impRAWvise 

Indulgence food might be usually associated with all kinds of negative emotions such as shame, guilt, frustration, or maybe even discontent as well as, in some cases, not even caring about or completely ignoring the impact of something on someones own health, therefore it is so easy to fall into the old patterns that say all foods of some sort of a specific kind (for example a sweet treat or something salty and crispy, or even fatty as well ) are bad for us, without even giving it any context. Still an indulgent treat does not necessarily need to be some unhealthy food or a so called bad food for us. We can still indulge in amazing looking goodies and delicious recipes by simply making a few simple swaps or getting to understand a bit better how our own body processes work so that we can make better choices where the taste that we get is not only just as delicious or perhaps even better, but where also amazing goodies and awesome choices that we make are super nutritious as well. Today I am going to share with you a few ideas for making a healthier version of a waffle, vegan of course, as this is the way I live my life and its creamy chocolate and caramel cream which I used both as filling and as toping too. Indulgence does not cure a broken heart, but it sure helps us practice being more kind and compassionate towards ourselves in a whole different kind of way.

First things first, I would like to start with our emotional field. As we all know, we all have some kind of cravings from time to time, some of us more often and some of us perhaps not so often. Some of them might be misleading in terms of health and wellbeing and some of them might actually fall into the kind of cravings that we call “healthy cravings”. There is nothing bad with indulging in something that we love as long as we make a fully conscious choice, we are well aware of our health status, and also we take the full responsibility for it, in case of illness or disease, without putting ourselves in danger would also be a criteria too. Of course there are all kinds of addictive foods or additives on the market that get into the products being sold, and of course that sometimes addictive foods do lead to cravings due to their chemical structure. Lacking important elements that our bodies need might also be expressed as cravings and last but not least imbalances in the body s natural homeostasis might also trigger cravings for specific foods, food consistencies or tastes, such as (most often mentioned) sweet, fatty, salty. But today is not about that. Today is about being on the path towards making better choices or simply being ok with exactly where we are at right here and right now and wanting to go even one step further by improving those conscious choices and turning them into not only better choices but also more indulgent choices for when the time calls for such an option.

Therefore here comes the ingredients part. Usually some processed flours might be labeled as not so healthy for us therefore a good alternative would be to use mix of nuts or seeds flour (just simple grinding of nuts or seeds into a powder), if necessary, for the texture of the flour blend and especially for a gluten free option, some starch might also help a lot stabilise our mix, we can also use bananas as well (think of egg replacement but also texture and taste) and last but not least for a protein boost we can add some protein powder to our mixture too. We can also use in this case rice or oats flour, or a premix (just look for something with as fewer ingredients as possible) and for even more fluffiness do not forget to add some baking powder too. When it comes to the chocolate spreads available on the market they usually have a lot of sugar but not so much of the nuts. Therefore when making such a spread at home, and giving it a caramel like taste and texture I would recommend dates, cacao or carob powder and some nuts of choice. Some extra healthy fats also help to get an even creamier texture, I love adding coconut oil or MCT oil (also from coconuts). Sprinkle a few nuts of choice on top and your super delicious and nutritious waffles are ready to be enjoyed! Of course keeping our blood sugar levels in check on a regular basis and having an overall active and healthy lifestyle also contributes to living a happy, healthy and fulfilling life on a day to day basis and just being able to be present for ourselves and for our loved ones in the moment is simply another level of embracing the wonders of being alive on Earth.