These tasty treats pack a sweet nutritional punch! They are quick to make and are perfect for snacking or garnishing your favorite salad or cooked breakfast cereal!
Sweet Success!
My family and I have all started our personalized anti-inflammatory (LEAP) diet in the past few months and have been amazed by how quickly we have noticed a difference in how we feel! Even within my own family of 6 we had some similarities in our test results, but each of our test outcomes were as unique as our own fingerprints!
My oldest Little Farmer (now 8) used to struggle with:
Dizziness
Insomnia
Nervous energy
Forgetfulness
and Brain Fog…
among other complaints.
That has all been resolved with LEAP!
He has been so motivated to eat the foods that make him feel good! (After seeing how much LEAP helped his daddy and brother, he had begged me have his own MRT test for food sensitivities because he felt so badly!)
In fact, we were doing the math today and calculated that he has experienced a 77% reduction his symptoms in just 3 weeks since he started his LEAP diet.
77% reduction in symptoms!! He feels so much better!
As a mama, I love that I am helping his body return to state of health with just real, wholesome food.
We didn’t have to do any crazy (expensive) supplements or coax him to eat any weird food. We just selected the foods that he was normally eating that tested as “calming” for his body to formulate his personalized food plan.
Many of you have asked me about the LEAP diet, so here are a few more details:
The LEAP (Lifestyle Eating and Performance) diet based off of the Mediator Release Test (MRT) is the gold standard for food sensitivity testing. The MRT is a blood test that analyzes 150 different foods and food chemicals to determine the degree of inflammatory response that each causes in the blood. The results of the MRT test are unique for each person.
Based upon the results of the MRT test, Registered Dietitians who are trained to interpret the MRT test results formulate a personalized food plan for each person. (The MRT Test is designed to be interpreted by a trained nutrition professional).
I have now completed LEAP diet therapy training and have had amazing success using the LEAP diet with many of my clients in the past few months. Tonight I will complete my exam to become a Certified LEAP therapist (CLT)! I look forward to helping more families build lasting health by solving their food sensitivity puzzles!
Want to find out if your food is making you sick? Scroll to the bottom of this page!
Serving Suggestion
I make a variety of caramelized nuts to suit everyone in our family. Some of us can enjoy pecans right now, while some of us find that they cause reactions such as dizziness, upset stomach, or mood swings. If this is the case for you, you can easily substitute your favorite nut for pecans — try almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or peanuts! (Just store in separate jars and be sure to label the ingredients if you have food sensitivities in your family!)
You can even experiment with different sweeteners according to your needs (try non-GMO granulated beet sugar (NOW brand makes one) if you are reactive to cane sugar. If you try a liquid sweetener such as maple or honey you may want to reduce the water in the recipe by half.
Story Time
I have had the pleasure of having two dietetic interns work with me in my private practice these past few weeks. It’s been nice having a few extra hands on deck and some new ideas for LEAP friendly recipes to share with my clients!
I like to create wholesome indulgences for my clients and family! (After all, food should be fun!) One of my dietetic interns, Kaitlyn, introduced me to her easy LEAP-friendly recipe for a sweet treat!
This 5 ingredient recipe is so easy that my 8-year-old Little Farmer could make it with supervision. (He plans to try it with hazelnuts!)
This is Kaitlyn’s story… Kaitlyn, take it away!
Salads
In my humble opinion, the best part of any salad are the sticky, gooey caramelized pecans. Sometimes when eating out with my husband, I’ll even choose a salad solely because it contains these wonderful delicacies.
For a long time, I assumed they were so difficult to make, that I relied solely on restaurants to make them for me. After all, I was paying a hefty price for a bed of spinach. I hoped someone in the back assembling my greens had put some effort into my $15 salad. (I’ve put in my fair share of time in the restaurant biz, so I feel as though I can say that).
Nutrition Bites
Pecans naturally contain many nutritional benefits. They have Vitamin E, which, according to research, provides neurological protection to the human body. People who eat pecans tend to have lower levels of LDL (undesirable) blood cholesterol. Pecans may also aid in weight loss since they enhance satiety with their good fats and may increase metabolic rates. Pecans are mostly composed of heart healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Boasting of more than 19 minerals and vitamins, these little guys provide a lot for us!
Savor
About a year and a half ago, my best girl friends and I started a dinner club. We all met and became friends at church, but now with several moves and even more babies added to our lives, we’re scattered all over south Nashville. Even though we don’t all attend the same church anymore, we make it a point to get together once a month for what we have aptly named ‘Savor’.
Savor is a time for us to savor a good meal (we each bring a dish) and each other’s company for several hours.
One of these friends, Lauren, makes the absolute best salads. She’s one of those people who makes her own salad dressings… Even though I’m the one who is about to become a dietitian, I sometimes feel my friends know more about cooking than I do! Several months ago now, Lauren brought the most amazing salad to Savor with the yummiest caramelized pecans sprinkled throughout. She told me how simple it was to make, and I realized the 5 minutes of time was absolutely worth it in order to have these little treats on all my salads.
Secret
I tweaked the recipe my friend told me she uses from www.twohealthykitchens.com to make the measurements even a bit easier and the pecans even more caramelized. I will let you in on the secret of how easy this recipe is to make. I’m certain you’ll make them for every salad as well now!
- 2 tablespoons organic brown cane sugar or Sucanat
- 2 teaspoons water
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup pecan halves
- Combine brown sugar, water, vanilla, and sea salt in a small bowl. Stir – the sugar and salt won’t all dissolve and that’s okay. Set aside in a place for easy access by the stove.
- Heat skillet over medium heat and add halved pecans. Toast and stir for 3-5 minutes, but be careful not to burn them.
- Turn heat to low & add the bowl of sugar to the pecans. Quickly stir mixture to coat pecans in skillet.
- Remove pecans from heat and spread on parchment paper to cool, separating them from each other if not too hot.
- Add pecans to salad, eat immediately as a yummy snack (my husband’s preferred method), or store for future use in a mason jar.
Drop me a line at Bethany@ingrainedliving.com and let me know the best way to contact you.
Let’s schedule a FREE Nutrition Strategy Session to help you start building lasting health today!
Here’s to Wholesome!
