Healthiest hot cocoa recipe and how I lowered my thyroid antibodies

Food can be your greatest healing support or your biggest roadblock to improving.

Figuring out how to slash inflammation with food is always not easy but doable. I’m working on a program called Fearless Food to help clients personalize the perfect anti-inflammatory diet for their body. When we dial a diet to our unique body, it can put us in a healing mode.

We are designed to heal. We need to remove the roadblocks and let the body do what it does best.

When external stressors drive our immune systems down, leaving us vulnerable to toxins, pathogens and inflammatory food reactions, we just need some support to turn the tables. That is what my program is all about. How to find your personal healing sweet spot.

How to overcome food fear

With digestive reactions, there often comes a fear of food and confusion about what to eat.

The knee jerk reaction is to keep restricting until there are only a handful of safe foods. Eventually the biome takes a hit and things get worse.

Figuring out how to tolerate more food (yes it is possible) will improve digestion, lessen reactivity and start a virtuous cycle, helping build confidence and lessen fear.

I have used food many times to heal my own body.

This summer, I took a blood test that showed elevated thyroid antibodies that hovered dangerously close to becoming an autoimmune disease called Hashimotos. This is one of the most common autoimmune disease among women. But it was a devastating blow for me because of how well I care for my gut.

Autoimmune disease begins in the gut. And later I found out that this condition was driven by the mold mycotoxins that still lived in my body, from an exposure years before.

I turned to food and supplements to slash the inflammation that was driving these antibodies.

The mold illness, an international move, a pandemic and a pathogenic tick bite were the stressor that drove my immune system to “break tolerance to itself” and go on the attack.

My protocol

I took a food sensitivity to find the foods that were secretly driving up my inflammation. The worst offenders were the biggest part of my diet, cashews, almonds, cow diary and eggs. Gluten was also a big trigger for me and ginger was also on the list.

Ginger is a healing food for most people, but for me it raised inflammation and pissed off my immune system even more. Again, these foods are generally healthy, but the mold in my body was driving up inflammation and causing leaky gut and the food sensitivities.

Avoiding my biggest food triggers helped me lose inflammatory weight. I felt lighter in my body and the brain fog lifted.

The mold made me very sensitive to gluten, and gluten sensitivity in itself causes leaky gut. When I finally detox the mold from my body, my reaction to gluten will greatly diminish.

Aside from lowering my inflammation by avoiding my trigger foods, I started taking three supplements to lower thyroid antibodies.

I took inositol (which I use for my recipe below), selenium and blackseed oil (also called black cumin seed oil).

The results

I tested my thyroid antibodies 5 times since my initial discovery (a few months apart) to seeing if they were heading up or down.

The first retest showed the antibodies creeping up slightly. I was very stressed at the time about this discovery. And I was having trouble even making an appointment for the retest due to living in a foreign country and not being able to speak the language. Emotionally, I was not doing great and it reflected in my results. Also I had just started taking my supplements and they take months to take effect.

I was devastated about having an autoimmune disease. I catastrophized, imagining a future of medications and flares. I grappled with feeling of failure. Toxic emotions affected my antibodies and the inflammation in my body.

But as time passed, I was able to do my own research, I learned that the scenario was not as bleak as my doctors thought. They already diagnosed me with a mild version of this disease. But according to my research, I was not there yet and I could avoid going there.

I changed my perspective to that of gratitude for catching this early, before it turned into anything serious. Feeing more in control of my fate made a big difference for me. I calmed down. Took care of myself. And my antibodies slowly lowered.

My latest test showed antibodies of 11, which is nearly non existent. And this was one week after international air travel and while I had jet lag. I expected them to be much higher, but the supplements were doing their job. The right diet, the right attitude and the right supplements made the difference.

Currently I am doing a mold detox protocol, this time adding in things I missed the first time (sinus rinsing) to make sure that this time it leaves my body.

Finding pleasure in food again

For me, food has always been a pleasure. I create healthy recipes for myself (and share them) to not just heal my body but comfort my soul.

As I mentioned, mood and emotional state is important in healing, and right now, it’s dark, cold, and dreary in Berlin. We’re under lockdown, a year into a pandemic and I’m socially isolated. Finding small pleasures in life is essential right now. You may relate.

This hot cocoa recipe is my current comfort. It is hot, creamy and mood lifting. But still healthy and guilt free. I use inositol to sweeten it.

I added a teaspoon of maca for additional mood and hormone support and carob for prebiotics, but these are optional. Note: carob is high in FODMAPs so it’s not for people who don’t tolerate FODMAPs. But since that’s not me, I enjoy the rich and sweet flavor it adds to the cocoa.

Benefits of inositol

Inositol is used by people who have PCOS, a sister condition of IBS. With PCOS it’s particularly important to stabilize blood sugar. Inositol is the perfect, blood sugar stabilizing sweetener, I don’t know why I have never seen it used in recipes before. I just stumbled upon it.

It is also great support for diabetic nerve pain, panic disorder, OCD, depression, fat metabolism, insomnia, high cholesterol and thyroid.

I use powdered inositol from Pure Encapsulations for this recipe. It comes with a scoop inside. Note: I alway buy supplements from a trusted dispensary like this one, because you never know what you are getting on an unregulated platforms like Amazon.

Enjoy this healing beverage

Cocoa is packed with antioxidants, mood boosting nutrients and polyphenols. Not everyone tolerates it, but if you do, it is a superfood. The problem is the sugars and oils found in packaged hot cocoa. If you can’t tolerate cocoa or are on the AIP diet, try making this with carob only.

I started this blog to show people that they are powerful healers. That food can be your friend and show hopeful alternatives to the bleak prognosis from mainstream medicine.

Everything starts in the mind.

First we have to believe we can do it.

Then we have to give our bodies the right support to heal and repair. The right food can do that. If you feel lost, confused or unsupported around this topic, I am currently taking clients. You can get more info here.

If you like this low-sugar recipe, you can find more than 60 other low sugar, gut-friendly treats, drinks, meals and breakfast ideas in my downloadable cookbook Treats That Heal.

Hormone Balancing hot cocoa

1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of carob powder (double the cocoa powder if you don’t have carob)

2 scoops of inositol (equal to 4 grams)

8 ounces of boiling water

Non dairy milk of choice or two tablespoons of coconut milk powder

Optional:

1 teaspoon of maca
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of cardamom
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder

How to

Boil water, and pour into a large mug.

Mix in cocoa powder, carob powder, inositol, maca and optional add ins.

Top off with non dairy milk or powder.

Mix well (you can blend for a creamier beverage) and enjoy each sip.