GOOD FAT BAD FAT (Book Review & Paleo Macaroon Recipe)

Take a look at your daily food intake, the food in your refrigerator and the foods that you eat at a restaurant. Are you quick to reach for the “low fat” or “fat free” option when possible? Do you avoid fats because of something you heard or read way back when? Are you focusing too much on calorie intake and grams of fat?

Good Fat Bad Fat, by Romy Dolle, is a wonderful and incredibly informative book about how eating the right kind of fats can help you lose weight…yes, you read that right! Did you know that eating good fats can also increase your energy levels and minimize disease risk? You might be eating “low fat” and “fat free” right now, but after reading this book you will surely switch over to eating the right kinds of fats and realize that simply eliminating bad fats can completely change your life.

Even if you don’t fully understand all of the scientific chapters in this book, you will certainly gain some good information as to why good fat is good for you and why bad fat should be avoided. This book has 70 recipes with gorgeous photos in it that will make you hungry and ready to start cooking. If you are curious about eating a low-carb and a higher (good) fat diet that is filled with real, healthy ingredients, you definitely want to purchase this book!

In this book, Romy Dolle discusses why we need good fats in our daily diet to increase and supply energy, keep us full and even lose weight. Having already known that good fats were good for you, I chose to read this book so that I could learn more about WHY we should eat healthy fats. While much of the “science” in this book went over my head, I still learned quite a bit of information.

In our house, we don’t shy from healthy fats: extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nuts and coconut. We use it in all forms for baking and cooking and don’t pay attention to calories or grams of fat. While we do count carbs from brown rice, quinoa, honey, maple syrup, etc, we don’t focus on the numbers of anything else that we eat.

I do know that I still have so much more to learn, and that may come with rereading this book and using it for reference. We do not eat primarily paleo, but we do eat similarly with a few small changes. Due to food allergies and restrictions, I cannot use every recipe in this book, but I have gotten tons of ideas and even figured out how to alter some of the recipes so that we can eat them.

The good:

1) The recipe part of this book was easy to understand and informative. The photos were stunning and really made this a lovely cookbook.

2) The graphs showing the fatty acid profile of different fats was helpful

3) The simple variations to many of the recipes: i.e.: making 3 different flavors of mayonnaise from the base recipe.

The bad:

1) Some of the text was a bit hard to read. Commentary from Dr. Torsten Albers was written in a light orange font that was a challenge to read and concentrate on against a white background.

2) Some of the recipes were hard to read because the ingredient list is found on the photo itself rather than the opposite page with the directions, but it is doable.

3) Some might say that the fact that the recipes are in ounces and grams is a pain, but get a small kitchen scale and please don't let that stop you from making this amazing recipes! I used my kitchen scale to make macaroons ... read about it below.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about fats and gain some more information about why eating this way is healthy. Even if you aren’t a newbie to this way of eating, there are 70 beautiful recipes that you can enjoy. I am a firm believer that we should all keep learning and growing. I believe that everyone could get something from this book. I am glad that I read it!

Paleo Macaroon Recipe

I decided to make a sweet recipe from this book but had to switch out an ingredient due to food allergies and boy are we thrilled with the results. Because I am allergic to sugar cane, I used coconut sugar instead of raw sugar in an even substitution.

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INGREDIENTS

2 egg whites

1 pinch of salt

40g raw sugar*

100g grated coconut (unsweetened)

50g dark chocolate (72% or higher)*

Directions (taken directly from the book)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a tray with baking paper.

In a bowl, mix the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.

Add the sugar in portions and mix until it has dissolved and a glossy, rigid mass has formed.

Mix the grated coconut gently with a spatula into the rigid egg white-sugar mixture.

Divide the mixture into portions with two spoons to form clumps and place on the baking tray.

Bake the macaroons 20 to 25 minutes, until they're crisp and have turned golden brown on the outside.

When macaroons are cooled, melt the chocolate in a small bowl.

Dip the bottom of each macaroon into the melted chocolate and put back on the baking sheet. Wait until the chocolate is firm.

*Here's what I did...

- I used coconut sugar instead of raw sugar and followed the directions accordingly.

- I used Lily's dark chocolate chips sweetened with stevia and dipped the bottoms of the macaroons rather than using a chocolate bar.

I am thrilled to say that both of my substitutions worked fabulously and I will definitely be making this recipe again and again. This recipe was very easy to make and it might be a great recipe to make with your kids. Having food allergies doesn't mean you have to avoid certain recipes or cookbooks, it just means that you have to get creative and not be afraid to try out ideas. I wasn't sure if this coconut sugar would work, but it worked and I'm thrilled!

#paleo #dessert #coconut #coconutsugar #bookreview