Testimonies of the Day
HAQ Supplement Testimony: “Some of the benefits from working out everyday and eating the Maria way.. my bad back and joint issues are pretty much gone. I was so afraid of how bad my back would be on the cruise sleeping in the beds there. I did not have one problem!!! Amazing! Also, just raked leaves for 2 hours at my house this weekend. That would usually lead me to the chiropractor and medication and hot/cold packs for a week….not this time. Only required me to do some extra stretching of my low back!! WOW! Looking forward to a healthier future!!” – Mary Jo
30 Day Accelerated HAIR GROWTH Testimony: “I got compliments on my HAIR today at work. There is NEW hair growth, it’s not as lifeless. I laugh now and feel happy. I’m firing on all cylinders for the first time in I don’t know when, I’m losing weight and have energy but most important my mood is the best it’s been in, forever. It took such a huge leap of faith to buy your services. I’ve been down the rabbit hole so many times I could cry! I went off the HCG early to start your program and boy, I am glad I did. Now I eat and feel full. I feel awake when I should feel awake and sleep great when I need to. Today my time of the month came and NO pms which was awesome. It dawned on me when I was at the grocery store the other day buying Kerry gold butter for bullet proof coffee, I thought to myself, wow….I don’t need or want half of this stuff in here anymore!! That was a strange feeling. I’m about to buy a 1/4 of a cow from a farmer, I need more j robb and swerve. I’m looking for a new farm to buy fresh eggs. I really like this and feel like the recipes you supply are enough for me to sustain on and be happy with.I think people at work are wondering why I’m so chipper and laughing a lot too. Haha” – Donna
I LOVE this Photo TESTIMONY: “Second round of the 30 day accelerated diet. After working all day, went for a 5 mile sunset paddle. Full of energy and feeling great!” Christie
To get started on your path to health and healing, click HERE. I’d be honored to help you too!
SENSORY SPECIFIC SATIETY
When do you find yourself over-eating? When you have a plate filled with the same thing or at a buffet or potluck when you have a plate filled with a variety of flavors? When you eat for pleasure, rather than out of hunger, it can signal our brain to want that hedonistic experience more and more. But when you limit your flavor options, the brain gets bored and tells your body to stop sooner than it would if you switch flavor profiles.
The clients I deal with who tend to overeat often develop the same patterns of neural activity in reward areas as drug addicts do. Eating high carbohydrate foods, sugar and gluten can lead to cycles of craving and withdrawal.
I’m sure that you have heard the advice to eat slowly so your body has a chance to sense when it is full but that takes at least 20 minutes, which is far longer than we typically spend on a meal. Sensory-Specific Satiety happens a lot sooner, in minutes or even a few bite.
Sensory-Specific Satiety is processed in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region of the brain just behind the brow involved in sensory integration, reward processing and decision making. Neurons in that region respond strongly when we first taste a food, and the response gets weaker with each subsequent bite. When a different food is introduced, neuron activity jumps back to the high initial levels, instigating a response that can spur us to eat more even if we are full, as long as the next bite has a radically different sensory profile than what we had previously eaten. In other words, there is always room for dessert.
TAKE AWAY TIPS:
1. Limit your choices during a meal: Don’t fill your plate with 3 or 4 options. Stick to 1 or 2. A main dish and a side.
2. ADD more flavor!: Intense flavors help to exhaust the brain to help decrease gluttony. The flavor profile of the food you eat makes a dramatic difference in how much of it you want in one sitting. People reach this type of satiety much more quickly when they eat foods that have complex, intense or unfamiliar flavors, as opposed to mild or one-note taste profiles.
3. Increase Dopamine: Another risk factor for binging is having overindulged in the past. Once you have binged, that habit triggers more of the same behavior. When someone binges, there are fewer receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine, which signals pleasure, in the striatum, a brain area activated by rewarding stimuli. Fewer receptors suggest a lowered sensitivity to a substance such as food, an effect that may motivate an animal to consume more to get the same “high.” Similar decreases in dopamine receptors are seen in overweight people, as well as rodents and humans addicted to cocaine and heroin. How do you increase dopamine? Certain supplements and amino acids help a lot. I can certainly help with a consult if needed.
Caramello Candy Bar
Ingredients
- 1 cup Natural Sweetener
- 6 TBS organic butter
- 1/2 cup organic heavy whipping cream
- WHITE CHOCOLATE BAR:
- 2 oz cocoa butter
- 1/3 cup Natural Sweetener
- 1 tsp vanilla OR <g class="gr_ gr_178 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="178" data-gr-id="178">other extract</g> like MINT
- 1/8 tsp Redmond Real salt
- MILK CHOCOLATE BAR:
- Add 1/4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
- DARK CHOCOLATE BAR:
- Add 1/2 to 1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate depending on how dark you like it
Instructions
- Before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. If you don't work fast, the sweetener will burn. Heat butter on high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As soon as it comes to a boil, watch for specks of brown (this is brown butter....SO GOOD on veggies!). Immediately add the Swerve and the cream to the pan. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- Place cocoa butter in a double boiler and heat on medium high until fully melted (or <g class="gr_ gr_137 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="137" data-gr-id="137">microwave safe</g> bowl and heat on high for one minute, check and heat for 30 seconds until melted). Melting cocoa butter takes longer than traditional fats.
- Stir in natural sweetener.
- Stir in extracts and salt.
- Place melted chocolate into candy bar mold, enough <g class="gr_ gr_151 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="151" data-gr-id="151">to to</g> cover the bottom and sides, and cool in <g class="gr_ gr_149 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="149" data-gr-id="149">refrigerator</g> until white chocolate is solid, about an hour. Or the speedy method; you can place the molds in a freezer <g class="gr_ gr_150 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar multiReplace" id="150" data-gr-id="150">till</g> they are set up, which will only take a couple of minutes versus <g class="gr_ gr_138 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="138" data-gr-id="138">and</g> hour.
- Once cool, fill the divots with caramel and set in freezer to set.
- Once the caramel is set, remove from freezer and cover with additional melted chocolate.
Notes
Traditional Caramello = 139 calories, 8.1g fat, 0.8g protein, 16g carbs
"Healthified" Caramello = 98 calories, 8.1g fat, 0.8g protein, 2.1g carbs (83% fat, 5% protein, 12% carbs)
NEW COMBINED COOKBOOK!
I am happy to announce my new combined cookbook! This is a collection from The Art of Healthy Eating series (Savory, Sweets and Kids). Those three books retail for $75 ($25 each). This combined book is not only a durable hardcover that will last a lifetime, it is only $29.99!!
Many of the photos are new and updated too!
Click HERE to get your copy on Amazon.com
Thank you so much for your love and support!
target date for keto cookbook?
Don’t have one yet. Just assembling recipes. At least 1 year.
“Sensory-Specific Satiety is processed in the orbitofrontal cortex, a region of the brain just behind the brow involved in sensory integration, reward processing and decision making. Neurons in that region respond strongly when we first taste a food, and the response gets weaker with each subsequent bite.”
The above statement is so true. I remember, as a child, having a piece of pie once and after the third bite I replied, “This just doesn’t taste as good as it did at first”. My aunt got tickled. As adults we tend to eat the food anyway, where a child will stop eating when they have had enough. This post brought back that memory. Thank you so much for all of the valuable information you share with us.
Thanks!
Marie,
Your new cookbook with all the helpful information is the best! Made the spinach feta quiche absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing all these great recipes ….
Thank you so much for your support! 🙂
This is why my husband stays so thin. For at least 5 years he has taken to work 2 bran muffins with cream cheese for breakfast and some kind of tortilla wrap that I make for him. I use the same ground beef/ cheese filling every time. Last year I cut out the wrap part when I made the family start cutting out gluten so now he just eats the filling part for lunch EVERY day. He is afraid to switch to keto because he likes the consistency in his diet which keeps him honest. He is also one of the most fit 50yo men I know. His entire family hardly ever varies their diet and none of them have a serious weight problem. Even at family parties, they have been using the same cake recipes for 50 years. That makes it easy for me to refuse the cake because I know it will be something I have tasted before.
While some of what you are saying about Sensory-Specific Satiety, be careful with the grains like the bran muffins and other inflammatory foods (like cake, etc). Just because you are “fit” doesn’t mean that metabolically you are fit. I see many clients that are fit and have metabolic syndrome, GI issues, etc. Just had a client that was in her late 40’s and 105 pounds. Looked amazing. But was type II diabetic and had GI issues for years of eating inflammatory foods (sugars and starches) even though they never made her gain weight.
I know 😉 I’m trying as hard as I can just to convert my immediate family. Teens and preteens are very challenging. Especially when they can drive. Not to mention husbands. I’m keto and trying to set an example but they all think I’m crazy.
dont some ppl have all the luck! 105lbs…
Maria, don’t you become ‘allergic’ to foods if you continually eat the same things day after day? I have heard this and feel like it is true for me.
I don’t think that is true. I haven’t seen anything definitely point to that.
I can’t wait to try this. When will your new book be out on the kindle? Since I am blind I use the kindle to read the books and follow your recipes so I was wondering when your new book will be out. Thank you for your hard work.
All of my books are on kindle. If you are referring to the new 3 in 1 combined book, all 3 of those books are already on kindle. 🙂
Regarding the hair growth testimony above – what supplements would that involve?? My hair has always been fine and a bit thin – would love to solve that problem! 🙂
It is a combination of diet and supplements. She was using my meal plans and had done a health assessment for supplements. 🙂
Hi Maria! I ordered your Supercharge Your Metabolism class, but I only got the pdf slides and no video. Not sure if I did something wrong….
The links and passwords for the videos are in the file “Instructions – READ ME FIRST.pdf”. 🙂
Maria, do you offer just meal plans? I’d like to lose just a little bit of weight and then maintain, but I already have almost everything in your first package. I supposed I could go through your recipes and make my own meal plan, but I’m never good at that lol.
Use the contact above and Craig can try to help you out. 🙂
Hi Maria! I am currently doing low carb diet that limits less than 30g carbs per day, but Swerve has 5g carbs per each “teaspoon,” do I need to concern about the carbs in Swerve that might kick me out of my ketogenic diet? Just like Sugar is good but sometimes it gives me aftertaste in some recipes so I want to try Swerve. I hope the carbs in erythritol would not be an issue on ketogenic diet! Thanks!
When talking keto and total carbs, I don’t include sugar alcohols like erythritol. They are not digestible. 😉
The Swerve website says that Swerve’s main ingredient is non-GMO corn. Should we be concerned about that?
Nope, it is fermented into erythritol with is ok. 🙂
Thank you for your response!! I have learned so much from your website. Another question: What is your opinion on using (NOW) food grade vegetable glycerine as a sweetener in some recipes? I have tried it and the taste is pleasant, but I am not sure if there are side effects, etc.
I use it sparingly in things like ice cream to keep it soft. Not sure about the effects on ketosis if using in larger quantities.
Dr Terry Wahls espouses this vary ur diet view. She feels its not good to eat the same thing daily as plants are allll toxic, in small amounts to be sure. but eating the same plant over and over raises ur levels of the toxins so they become troublesome. You can eat greens but dont just eat kale daily. Rotate spinach, bok choy, kale, chard, mustard greens, etc. It also exposes you to alll the phytonutrients the different plants offer.
I rly think about this wen im making another green smoothie in one day. Different greens!
I recently bought your book The Art of Eating Healthy Sweets. I have the PDF and am working from that but is there a hardcopy available?
Yes, it is right here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Healthy-Eating-Savory/dp/0988512483/ref=sr_1_1?m=A51JBC26TWGDE&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1402830992&sr=1-1
Maria,
I made these last week one night when I had a bad sweet tooth and was out of fudge. I’d recently purchased the mold and cocoa butter. I must say I was pleasantly surprised how tasty they were. Problem is I ate too much. LOL! I’m still working on my willpower.
But I must not be doing too bad, down 30+ pounds since Jan. 1. Thanks for all of your terrific desserts. They save me from eating the “old” way.
Way to go!! And thank you! 🙂
I suck at chocolate…
I was having a serious milk chocolate craving today so I made a half batch of just the chocolate and poured into little round molds.
The flavor was awesome, BUT, the second I added in the salt and vanilla, it went gritty. I made the mistake of adding them at exactly the same time, so I don’t know what’s caused it. Any ideas?? My vanilla says Organic vanilla extract from vanilla bean seed pods and alcohol (35%.) Could that mean there is a chance it contains water even if it doesn’t state such as an ingredient?
Hmm, not sure. That could be the case.
Can I ask where you found the candy mold?
You can get them right here. 🙂
http://astore.amazon.com/marisnutran05-20?node=20&page=6
Thanks!
Could you make these as fat bombs? I just got 2 silicone candy molds yesterday. they hold 24 candies, but maybe I’d only use…………….(fill in my blank 🙂 )
That should work. 😉
Hi! I just saw it says this serves 24…does it really make that many bars or is it a typo? Or is one serving basically one of the sections of the bar? haha! I’d love to make this (even bought the mold just for this 😉 ).
I always match the servings to the tradition in grams. 🙂
Maria, I’ve been craving the fruit flavored tootsie rolls for quite some time now. I found a recipe to adapt that uses isomalt. Would you use isomalt? If not, how can I recreate light corn syrup? Please help me stay on track by helping me recreate these yummy candies! 🙂
Thank you!
I would stay away. It can cause lots of GI stress (gas). 🙂
Could I pay you to come up with a recipe?
Thank you!
🙂
Is that a yes? Please email me at …, this would help me stay on track so much.
I don’t do that but appreciate the request. 😉
Maria, I’ve been having problems of erythritol re-crystallization with chocolate and caramel sauce. I always grind my granule erythritol into powder, and never had that problem with meringue, buttercream, whipped cream, cakes and cookies. I researched online, and found out that recrystallization is mainly affected by supersaturation. Have you ever had the same problems? I wanted to try this recipe but was afraid that it would turned out to be a grainy lump.
Yes. Erythritol doesn’t technically melt. For a creamy caramel try xylitol or Just Like Sugar.
My xylitol caramel recrystized too, but was much less gritty than with swerve. I’ll give it another try