Sugar Free Cacao Clusters

Award for the worst blogger ever award goes to me.

Where do I begin?

Let me give you the readers digest version, because the past year and a half has been a wild ride of highs and lows.

The highs? I welcomed a healthy, 8lb 1oz baby boy named Easton two weeks before his due date at the end of January. He is the happiest, most chill baby I have ever seen. He spends his days smiling, letting his sister love on him and eating his little heart out (he’s already a whopping 17.5 lbs at 4 months).

Now for the lows. After a relatively easy pregnancy, the final few weeks of it were a bit of a roller coaster. I was plagued with scary high blood pressure, a large measuring baby (see the bit about him weighing over 8lbs two full weeks early), and a whole host of health issues that I couldn’t really explain. I was eating as healthy as I could, exercising daily and generally taking care of myself, but for whatever reason, my body was not responding the way it should have. After being completely fed up with the non-answers I was getting from traditional doctors, I decided it was time to check out a more hollistic approach.

While I could write an entire post regarding my experience with a Naturopath (and I intend to), the main things I discovered about my current health issues that apply to this post were that I was battling pretty significant yeast overgrowth and inflammatory reactions to about 90% of foods that were tested on a food intolerance test. This was pretty eye opening, and it made a lot of sense. I had pretty much every symptom of candida overgrowth, and no matter what I ate, I always seemed to feel uncomfortable.

In order to get these issues under control, I have been on a pretty modified diet for the past few months, which hasn’t exactly been easy as I am breastfeeding. To get the yeast issue and inflammation under control, I was placed on a diet that consisted of no sugar (not even fruit), no grains and no starchy vegetables.

When you break that down, you’re left with a pretty limited selection, but on the bright side, my creativity with food has never been more on point.

Bring in these delicious, Sugar Free Cacao Clusters.

If you know anything about candida overgrowth, you know that yeast makes you crave sugar. Obviously, being on a yeast controlling diet means that sugar is a no-go, but that doesn’t mean the sugar craving isn’t still there. These delicious little clusters are my solution to this problem. Coming in at a whopping 0 grams of sugar for the entire recipe, these Sugar Free Cacao Clusters pack a superfood punch. Cacao is iron rich, a natural mood enhancer, and is chock full of antioxidants. Unrefined, virgin coconut oil and coconut butter boost immunity and destroy harmful bacteria and viruses.

So where does this sugar free treat get its sweetness? Bring in the Sweet Leaf Chocolate Stevia Drops. I use these and the English Toffee flavor every day and they add the perfect hint of flavor to my breakfast. I get mine at Whole Foods. They aren’t the cheapest, but they do last quite awhile.

If you don’t really care about sugar content, feel free to add in a natural sweetener of your choice. Doesn’t need much, just a touch, and add to taste.  Coconut nectar would be a great option.

And there you have it! A sugar free, antioxidant rich treat to cure your chocolate cravings. These clusters are great on their own, or amazing on oatmeal, chia pudding, or whatever your heart desires.