The Doughnut – Deconstructed + A Healthy Doughnut Recipe
Dictionary.com definition: a small cake of sweetened or, sometimes, unsweetened dough fried in deep fat, typically shaped like a ring or, when prepared with a filling, a ball.
My definition: a small cake loaded with cancer-causing, diabetes-triggering sugar and highly processed and refined flour, resembling a little trans fat sponge, containing dozens of highly toxic and damaging ingredients.
Americans eat over 10 billion donuts every year! That’s about 33 donuts for every man, women, and child.
- Refined Grains– the bran and the germ are stripped away from the grain of wheat, then highly refined/processed (including bleaching), turns to sugar
- Trans Fats & Damaged Fats (hydrogenated oils) – your body cannot properly metabolize these fats, they cling to fragile cell membranes and prevent the “good stuff” from getting in and the “bad stuff” from getting out. Doughnuts are fried in these damaged fats and act as little sponges, soaking up the unhealthy oils. Doughnuts can contain up to 35-40% trans fats per doughnut!
- Sugar – processed sugar is one of the most damaging components of the Standard American Diet. It is the primary dietary cause of obesity, causes hormonal imbalance, puts you on the fast track to diabetes, increases the acidity of the body, causes inflammation, causes elevated cholesterol, leads to heart disease, is an anti-nutrient, is a known toxin, and is the food and fuel for cancer. There is approximately 4-6 teaspoons of sugar PER DOUGHNUT.
- Acrylimides – occurs in foods that are cooked at very high temperatures (like frying), studies have proven it to be a known carcinogen.
- Artificial colors – In the European Union, foods with artificial colors must state a warning: “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
- Anti-nutrients – there is no nutritional value in a doughnut. In fact, it is loaded with anti-nutrients. This means that not only are you NOT getting any nutrients from the food itself, in order for your body to process a doughnut, it has to pull from the existing stores of vitamin, minerals, enzymes, etc. It is a double whammy to the body.
When you make a traditional donut at home, the typical ingredients are: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, yeast, oil, salt, milk.
–> all ingredients you can find at a grocery store (although it does’t mean they are healthy).
A Krispy Kreme Doughnut contains:
Enriched bleached wheat flour- (contains bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine, mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), dextrose, vegetable shortening (partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil), water, sugar, soy flour, egg yolks, vital wheat gluten, yeast, nonfat milk, yeast nutrients (calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate), dough conditioners (calcium dioxide, monocalcium and dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, sodium stearoyl-2-lacrylate, whey, starch, ascorbic acid, sodium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate), salt, mono-and-diglycerides, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, lecithin, calcium propionate (to retain freshness), cellulose gum, natural and artificial flavors, fungal alpha amylase, amylase, maltogenic amylase, pantosenase, protease, sodium caseinate, corn maltodextrin, corn syrup solids and BHT (to help protect flavor). Glaze also may contain: Calcium carbonate, agar, locust bean gum, disodium phosphate, and sorbitan monostearate.
–> most ingredients not readily available
Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Core & Advanced Plan
Makes about 6 full size doughnuts or 12 mini doughnut
5 organic eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
3/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup erythritol (like Swerve) or 1/2 – 1 tsp liquid stevia
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp sea salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil your doughnut pan (be sure it is non-toxic). Place first 5 ingredients in a blender and blend until well mixed. Add the dry ingredients and blend on low speed until well mixed. Pour the batter into the pan, filling each mold about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan.