Chocolate Avocado Keto Pie

Some pediatric nutritionists feel that no food should be demonized, including sugar, and that all foods are permissible as long as the child is eating a balanced diet. The idea is that implementing a restrictive diet will actual warrant deep longing for the forbidden food and ultimately lead to overindulgence. Furthermore, experts will argue that by teaching your child that sugar is bad, you’re inadvertently swinging open the door to judgement: “I don’t eat sugar and therefore am good, but you are eating sugar and therefore are bad.” As the mother to two young children whom I’d like to raise as healthy, nonjudgemental individuals, I find myself pondering these arguments frequently.

But how is it that you turn a blind eye to the fact that sugar does not support a nourished body, no matter how you look at it? How do you ignore the evidence and say instead “sure, you can eat whatever you’d like as long as you balance it out and have a compassionate, nonjudgemental attitude towards your fellow man”. Can’t we have it all? A balanced child that merrily eats vegetables and avoids sugar because they choose health over taste, but is also kind and nonjudgemental even when it comes to food choices? Am I asking too much?

The Sugar-Avoidance Solution

I write extensively about the detrimental side effects of eating sugar in my cook book, The Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Family Cookbook, and I present knowledge that’s hard to ignore. One of the most compelling arguments that I make against sugar is that it binds with proteins to form AGEs, Advanced Glycation End-Products. These structures live up to their name in that they make you age through the process of oxidation and cell damage. You’ll have to read the book to learn the whole story, but oxidation (at least partially from AGEs) is now being associated with western disease – one of the first and obvious links between diet and health status. The link between the two needs further study, but the current hypothesis is compelling enough to make me want to avoid as much sugar as possible.

Avoidance of sugar was easier when my eldest child was younger. I knew this would be the situation as he gained a better understanding of his surroundings and the differences in the way we eat verses the foods that are readily available to him. I’m trying to teach him that some foods don’t support health, while simultaneously explaining that there are a lot of varying reasons that people eat the way they do and that it’s not our responsibility to make any judgements against people when their choices are different than ours. I also find myself making more allowances for unhealthy foods in order to prevent him from feeling overly restricted. I feel as if I’m trying to strike an impossible balance on most days and unfortunately, I have no answers, only lots of grey area.

There is, however, one solution that seems to present itself often, and that is to allow sweets, but in a form that I feel is acceptable. I primarily use blended dates (there are a handful of recipes for which I use stevia) for the desserts in my cookbook since I’ve found that dates with their whole-food nutrition, including fiber, are often the best sugar alternative. But the popularization of the ketogenic diet has brought a handful of low carb, all natural sweeteners to the public eye: erythritol and monkfruit extract. I’m a big supporter of whole foods nutrition, so I wasn’t particularly excited to try these new sweeteners that initially appeared overly processed, but I was curious enough to dive into some research.

Monkfruit and Erythritol – Before You Purchase

I summarize what I learned about erythritol, a sweet-tasting sugar alcohol derived from fermented glucose, in an early post. Be sure to read the post since there are instances in which erythritol is ill-tolerated. Monk fruit seems to be an even safer option since it’s sweetness is from an antioxidant called mogroside that is actually used in Chinese Medicine. However, monkfruit is much like stevia in that it can be slightly challenging to use since it’s 300x’s sweeter than sugar. I bought Lakanto Pure Monkfruit Extract, 30% mogroside (I believe I purchased it on Amazon, but I’m only seeing 50% mogroside) and you use about 1/4 teaspoon of monkfruit extract in the place of 3/4 cup sugar. It’s very sweet and also very expensive, but you have to remember that it will last a loooonng time.

The version that I bought is very different from some of the monkfruit blends. You can quickly tell the difference because the blends are available in larger sizes and recommend using larger quantities (i.e 1 cup of monkfruit = 1 cup sugar; this is only achieved if the monkfruit is blended with erythritol). In the recipe below, these blends can be used in the place of the erythritol (I used this brand that’s non-GMO), but cannot be used to replace the monkfruit extract. I used both monkfruit and erythritol, because it seems to create the best flavor. Both sugar substitutes have a mild aftertaste and using a bit of each yields a product with the least aftertaste and flavor most similar to sugar.

Swerve is a popular brand of erythritol. These are primarily erythritol-monkfruit blends. They’re non-GMO (you want to verify this since erythritol can be derived from GMO corn) and have varying textures and flavors available. For example, I used their confectioners sugar in the coconut whipped cream that I used for topping the pie, and also used it to make an icing for the sugar cookies we made over the holidays. Note that the icing for the cookies had a really intense flavor. It worked well for creating colored icings from natural food dyes, but the visual appeal was definitely better than the taste. I’m going to have to work on a way to dilute the erythritol before posting the icing recipe on my blog.

Chocolate Avocado Keto Pie Notes

I shared this pie with a number of individuals over New Years and the resounding feedback was, “I want that recipe!” It’s so good and I love that you’re not eating anything unhealthy (unless you can’t tolerate erythritol as I mentioned in that earlier post) and it’s free of dairy, grains, and sugar. The crust contains almond flour, but the almonds could always be substituted for whatever nut-free flour substitute you prefer.

Be sure to refrigerate the pie after it cools; the flavors aren’t nearly as good when it’s served at room temperature. I chose to top it with coconut whipped cream, but you could always serve it plain. Heck, I might even start serving this pie for breakfast. Boom! How’s that for a lack of restriction? #winning