This delicious, moist, healthy, and super easy coconut flour, sugar-free, banana nut bread is a new favorite of mine. I'm making a few more loafs this holiday season because my
family and I eat it daily. Coconut flour is a great source of fiber and along with chia seeds and sweetened with dates, this treat is a yummy superfood. Baking with anti-inflammatory ingredients has become a way that I connect to my creativity.
Recipe BelowThis month, the stress of Covid has created uncertainty with how to celebrate Thanksgiving and holiday gatherings. Smaller, more intimate meals are replacing large celebrations and travel. Even if your loved ones are far away this year, we can still connect to what we are thankful for in our lives.
Focusing our minds on gratitude creates dramatic shifts in our bodies, relationships, and work. When we express gratitude, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, two crucial neurotransmitters that enhance mood. According to the National Institutes of Health, a study shows our hypothalamus, the part of our brain that regulates bodily functions including appetite, sleep, temperature, growth, and metabolism, is activated when we feel gratitude. Our entire body vibrates on a healthier level when we walk around with these positive feel good emotions.
Gratitude has tremendous power in that the more we practice it, the more good we are aware of it and thus the more positivity comes into our lives. Gratitude is a literal pathway leading to more fulfillment, joy, and abundance. This active state of appreciation also helps us to overcome difficult times more quickly and easily. A grateful mindset reduces stress and opens us up to our creativity, intuition, and new opportunities.
Have you ever noticed positive synchronicities in your life? It is this emotion of gratitude that brings in synchronicities and happy occurrences like a freight train coming your way loaded with presents and love.
No matter where we are at in our lives, we have the power to shift our mindset, and create grateful brain waves for even the small things, like a meal, a smile, a pet, or our health. Connect to your gratitude and become the best version of yourself.
Ways to Connect to Gratitude:
Meditate
Say a simple Gratitude Prayer of Thanks
Say, Thank YOU
Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal
Repeat silently, aloud, or write the Mantra, "I appreciate the abundance in my life and I allow myself to expand in gratitude, success and joy everyday."
Recipe: Sugar Free Coconut Flour Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients
1 cup mashed banana (2 bananas)
3 eggs
1/2 cup date puree
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup mashed or chopped walnuts
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease loaf pan with coconut oil, butter, or line with parchment paper.
Put 1/2 cup of pitted dates and 1/4 cup water in a food processor and mix until the dates form a paste-like, somewhat choppy consistency.
Chop up walnuts or put 1 cup walnuts in food processor until nuts are in small pieces.
In a large mixing bowl stir together the mashed bananas, eggs, date puree, coconut oil, and vanilla.
Add coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and chia seeds. Gently stir in walnuts.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 45 minutes or until bread is golden in color and a toothpick comes out clean.