honey can be spread on a muffin too.

I adapted this recipe from the Coconut Butter Cookies recipe in “Cooking with Coconut Flour” by Bruce Fife ND. I pretty much always do this when I cook – adapt recipes to my needs and likes – and always reduce the sugar. In this instance, I halved the sugar and used coconut sugar.

The original recipe does have a reduced sugar option suggesting using ½ cup of sugar and adding ¼ teaspoon stevia. I’d find this too sweet.

I decided to cook them in mini muffin pans instead of making cookies on a baking tray but you could always try this option. Use the same temperature and cooking time per the original recipe.

They were a little dry (next time I’ll use a little extra butter in the recipe) but eating them with butter and/or cream made them delicious. I tried both – I always like to include some healthy fats. If dairy isn’t tolerated, coconut cream could be substituted. I suspect coconut oil could be substituted for the melted butter but have not tried it.

Here is “Cooking with Coconut Flour” by Bruce Fife ND. You can find it on Amazon here (my link). I’ve baked a number of recipes from this book and I’m impressed. I really appreciate that it’s all coconut flour recipes with no almond flour or other gluten-free flours used.

It’s ideal to keep baked goods – especially the ones shown on the cover of this book – to a minimum. But for an occasional treat this recipe book is excellent.

If you’re new to dietary oxalates as a possible issue

This blog post is a helpful one to start with if you’re new to dietary oxalates and the issues they can cause: Oxalate crystal disease, dietary oxalates and pain: the research & questions

You may find these oxalate blogs helpful too:

What dietary oxalates issues have you experienced and has a low oxalate diet helped you?

Do let us know if you make this recipe and enjoy it.

Feel free to share a favorite recipe of something you’ve adapted to be low or even medium oxalate.

If you have questions and feedback please share them here too.

The Anxiety Summit – Eggs, broths, sprouts, almond flour, questions and what to do next

November 16, 2014 By Trudy Scott 31 Comments

The host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution talks about:

Eggs, broths, sprouts, almond flour, questions and what to do next

Are eggs a superfood? and choline for a better mood and less anxiety
More superfoods: broths, sprouts and curcumin
Reconsidering almond flour for baking
Questions answered (a select few from the blog and facebook page)
What you can get out of the summit, resources and where to go next

We’ve gathered all the speaker/topic blogs into one blog called Anxiety Summit Season 2 speakers and topics so you can find them easily. These have snippets from our interviews, links to research, and links to speaker books and gifts. You can also use these blogs to comment, share your experiences and ask questions.

Here is the New York Times article U.S.D.A. Approves Modified Potato

The potato’s DNA has been altered so that less of a chemical called acrylamide, which is suspected of causing cancer in people, is produced when the potato is fried.

A Huffpo blog announces Doritos-Flavored Mountain Dew Is Real

Here is New York City’s first take-out window devoted to sippable broths

I recently spoke on Dr. Josh Axe’s Natural Cures summit and here is a great broth recipe on his site

I love this picture in the LA urban farming article

The dinner menu lists “our home-grown items”: broccolini, baby carrots, blueberries, figs, snap peas and heirloom tomatoes.

Here is a link to Julia Rucklidge’s TEDX talk: The surprisingly dramatic role of nutrition in mental health. I love how she opens with:

what I’m going to share today may sound as radical as hand-washing sounded to a mid-19th century doctor and yet it is equally scientific. It is the simple idea that optimizing nutrition is a safe and viable way to avoid, treat or lessen mental illness. Nutrition matters. Poor nutrition is a significant and modifiable risk factor for the development of mental illness

Eggs are one of the most nutritious foods on earth! Here is some of the egg research:

“Orally administered whole egg demonstrates antidepressant-like effects in the forced swimming test on rats”

Skipping breakfast can increase depression, anxiety and stress levels and eggs can be part of a healthy breakfast. “A cross-sectional investigation of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms and health-behavior participation in Australian university students”

Eggs are an excellent source of choline. Research shows that plasma choline levels are related to anxiety levels

The lowest choline quintile was significantly associated with high anxiety levels.

Results from an October 2014 study in Behavioral Brain Research suggest that

high choline intake during early development can prevent or dramatically reduce deficits in social behavior and anxiety in an autistic mouse model

An article on Webmd, Egg-Rich Diet Not Harmful in Type 2 Diabetes suggest that

eating two eggs per day, 6 days a week can be a safe part of a healthy diet for people with type 2 (that’s 12 eggs a week – yeah!)

I blogged about eggs and that you can eat the yolk this last month. You can read about TMAO concerns in the comments of the above blog.

Grow your own broccoli sprouts to get sulforaphane! Here is the study called Sulforaphane treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), published Oct 2014

improvement in social interaction, abnormal behavior, and verbal communication

… oxidative stress, depressed glutathione synthesis, reduced mitochondrial function and oxidative phosphorylation, increased lipid peroxidation, and neuroinflammmation

Here is the curcumin depression study

In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 56 individuals with major depressive disorder were treated with curcumin (500 mg twice daily) or placebo for 8 weeks.

From weeks 4 to 8, curcumin was significantly more effective than placebo in improving several mood-related symptoms

Here is my healthy travel foods blog that includes pemmican, THE energy bar of the 21^st century. You can purchase pemmican from US Wellness Meats.

Here is my carob blog with the yummy Carob Cinnamon Delight al la Trudy

I mentioned a number of studies related to PTSD symptoms. Here they are:

Lower EPA (one of the omega-3 fatty acids) levels are associated with the severity of clinical symptoms in PTSD.
One factor could be low levels of vitamin D
Another factor in PTSD could be cortisol and DHEA
And a new study found a connection between PTSD and low HDL and high triglycerides

Here are the Amino Acid Precautions. They will also be added to my blog Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications.

If you are wanting to find out more about pyroluria, do check out my session from season 1 “How zinc and vitamin B6 prevent pyroluria and social anxiety. And here is the pyroluria questionnaire from my book.

If you missed my opening interview here are a few lines from “Top of the World”

A new beginning, a brand new day
All of my fears are gone away
I feel so calm, so free, so whole
Right now, I’m feeling on top of the world

Grab your copy of the song here if you don’t yet have it!

“Food and nutrients provide a very powerful approach that can dramatically reduce and very often completely eliminate anxiety- and can totally prevent it in the first place too.”

You can have zero anxiety! Really! You deserve to feel on top of the world.

If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com