My daughter went through a life changing thing in her world this year, she gained a massive intolerance to caffeine and an only slightly lesser intolerance to processed sugar. For an eight year old this was traumatizing. No more chocolate, likely ever, and very little in the way of traditional sweets. This led this Mama onto a journey of finding what my child's boundaries were with these things, as too much would cause her to be screaming in pain from abdominal migraines and a combination would make it last for hours. In addition to seeking her boundaries we began to look for replacements, anything to help a child to not feel left out.
Many of the things we found where simple, from no sugar added Werthers and Russel Stover candies (Watch the coloring the RS candies, it can be unclean), to Manuca's Honey Suckers (These are a favorite of her's and totally guilt free for Mama to give her!). Even changing from Dandy's Marshmallows to the much lower sugar Amira works wonders. (But Amira doesn't expand over the fire the same) Some could be tricky, like dried fruit. Made at home there is no issue, but many do have added sugars when purchased. My baking could easily be turned into natural sugar by using the Honey replacement method, 1 cup sugar = 1/3 cup honey. This works for most things, but not all as it can effect consistency.
So we expanded a rule we already had. Because my children, like many I'm sure, get given candies at different activities we already had a base form of this rule in place to keep them from eating unclean candies. They were to politely thank the giver, and pocket the candy if they knew it was unclean or suspected it might be. At eight and seven they knew to watch out for gummy candies, and anything red, pink, purple or orange. They could then bring it to me or their Dad and we would trade it out for a clean candy we had in the pantry. Now, my daughter must do this for any and all treats she receives, and once inspected she may be able to have it, may have to save it for the next day, or may have it traded out.
But chocolate kept stumping us, that is, until I discovered Carob! I learned quick that carob chips were good, but not great as they still had a high amount of sugar. Best for things like cookies where the form is still wanted and not a caroby mush. But with the purchase of carob powder you can do anything! Sometimes it's as simple as substituting it equally in place of cocoa, but when you do this watch the sweetener as you likely won't need as much since carob is naturally sweeter.
You can make Carob bars and chunks, for baking, Hanukkah gelt (get a chocolate mold for it), or it's also amazing on S'mores! I'm a total chocoholic and I even won't go back, carob beats it out on s'mores in my opinion.
1 Cup Coconut Oil (or solid healthy fat)
1 Cup Carob powder
1 Tbsp Honey
2 Tbsp Vanilla
1/4 Tsp Salt.
Melt coconut oil over very low heat. Remove from heat then stir in the carob, honey, and vanilla. Pour it into a pan, then place into the freezer until solid. Remove and break or cut into the sizes you want. Store in a cool place until you use it. This only takes ten minutes of your own work, and so much better for you and your children, never mind yummy!
Another replacement that has my daughter wild is Hot Carob rather than hot chocolate!
1 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk Powder
1/4 Cup Raw unprocessed Proper Cane Sugar (NOT Rogers Raw)
1/2 Cup Carob Powder
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
All mixed well in a bowl then put into a sealed jar in your pantry for when you need it. Just like Hot chocolate you add it to hot water in the same ratio! Below is shown the slight difference in color of Hot Carob on the left and Hot Chocolate on the right.
These are some of the things that helped my daughter to lower her sugar intake to avoid pain and remove cocoa from her diet entirely. I hope it helps you if you need any of these tips.
