Healthstarter

I don’t always need to have a snack with me, but I always bring my filtered water. 💧 Our under‑sink reverse osmosis filter has been such a reliable part of our routine. And if you’re looking for packaged snacks you can lean on occasionally when you’re out and about — while keeping your real‑food foundation strong — the post has a few ideas for you!

These No‑Bake Chocolate Truffles go way back for me — long before Healthstarter existed, back when I was still learning how to write about food and health in the same breath (circa 2010!)

My dad made them for us recently using my recipe, and simply switched the hazelnuts for almonds because of my daughter’s allergy. Watching him make that tiny adjustment with so much care reminded me why I started sharing recipes at all.

They’re inspired by chokladbollar, the classic Swedish no‑bake treat, but this version leans into whole‑food ingredients: dates, almonds, cacao, coconut, cinnamon — so it’s naturally sweetened, rich, and surprisingly satisfying.

A quick note before you make them: use a food processor, not a blender. The texture depends on proper processing, and a blender just won’t get you there.

Directions: Pulse everything in a food processor until it forms a sticky dough, roll into balls, chill, and finish with ganache or your favorite coating.

Full recipe on the last slide. Save this one. 🙌🏽
🍫 No refined sugar
🌱 Whole food ingredients
✨ Dairy‑free option available

A banana cancels most of your berry smoothie's antioxidants.

Firstly, bananas are a good food. This is about an enzyme and what it does to a specific group of compounds.

Flavanols are antioxidants found in berries, cocoa, grapes, and apples that have been linked to heart and brain health. Bananas are high in polyphenol oxidase (PPO), the enzyme that turns a cut banana brown within minutes. PPO breaks flavanols down into forms the body absorbs poorly.

The study that measured this was careful about one thing worth understanding. Ottaviani et al. (2023) did not simply compare a berry smoothie to a banana smoothie and assume berries had more to begin with. They added the same standardized dose of cocoa flavanols to every drink, so the starting amount was identical. Then they gave healthy volunteers three things on separate days: that flavanol dose in a capsule, the same dose in a low-PPO berry smoothie, and the same dose in a high-PPO banana smoothie.

The capsule produced peak blood flavanols of about 680 nmol/L. The berry smoothie landed in the same range. The banana smoothie reached only about 96 nmol/L, roughly 84 percent lower than the capsule, from an identical starting dose. The only thing that changed was the enzyme it was blended with.

A second detail sharpens the mechanism. When the banana drink and the flavanols were swallowed together but not blended beforehand, levels still dropped. That points to PPO continuing to act after you swallow it, likely in the stomach, not only during blending.

Two honest limits. This was a small mechanistic study. The comparison behind the 84 percent figure was a crossover in eight healthy men, and it measured absorption, not a long-term health outcome. It was also funded by Mars, Inc., which has a commercial interest in cocoa flavanols. That does not change the underlying chemistry, which is well established, but it is worth knowing.

The practical takeaway is narrow and specific. This does not mean bananas reduce the nutritional value of your food, and it is not a reason to stop eating them. It means that if flavanol intake is something you care about, the fruit you blend with your flavanol source is worth considering. Berries and pineapple are low in PPO. If you want those compounds to reach your blood, keeping the banana out of that particular smoothie, or eating it on the side, is a reasonable choice.

Ottaviani et al., Food & Function, 2023 (DOI: 10.1039/d3fo01599h)

What do migraines, arthritis, brain fog, and chronic skin issues all have in common?

For a lot of people, the answer starts in the gut.

I’m currently in a new module with the Nutritional Therapy Association , and my reading list just got very interesting. These two books by Elizabeth Lipski , Digestive Wellness and Digestive Wellness for Children, are already changing the way I’m thinking about symptoms I see all the time!

Did you know that between one third and one half of all adults are dealing with some form of digestive issue? And that’s before we even talk about the conditions it quietly drives behind the scenes..

This is the kind of depth that makes me love this field. The more I understand what’s happening underneath, the more I can actually help you get to the root of what’s going on in your body. Equipping myself so I can meet you where you are 💛...

Which of these do you deal with most? (ANSWER POLL IN COMMENTS BELOW 👇🏼)