Category: Physical Health and Body

Sugar cravings don’t have to get the best of you… and the orange scone recipe below may help you get over the worst sugar sweets as it was the healthy start for me, someone who ate way too much daily sugar that many of us do. It’s no one’s fault.

Oranges and citrus fruits are good for blood sugar levels as citrus fruits have a lower glycemic index as a general indicator for how a food will impact your blood sugar level.

And juicy foods like oranges also have a way of quenching your thirst and hunger. Like water and tea, you can feel less hungry when you consume oranges and lower your food cravings.

Using orange and orange zest are also a good way to avoid artificial sweeteners while brightening your food and day.

Maintaining a healthy blood sugar level is at the heart (pun intended!) of a healthy heart.

I became aware of the American Heart Association when I volunteered for the American Cancer Society in my backyard while I was attending college.

The “Eat Smart” campaign was one of the promoted programs and I remember posters (remember those?) were donated that had healthy fruits and vegetables.

These are now known as anti inflammatory food ideas like oranges that were brightly represented on the poster and I proudly displayed on my wall.

Who knew that anti-inflammatory foods would become so important with all its healthy benefits and in many healthy diet movements like the Mediterranean Diet and plant-based diets?

And we couldn’t have predicted that the role of Vitamin C would grow in highlighted health importance, and that oranges would relatively stay the same while we see more orange varieties on the grocery shelves.

We keep evolving in food, health, and nutrition.

Vitamins stay as a focal point in the anti inflammatory diet. Some are antioxidants that are good body protectors for preventing heart disease, Diabetes 2, certain cancers, and cognitive decline that can start off as harmless brain fog or short memory mental health lapses.

In the beginning of 2020, I created a smart pantry for “just in case,” where I collected processed, longer shelf-life foods in cans and boxes. That’s where I failed in my sugar cravings dilemma and developed an itchy eczema skin rash by mid-summer that came from sugar indulgence.

Luckily I caught on before things got worse. I got aware and my love for sugar got replaced for Ayurveda ways, moderation, and anti-inflammatory foods.

Sugar we know is good for our happy selves, but not our healthy one. They latch onto lectin anti-nutrients in our gut and can destroy our microbiome that we know controls so much of our daily body functions.

My hope is you’re onboard for a healthier new year, new health progress goals, and micro habit changes. Fasting is one way I have deployed in my healthy lifestyle and you can too. You can download my FREE fasting guide that makes it a sustainable way.

And when you’re eating, if you’re like me, you’re a bit choosy and conscious about your food choices.

I love foods, food variety, and enjoy good foods. I planned catered parties in nice hotels and foodie restaurants for a decade, so it’s a part of me that has been weaved into my adult DNA. And healthy eating that I learned early on.

But I have a weakness… a sweet tooth.

Many of us enjoy some sweets in moderation.

Having a sweet tooth is natural but isn’t helpful on a healthy lifestyle mission.

If you regularly eat sugary foods to curb your sweet tooth and sugar cravings, you set yourself up to have more sugar cravings. It’s a vicious cycle. 

For entertainment, I had started watching The Great British Baking Show, that’sa competition show that started with U.K. bakers… initially, it wasn’t the best thing to watch if you want to curb sugar cravings and stop eating so much sugar.

But I worked through it and can now watch the show without eating a sweet dessert. I’m telling you this because I believe everyone can get there!

In my search, I came across a book called The 40 Day Sugar Fast by Wendy Speake.

It reminded me of a sugar fast I set out to do for 3 weeks in 2011 but ended up doing the sugar fast for around 40 days.

How?

When I had my tonsils removed as an adult, the fast was a smooth transition as I mostly had a liquid diet in the beginning.

And if you’re trying to break the sugar habit, finding a time when you’re not dealing with as much stress is your best bet.

Like if you’re a teacher, do your sweet fast after the school year ends and you have the summer off. You usually crave less food in the hot months anyway, so use all those helpful situations to your advantage.

Another helpful situation is when you have support. To keep me encouraged, the church I was attending was doing an annual fast for those who wanted to participate. So, it was perfect timing as I wasn’t doing it alone.

And as I focused on giving up sweets for sweet Jesus, the sugar cravings also miraculously disappeared. The ones I’d had every single day since I was a child.

I didn’t use my own willpower to make changes. That doesn’t usually work.

I focused on my heart and deeper desires. To my surprise, my way of thinking changed. It was supernatural and beyond my small capabilities to overcome sugar on my own.

But that’s just a reminder that you don’t have to do it alone and can encourage the Universe or higher source you turn to, to help you.

I also use maintaining good teeth as motivation. As a child I always had a mouth full of cavities. I wanted to live a better dental life later in life. That same motivation carried me when I quit all sodas years ago. Previously as a young adult, I’d have at least 1-2 sodas by noon.

Do whatever works for you and your healthy motivations.

Another tip is to look at sugar nutrition labels. Most food labels are in grams and 1 gram = about .24 teaspoons or a quarter teaspoon.

We use teaspoons for baking in America so that’s easier to visualize.

It doesn’t take much in a Western diet to go over 20 grams of refined sugar at breakfast alone!

You can try these breakfast plant-based breakfast ideas and tips to stop sugar cravings and craving sweets if you want some suggestions.

And sodas are off the charts starting at 30-40 grams.

I drank diet sodas early on, but those are linked to heart disease and Diabetes 2 so they’re no better and probably worse off

Also, keep in mind no fat is usually linked to higher sugar in foods, so you’re giving up one evil for another.

The better healthy answer is to change your healthy food and beverage habits. And then you will enjoy the healthy foods and especially after you have adjusted. I promise.

If you’ve every shifted from a whole milk to a plant or other milk, you know what I’m talking about.

You no longer go back to the other because 1) your body doesn’t need the same quantity of nutrients it needed before or growing up and 2) you have a decent food or beverage replacement.

Most of are lazy in this area about food fixing. It we have something easy and near us, we’ll grab that instead of go out and forage if we don’t have to.

And for fruit, I still don’t overindulge even though the Food Pyramid I grew up with recommended 2-4 servings of fruit per day. These days, MyPlate says at least 1 piece of medium fruit.

Even natural fruits and dried fruits have a huge dose of natural sugars, the better fructose sugar, but still sugar. I limit myself to an apple, a banana, and an orange if I’m craving fruits and sweet foods.

Foods that you wouldn’t suspect and maybe even classify as healthy food like a Fig Newton or low-fat “healthy” cereal are loaded with sugar. You  discover reality when you do package label reading.

I once felt I had to add a puff of white cloud sweetness that finished off almost every dinner dessert, holiday cheesecake, pie, or warm beverage. The nutritional breakdown ingredients of some whipped foods say “hydrogenated oils” or trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup to avoid.

You can always say “no whip, please.”

And you can choose moderation where it’s okay for a happy celebrations, but not for daily healthy consumption. That’s what I do in the balance.

That’s the modern Ayurveda way that is sustainable. Turning to healthy and anti-inflammatory foods that are also good for weight loss and preventing weight gain, so you don’t have to do one more yo-yo diet that never works long-term.

Modern Ayurveda lifestyle people love following natural, doable, and achievable (practical) advice.

So here are 3 actionable Ayurveda creature habits and tips for reducing sugar in your diet and curbing sugar cravings:

• Become aware which foods have high sugar, added sugar – fact vs. fiction. Read labels at least until you are familiar with the foods you eat regularly.
• Substitute your sweets not for other foods, but for a higher calling or purpose for yourself. Find a motivation that makes you stick to your plan and look forward to maintaining.
• Do one daily baby step food choice action you can make to create a healthier micro habit. Reminder: the more you eat sugar, the more you crave sugar.

Maybe that’s substituting an empty calorie sugary dessert with a fortified cereal that at least has some nutrients?

And if you need a replacement for something super sweet, I have a low sugar, Orange Scone recipe below I mentioned above that you can try that’s super easy and you’ll love (or grow to love!).

What I love about this recipe is the orange peel zest you would normally throw away is used as the main sweet ingredient.

Oranges are also good for calming in our parasympathetic nerves, so in the strong orange smells, we experience calmer nerves instead of anxiety. You hear people who like to eat oranges by their bed and this could be a good reason why. They are calmer, better managing worry and anxious thinking hours before sleep o’clock.

This orange recipe has no needed added refined sugars, but you may like the turbinado sugar small packet crunch finish like I do, that has 5 grams of fat total used for the entire 8 scone slices. So you do your daily sugar math and see if that’ll work for you.

I also love that you won’t use all your eggs in one recipe. And, in the easy, it can take less than 10 minutes time to prepare!

It takes about 40 minutes total time (from prep to baking to mouth 😋). That’s something to celebrate!

Print Recipe

Orange Scones (Bread) – Makes 8 pieces

This can become a regular dessert bread for you that’s healthier than sugary processed breads and pastries. Great for a sweet tooth (or a Vata)!

1 egg

2 cup flour total (can mix gluten and gluten-free flours if you choose)

2 tbsp frozen unsalted butter

1/2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ cup plain or vanilla Greek, plus more if needed (this is a good food item to look at sugar labels). Use more solid yogurt parts to bring it together if it gets too crumbly.

Zest of an orange (navel oranges are great)

Cinnamon to liking (and you can purposefully add a little teaspoon of sugar, some tips below)

You omit sugar that normally would be added. Since you’re not using sugar, you don’t need salt either to balance any sugar. NO refined white sugar, yay! 😊

Add flour to a medium bowl. Add butter and cut it into small pieces with a knife. Add the egg and mix with a spoon.

Add yogurt and keep mixing until well mixed. Add baking powder and baking soda. Add orange zest and mix until blended into flour mixture.

Form a ball with the spoon in the bowl. Then place the dough on a baking sheet and flatten it slightly, so it forms into a 6-8” circle.

There will be flour crumbs, just stick them on top of the circle to blend in (like you’re adding clay to pottery before being fired in the kiln).

Sprinkle with cinnamon if you like. Cut 8 slices before placing in the oven.

Optional sweet:  if you desire, you can add one brown sugar packet of Sugar in the Raw (turbinado cane sugar) on top of the circle bake before it goes in the oven. These small brown crystals are similar to refined sugar in health terms, but if you add them in moderation, that’s not going to make a big difference. If you’re feeding anyone diabetic, they’re not going to eat it anyway… or if they can eat monk fruit sugar, you can add that.

You can also optionally add ½ tablespoon of dried currants or raisins and blend in the mixture before you form the circle. Or you could do half and half (4 pieces plain and 4 pieces lightly sugar)… then you can please those you’re sharing with who won’t necessarily appreciate your low sugar, healthy scone bread efforts.

Finally, put the baking sheet in the middle of the oven and bake the scones to a golden brown for 25-30 minutes at 350°F/180°C degrees. Let your scones cool, and then you’ll be ready to enjoy.

Print

Easy, Low-Sugar Orange Scones

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 pieces

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 2 cup whole wheat flour or all purpose flour with gluten free flour optional (almond flour suggested) total
• 2 tbsp frozen unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 /4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 zest of an orange adds sweetness
• cinnamon and currants or raisins (optional) to taste liking
• 1 sugar In The Raw (turbinado sugar) packet to cover the top of 8-scone slices.

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients except sugar and make a circle mound. This is a crumbly dough especially with gluten-free flours such as almond flour.
• Take all the crumbly bits and add back to the circle mound. Then, slightly flatten the top with hands to about 1 inch high.
• Use one packet of turbinado sugar (optional) to zhugh the top before baking, so the sugar sticks.
• Cut lightly or score 8 triangular "pie wedge" shapes.
• Bake at 350°F at 25-30 minutes (or until light golden brown color).