Your Villa Magazine - Riverside - December-February 2023

H E A L T H + B E A U T Y Sugar. What You Need to Know. By Karla Adams, 25 Years Experience in Exercise Science and Sports Nutrition. Here are Seven Ways Sugar Harms You! 1. Sugar often leads to mood swings, fatigue, headaches and cravings for more sugar. Cravings set the stage for a cycle of addiction! 2. Sugar suppresses immune responses, and increases infections and illness 3. Sugar accelerates aging. 4. Sugar causes tooth decay. With all the other life-threatening eƒects of sugar, we sometimes forget the most basic damage it does. When it sits on your teeth, it creates decay more e…ciently than any other food substance. 5. Sugar increases stress. 6. Sugar takes the place of important nutrients. 7. Sugar is 8 times more addictive than cocaine. Now that you know the negative impacts refined sugar can have on your body and mind, be more careful about the foods you choose. And the first step is getting educated about where sugar lurks—believe it or not, a food needn’t even taste all that sweet for it to be loaded with sugar. When it comes to convenience and packaged foods, let the ingredients label be your guide, and be aware that just because something boasts that it is low in carbs or a “diet” food, doesn’t mean it’s free of sugar. Fudgy Brownie Cupcakes Without Sugar Ingredients: • 100 g 85% darker chocolate, chopped into even pieces • 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted, plus extra for greasing • 1/4 cup almond meal • 1/4 cup raw cacao powder • 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground pinch of sea salt • 3 eggs, whisked • 1/4 cup rice malt syrup • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions: 1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 200°C/400°F 2. Place chocolate pieces into a large mixing bowl. 3. Melt butter or coconut oil in a separate bowl in the microwave. Pour over chocolate chunks and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth and combined. If you need to heat this a little to completely melt the chocolate, heat in microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time. 4. Add in almond meal, cacao, cinnamon and sea salt. Stir through. Pour in eggs, rice malt syrup and vanilla and stir through until you form a smooth batter. 5. Pour batter between the greased muffin holes. Place into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges of the brownie have set. 6. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the muffin tin. Dust with raw cacao powder to serve. This recipe contains 1 teaspoon of added sweetener per serve, so we recommend you reserve this treat for special occasions only. You might also like to use 70% dark chocolate to reduce the sweetener even further. 36 | YourVilla Magazine AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY WEDDINGS REAL ESTATE