Paleo Banana Bread

Finally; A recipe for healthy banana bread. For my fellow fit-friends – no worries, you can thank me later. For you newbie’s – embrace yourself. What? Banana bread isn’t healthy? Ha, if you are one of those who have been fooled into thinking the delicious moist, bursting with flavour, easy to grab alongside your morning coffee companion is a better choice over an egg and bacon roll…..think again my friend. Don’t worry I was once fooled, or not so much fooled but naive to the fact that I was pretty much eating a whopping slice of cake for breakfast. YES, CAKE! Or equivalent of.

Although the original recipes you find at most café’s, school canteens and  stalls on your morning commute, do have SOME nutritional benefit, ( BANANA = FRUIT = WIN ) you may as well have just eaten those pancakes, or devoured your favourite chocolate cake before you ran out the door. The usual suspects in banana bread include  banana, butter, Eggs, self-raising flour, sugar, milk. The usual suspects in a basic tea cake include; butter, eggs, self-raising flour, sugar, milk. See the similarities there? Yep….so therefore if my maths are correct. BANANA + butter + eggs + refined flour + Sugar + milk = Banana Cake. And quite frankly I bet you’re are feeling a little bit disappointed. But don’t worry as this recipe is gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free. It also uses almond meal and coconut flour replacing those empty refined carbs of the nutrition-less self raising flour.

I firmly believe carbohydrates are absolutely essential for the functioning of a human body. So before you start your crazy no carb diet, try a simple change and swap your refined carbohydrates for complex carb.  When baking my favourite substitutes s for wheat flours are almond meal and coconut flour. Complex carbohydrates contain an abundance of vitamins and minerals that are vital for maintaining optimal health. They are also super high in fibre.

In contrast the refined carbohydrates such as white flours, sugars, most baking ingredients and most supermarket cereals has been altered by machinery to increase it’s shelf live. During this process hundreds of essential minerals are lost, leaving you with nothing but an empty cooking agent with high GI. (Glycemic index) The glycemic index (GI) measures carbohydrates according to how quickly they are absorbed and raise the glucose level of the blood. When the blood level is raised it triggers a signal to your body telling you your brain you are hungry. So basically what I’m trying to say is that refined foods absorbs a lot quicker than complex foods, meaning it digests a lot faster, triggering blood sugar levels to spike which in turn causes a rise in insulin. The result? Not only are you hungry two hours later, but you are also paving the way for insulin resistance, inflammation, metabolic slowdown, food allergies, food cravings and eventually type two diabetes..

I don’t want to go all scientific on you as, well, quite frankly I was never good at science. Hence whyI took the creative path! I am not a nutritionist, and this is purely my understanding obtained from my own interest and research. Once you start researching how the food you eat chemically reacts in your body you will honestly start being more aware and conscious of the foods you put in your mouth.

Anywayyyyyy my brain now hurts and I bet yours does too so I’ll shut up now and give you your recipe. Quick, read below!!!

 

Ingredients 

Three smashed over ripe banana around (300g)

3 free range eggs

2 tbs raw honey / or rice malt syrup

1 tbs organic maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla essence or scraping on 1 vanilla bean

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2  tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp  bicarb soda activated in some lemon juice

1 1/2 cups almond meal

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup  chia seed

Pecans / walnuts / almonds

 

Method

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius

1. Place banana, eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, bi-carb in a bowl and mix till well combined.

2. Add remaining ingredients and whisk till mixture looks like a cake batter.

3. Place your mixture in a well greased loaf pan, coat the bottom of the pan with desiccated coconut to prevent the mixture sticking.

4. Top with desired seeds or nuts.

4. Bake for around 45-55 minutes.

Almond meal tends to burn at a higher rate, so if the top it nice and brown and still has more cooking time place some foil or baking paper over the top and place back in the oven.

 

I topped my banana bread with cottage cheese, banana, almond butter and honey.