Sugar Free Sweet Potato Banana Muffins (adapted from: Good + Simple Blog)

1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
1 cup spelt flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup melted coconut oil (raw virgin)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

1. First, prepare the sweet potatoes. (You can do this a day or two ahead, and use the skins to make Tieghan Gerard’s “Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins” (Just one of the many mind-blowingly yummy recipes from her book Half-baked Harvest.)You will be SO happy you did!!)) Pierce the potatoes with a fork and place on a lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the inside is tender when poked with a fork. Remove from oven and let the potatoes cool. Once cooled, peel off the skin and mash the sweet potato filling with a fork. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of filling.
2. To make the muffins: In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine melted coconut oil, eggs, (and vanilla, if using). Mash enough ripe bananas to make 1 1/2 cups. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and then add the sweet potato/mashed banana.
3. Pour into muffin tins/cups (we use a food-grade silicone muffin thingy). Bake at 325 for approximately 30 minutes.

Here is the recipe for Tieghan Gerard’s “Five Ingredient Chocolate-Covered Cashew Bars” Our only change was that we used 100% (sugar free) chocolate! (Oh, and we sprinkled goji berries and chopped pistachios for the garnish.) Join Mirabelle on her YouTube channel “Mirabelle Meets Life” as she demonstrates how to make these scrumptious treats!

Here are this episode’s Action Points, all in support of you doing your own one-month sugar-free challenge:

Remove Sweets — One of the best ways to make your one-month sugar-free challenge successful is to remove sugared things from your food environment. This is easiest at home, but presents more of a challenge in work or school environments. Do your best, though, and you’ll find that you need to spend less willpower in resistance.

Just For Today — A tactic that works for all habit-development tasks, here we use the idea that we are “just doing this today” to make the task seem more manageable. A month is a LONG time, but a day isn’t so bad. Tomorrow, you renew your pledge!

Distractions — Remember that if you can find POSITIVE distractions, you’ll need less willpower. Invite some friends for a hike. Write letters to some best friends. Volunteer. These positive actions will fill your time and mind, leaving less energy available for sugar cravings.

Get Creative With Your Diet — Use this time to try new foods, explore some fun recipes, etc. We enjoy doing some “theme” meals when we’re doing sugar-free, such as trying a raw-foods meal, a paleo meal, or meals from certain ethnic traditions. Be sure to try one of the recipes above and let us know how it tasted (or even give them a try at the beginning and end of your challenge so you can see how your tastes actually do change)!

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