Enjoying sweets while fighting aging and disease

For those of us who love sweets, it may seem that we have been cursed to forever endure battling weight gain and denying ourselves the foods we love the most. Excess sugar and fat causes pro-oxidative damage to our cells, making us look 10 years older than we really are. Here are some of the aging problems associated with excess sugar and processed food consumption:

1. Reduced elasticity in skin resulting in wrinkles

2. Poor functioning joints (like arthritis)

3. Aging skin resulting in thinning hair.

4. Damage to blood vessels resulting in heart disease.

I want to tell you that there is hope for enthusiastic sweet tooth. You can enjoy sweets that love you back and actually help fight disease and the aging process. By using fruit and dried fruit and nuts in dessert recipes, desserts will be good for you rather than health compromising. Recent studies have found that even the very sweet dried fruits like dates, figs, apricots and raisins have loads of antioxidants in them to fight the damage to cellular DNA and help prevent aging and diseases like cancer and heart disease. One recent study found that the oxidative damage caused by drinking a typical soft drink was reversed by consuming dried figs. The level of antioxidants in the subjects’ blood stream greatly increased with the figs even after such a damaging sugar dose from the soda.[1]

Additionally, many fruits come with a good dose of carotenoids which have been found to fight the aging process. In a study of beta-carotene supplements, persons taking the supplements reduced the amount of cognitive aging such as declines in memory. While supplements offer some benefits, there are a host of carotenoids (including beta-carotene) that are found in whole fruits providing health benefits to many areas. Additionally, beta-carotene supplements have produced problems such as promoting cancer growth and premature death. Food choices are a better choice.[2]

I would like to make a distinction between healthy fruit-sweetened desserts and the fruit-sweetened desserts available by many food manufacturers. A cookie that is fruit sweetened is not a healthy choice. A healthy dessert should also not have any processed flour products in it and the whole fruit should be present not merely fruit juice or fruit juice concentrates which do no have the antioxidant and nutrient levels of the whole fruit. Additionally, having a fruit and nut-based dessert will provide a good source of fiber which helps to keep overall calories in check. Increasing fiber in your diet will reduce the calories and promote a healthy body weight. Floury foods do not provide the fiber that whole plant foods do.

Nuts are also a better choice for adding some flavor and fat to a dessert. These provide many trace minerals, healthy fats, fiber and phytochemicals and antioxidants. These are a far cry from the nutritionally-devoid artery-clogging processed oils and fats found in most desserts. Nut consumption is associated with longevity as evidenced by the diets of centenarians in Okinawa.

There will be a transition from being accustomed to the highly stimulating processed sugary treats that most people are accustomed to. Expect that it will be at least a week of avoiding processed sugars and substituting with fruit-sweetened desserts before you start to prefer the less toxic food choices. But after a while of only using fruit and nuts as your dessert, your previously favorite desserts will not evoke the same pleasurable feelings you remember. In fact, you will likely find them very unappealing. For convenience sake, you can stock your purse or briefcase with plain dried fruit and nut mixes. Or purchase Larabars which come in a combo of flavors. I have also created a recipe for a sweet treat:

Lemon Cookies

½ cup raisons

1/2 cup brazil nuts

½ cup almonds

¼ unsweetened dried shredded coconut

1 Tablespoon raw cashew butter (or 2 Tbl raw cashews)

3 dates

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

½ teaspoon lemon extract

Grind all ingredients in a food processor or blender until the mixture is small granules. Roll into tablespoon sized balls. Store in refrigerator.

Makes about 17 cookies.

Nutrition Facts: Per tablespoon: Calories: 104, Protein: 2 g, Fat: 8 g, Fiber: 2 g, Carbohydrate: 9 g

As you can see from the nutrition facts for the above recipe, dried fruit and nut based desserts are still high in calories so portion control is important. But unlike other high calorie cookies, these cookies don’t subtract from your nutrient stores and accelerate the aging process. Most importantly, they add to your nutrient stores and anti-oxidant levels in your blood stream helping you to fight diseases and keep you looking young longer.