Have Your Cake and Great Health Too with “Naturally Sweet & Gluten-Free” by Ricki Heller

Ricki Heller, who writes a very entertaining and popular blog has recently released a gorgeous new book, Naturally Sweet & Gluten-Free. Her recipes are not only delicious and creative, but also good for you. They are made from whole foods, with no gluten or sugar added. You really can have your cake and great health too!

As a tester for the book, I can attest to the variety and quality of the recipes in this big, beautiful volume. I don’t usually do a lot of baking or preparation of desserts but I (and my family) really enjoyed experimenting with all the nutritious ingredients and flavours that Ricki uses in her recipes. You really can have yummy treats that taste amazingly good without the sugar and other less than desirable ingredients in standard desserts! Also, a lot of the “gluten-free” baked goods on the market are made with starches that are less than nutritious, so it is really great to have a resource that uses whole foods instead.

I was happy to ask Ricki some questions about her latest book. I was also interested in Ricki’s strategy to maintain a healthy vegan diet.

Ricki Heller

Q: When
you studied to become a nutritionist, was your intention to become a cookbook
author?

Not in the least! Although I had already
published a book by then (I wrote a college textbook while teaching English), I
never, ever thought I’d write a cookbook. If anything, I had always dreamt of
becoming a fiction writer (like every other English major, I have boxes of short
stories and novels in draft form in my basement). My first cookbook came about
really as a result of requests from customers of my bakery, Bake it Healthy.
When I closed the bakery, people kept asking me if they could buy the baked
goods directly from me. I decided it made more sense for me to publish a
cookbook so that they could continue to enjoy the treats at home; that became Sweet Freedom.  Naturally Sweet & Gluten-Free 
was the next logical step, taking some of those recipes and revising
them to be in line with my current diet by making them gluten-free and low
glycemic. I also added some new recipes to Naturally
Sweet & Gluten-Free, plus some of the more popular recipes from my
blog.

Q: Why have you chosen to focus on
sweet treats?

Well, anyone who knows me knows that I’m a total
dessert fiend! When I say that I’m a chocoholic or sugar addict, I actually
mean it.  Part of the reason I became
sick and was eventually diagnosed with candida overgrowth was because of my
penchant for sweet things. I’ve loved dessert since I was a little girl, baking
my first batch of chocolate chip cookies at age six (with Mom’s supervision, of
course). I grew up in a house where there was always something home baked
sitting on the kitchen counter.

So, there was just no doubt in my mind that when
I had to change my diet to remove all high glycemic sweeteners (and, in fact,
all sweeteners of every kind for the first while), that I’d somehow have to
find a way to still enjoy my beloved desserts.

Another reason I focused on dessert (and
breakfast-based baked goods) is that those are the foods that most people find hardest
to replace when they go gluten-free, or sugar-free, or egg-free, or dairy-free.
When you switch from wheat flour to gluten-free flour, it’s the baked goods
that are tough to replicate (other foods, like fruits and vegetables, are
already gluten-free, so no need for fancy kitchen magic there). I wanted to
show people that it’s really not as difficult as they may imagine to make the
leap to baking with healthier, allergy-friendly ingredients.

Q: You
have followed a vegetarian and then vegan diet (for the most part) for many
years but ran into health problems after about 15 years. Why do you think that
happened? 

I think you’re referring to the period when I
was told to go back to eating meat? When I first became ill with candida in my
late 30s, the doctor I saw conducted a battery of blood tests and proclaimed
that my albumen levels were perilously low, and that I had to start eating
animal proteins again. This was after about 15 years of a primarily vegan diet.
I remember the day well; that night, my husband and I went out to eat at The
Keg (a steakhouse); I ate a steak; and I felt as if a rock were rolling around in
my stomach for the following two days.

When I think of how I used to eat in those days
before I attended nutrition school, I cringe. I have no doubt that I became ill
because I was a classic “junk-food vegan.” My favorite foods were chocolate,
cake, cookies, pasta and muffins, with a side of potato chips.  In those days, I could easily go for an
entire day without so much as one vegetable serving! No wonder I was lacking
nutrients and developed a case of candida—I was not only feeding the yeast
exactly what it wanted to thrive, but I was also going through a very stressful
time of my life back then, with both the death of my mom and my divorce less
than a year apart. It wasn’t until I started seeing a naturopath and studied
holistic nutrition that I began to understand what a healthy vegan diet was all about, and I was able to turn my health
around.

Q: After learning more about nutrition,
how did you change your diet in order to make it more healthful? 

Well, for one thing, I began to eat A LOT more
vegetables! It was during my days at nutrition school that I first sampled
kale, chard, collards, nutritional yeast, chia seeds, seaweeds and probably
dozens more foods that I eat on a regular basis now.  And I began to drink green smoothies and
fresh juices, both of which I adore! I learned about how to ensure my body
absorbs the protein from plant-based sources, how to combine foods for optimum
calcium absorption, as well as which plant-based foods are the best sources of
vitamins, minerals and fiber. I broadened my ingredient repertoire and began to
eat a much more varied menu.

Another thing I did was start eating nuts and
seeds. Oddly, I hardly ever ate nuts before I learned about how healthy they
are. I also learned that most commercially available nuts are NOT very good for
you, since they are likely rancid and have been roasted in very unhealthy oils.
Currently, I buy my own raw nuts and then toast them myself.

Finally, I began to drink more water.  During my year at school, I drank a glass of
water with lemon almost every morning, a great habit that has fallen off since
then (and one I’m trying to re-incorporate in my daily routine now). I do drink
more water in general, though, than I ever did before.

Q: What do you think are the most
important things to put into practice to maintain a healthy vegan lifestyle and
avoid potential pitfalls?

Well, some I’ve mentioned above, such as varying
the foods you eat and ensuring that you combine foods for proper protein
assimilation. With a vegan diet, you can certainly acquire all the protein you
need, but you must ensure that you do eat from a variety of food groups within
the day—for instance, beans/legumes, nuts and seeds, or whole grains. Any
combination of those will work to provide a complete protein source.

Dark green leafy vegetables are also a
powerhouse of nutrition, and I try to eat at least one to two servings a day. A
few years ago, I was diagnosed with osteopenia, and by increasing my intake of
greens, beans, and daily walks, I reversed the diagnosis in one year.

I’d also recommend taking a daily vitamin B12
supplement and perhaps vitamin D for most people.  There are lots of other things to keep in
mind with a healthy diet, but those are some of the main points that have
worked well for me.

Q: Do you have a favourite recipe or
recipes from the book? 

This is such a tough question!! As I’ve
mentioned before, I really do love them all. However, some that come to mind
are the Allergy-Free Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, a
great recipe for anyone with food allergies. It contains no gluten, grains,
nuts, soy, corn, eggs, dairy or high glycemic sweeteners, yet it’s light and
fluffy and can be piped for decorating cakes or cupcakes. It also holds its
shape at room temperature. That’s the frosting you see swirled on vanilla
cupcakes on the cover of the book.

I also love the Fluffy Fruited Pancakes,
which are very light and cakey, and provide a good amount of protein to start
your day so you won’t have a crash mid-morning. And the chocaholic in me has to
recommend at least one of the brownies in the book (there are five brownie
recipes in total!), such as the Sweet Potato Brownies. Those are my “go-to”
recipe when I want to impress people who may be skeptical about “free-from”
baking. They find out pretty quickly that my treats are just as delicious as
any others they could eat.

Q: I am curious about what is next for
Ricki Heller – are you planning on writing another book and, if so, can you
tell us anything about it?

This is just between you and me (shh, don’t tell
anyone!), but yes, another book is planned. The next one is going to focus more
on all kinds of dishes, including savory ones and other courses like appetizer
and soup/salad. Though of course it will also contain desserts. . . I couldn’t
write a book without those!