Paleo Cookbook For Dummies (79 page)

Who wants to go through the rest of their lives feeling guilty for indulging in sweet treats or even avoiding them altogether? Boring.

The truth is that you're hard-wired to want the sweet stuff; it's part of your natural design. What you aren't hard-wired for are the grain- and sugar-laden foods most people know as desserts. Most cakes, pastries, cookies, and other treats are refined-food overkill and become a burden for your body to deal with.

Luckily, every once in a while you can have your (Paleo-approved) cake and eat it too. You just have to redefine what sweets should be by using ingredients such as coconut flour, almond flour, fresh and dried fruits, nuts, vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa, honey, nut butters, maple syrup, and coconut milk.

Whether you go for the
Blueberry Espresso Brownies
, the
Banana Cacao Muffins
, or the
Chocolate Ice Cream
, you can relax. No guilt. The recipes in this chapter are super pure and super good! (The same can be said for the bonus recipe for Macadamia Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies you can find online at
www.dummies.com/extras/paleocookbook
.)
Note:
For all the recipes in this chapter, the serving size is one item unless otherwise noted.

Spotting Sugar in Its Sneakiest Forms

Wiping out sugar entirely is nearly impossible because all carbohydrates, even the healthy ones, are essentially sugar. However, you can control the
added sugar
and sweeteners in your food that provide no nutritional value.

Snub your nose up at these sugars and sweeteners:

Agave

All artificial sugars in boxes or packets

Aspartame

Brown sugar

Corn syrup

High fructose corn syrup

Maltodextrin

Molasses

Raw sugar

Rice syrup

Sucralose