A neat recipe and a healthy lifestyle

I've been thinking about body image a lot lately. Body image is something I have struggled with quite a lot over the years. As a kid I put on weight quite quickly during puberty and my mum approached it by food restriction and talking about my weight. She did what she thought would help me but it taught me that to lose weight you had to deprive yourself of 'bad' food, so through my teen years I starved myself and obsessed over food. What I realise is my mother never talked to me about health. It was always about weight. From my perspective-me eating all these foods that I wasn't fond of and not being able to eat the things that I liked (I used to horde these foods secretly in my room to avoid getting into trouble and so ended up over eating these things anyway) equaled weight loss but I didn't understand or know about nutritional value or what it meant to be healthy or what you eat to maintain health. I was thinking that parents should educate their children about health and good foods rather than use weight as an incentive to eating well. What do you think?

This 100 days of real eating is a different experience for me because it isn't about losing weight, it is about being healthy and it feels a whole lot more sustainable because of that.

Anyway-I made a cake last night (called the caramel mud cake) that tastes naughty but isn't! It has quite a lot of tahini in it and tahini is quite a strong taste so I would suggest cutting it down by half and adding a little honey. I am a massive sweet tooth and I found this fixed the craving! The recipe is from www.wholefoodsimply.com   =)

Caramel Mud Cake – Wholefood Simply Style

The flesh of two roasted sweet potatoes (I thickly slice and roast in their skins, the flesh pops out easily once they are cooked and slightly cooled, and we love eating the skins while the cake cooks)

10 medjool dates, seeds removed

3 heaped tablespoons hulled tahini

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted

1 teaspoon bicarb soda

5 eggs

Pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celcius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line a round 20cm cake tin.

In your blender or food processor puree the sweet potato flesh and dates until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients in the order listed above, mix until well combined.

Pour the mixture into a prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden and an inserted skewer comes out cleanly. Allow the cake to cool slightly before removing from the cake tin and placing the cake onto a cooling rack. Cool the cake completely prior to icing.

Caramel Frosting

3 heaped tablespoons hulled tahini

3 heaped tablespoons honey

3 heaped tablespoons coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour the mixture directly over the cooled cake for a runny icing or refrigerate the mixture and allow it to set slightly for a thicker frosting consistency.

Isn’t it heavenly? Enjoy!!