I’m a sucker for a good banana bread, but it’s been a journey finding one that suits my dietary needs and also tastes good. After lots of trial and error, I finally perfected my favourite recipe! The recipe is below, but first a funny story about the Instagram photo that blew up my phone.

Last Saturday I went to Costco to restock some cottage pantry essentials before my parents arrive. I was purchasing all the heavy stuffy like laundry detergent, canned foods, dish soap, you get the idea. I also bought a giant bag of white sugar; we always keep this on hand for guests who like to put sugar in their coffee or when we need to do some baking for big crowds in a pinch. I snapped a picture, finished shopping, drove to the cottage and didn’t look at my phone for several hours. Later, when I finally checked my phone, I was bombarded with an insane amount of comments like “What white sugar?”, “Why are buying that giant bag?” and so forth. I knew a lot of the comments were lighthearted, but I was curious as to why this erupted such a fuss. This got me thinking about how we view food as a society and especially for me as a health care provider.

Believe me, I get it. If there is one change I know will always benefits my patients, it’s cutting down sugar in their diet. BUT, here’s the funny thing. We get so caught up on reducing the sugar we add to our foods, and don’t think about the sugar already hidden inside our foods. For example, when people tell me they are cutting down on sugar in their diet, it usually starts with not adding a teaspoon into their morning coffee. Though well intended, their morning glass of orange juice has over 7 teaspoons of sugar, and a cup of store-bought granola can have over 20g!  My point being, it’s about educating my patients on food labels, and worrying less about the sugar their enjoy in their coffee. Further, I also am always mindful about not creating fearing mongering around certain foods or going to the extreme. A great example of this gone wrong is “Orthorexia”, which you can read more about in this excellent article here.  In a long-winded way, what I’m trying to say is we all need to chill out. In the words of Michael Pollan, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”  And if you happen to have a bit of white sugar today, you’re going to be okay.

The Best Paleo Banana Bread (gluten-free, nut-free option)

Ingredients
  • 3 large very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 cup almond, cashew or sunflower seed butter (use sunflower for nut-free version)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/3 cup add-ins: raisins, dark chocolate chips, unsweetened coconut, dried cranberries…you decide!
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, mash bananas with a large fork until smooth. Stir in eggs, almond butter and vanilla. In separate bowl, mix together coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt. Whisk dry ingredients into wet until combined. Stir in add-ins.
  3. Pour the batter in loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan and slicing.
  4. Store in the fridge for up to one week, or freezer for one month.
 
What’s next on the blog? Stay tuned for a post on hormonal acne, and simple tips to help your skin glow :)