It’s now holiday season and let’s face it, no season is complete without cookies!
But before you grab a popular pre-made cookie dough brand, take a moment to reevaluate your perception on cookies. Sure, cookies are generally not the most “healthy” food on the market, but the quality of the ingredients in your cookies can be the difference between a semi-nutritious treat or a downright harmful threat to your health.
If you go with a famous cookie dough brand like Betty Crocker, Nestle or even Ghirardelli you may be surprised to see a number of low quality and harmful ingredients in the mix: Bleached Wheat Flour, Corn Syrup, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate and more…
Who needs that?
Thankfully, there are superior options available that you can feel better about consuming.
| Simple Mills Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix – $7.99 | VS | Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix – $1.66 |
| Flour (Made with: Almond Flour & Organic Coconut Flour) | Bleached Wheat Flour (Enriched with: Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid) | |
| Chocolate Chips (Made With: Cane Juice, Cocoa Liquor & Cocoa Butter) | Chocolate Chips (Made With: Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin & Vanilla) | |
| Organic Coconut Sugar | Sugar (Made with: Sugar, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup) | |
| Tapioca | Palm Oil | |
| Baking Soda | Baking Soda & Sodium Aluminum Phosphate | |
| Sea Salt | Salt | |
| Natural Flavors | ||
| *Verified Non-GMO | *Partially produced with Genetic Engineering |
And the differences between these two batters go far beyond the label…
Better Ingredients, More Nutrients
Simple Mill’s Cookie Mix contains nearly half the amount of sugar and carbohydrates, double the amount of protein and much less sodium than you’ll find in Betty Crocker’s mix.
Furthermore, the more nutritious flour used in Simple Mill’s mix allows for a greater amount of nutrients present in your holiday treats (Hint: Santa is trying to get fit this season). For instance, fiber intake is crucial in maintaining healthy cholesterol levels and fiber is completely absent in bleached flour.
Substituting enriched wheat flour with Almond or Coconut Flour (or a mix of both) not only means a naturally-gluten free treat but also means more nutrients like Calcium, Vitamin E, Copper, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese. These nutrients are either absent from popular mixes or enriched to add them into to carbohydrate-dense flour that has been bleached to achieve a lighter color.
Go Filler Free
The reality is that cookies can absolutely be sweet without cheap filler ingredients. When you eliminate ingredients like white sugar, corn syrup, natural flavors and soy lecithin from your diet, not only are you eliminating unnecessary calories, but you are eliminating ingredients that have been proven to be detrimental to your health.
Processed sugar and corn syrup have been repeatedly linked to playing a role in obesity, diabetes, cognitive decline and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Why risk your health with these low quality ingredients?
With the limited research we have on the long-term consumption of genetically modified foods, it definitely doesn’t hurt to lead a diet limited in potentially harmful foods grown through the use of synthetic chemicals.
Organic Opulence’s Pick
Don’t wait to make your new year’s resolutions a reality! Start with simple steps like upgrading your most “unhealthy” holiday foods to nutritious ones!
If you’re someone who takes pride in making homemade cookie dough and don’t see the need to go the gluten free route, there are plenty of organic alternatives to commonly used bleached flour, white sugar and conventional milk & butter that you can use to upgrade the ingredients in your cookies. Share your favorite recipes in the comments.
For those looking for a quick and nutritious alternative to popular cookie dough brands; Simple Mill‘s offers a great mix that is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth this holiday season.
You can find them at most health food grocers nationwide or through online stores like, Thrive Market.
For more information regarding the topics discussed in this article, feel free to visit the following resources:
METABOLIC EFFECTS OF FRUCTOSE AND THE WORLDWIDE INCREASE IN OBESITY
A SWEET PROBLEM: PRINCETON RESEARCHERS FIND THAT HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP PROMPTS CONSIDERABLY MORE WEIGHT GAIN
THE FLAVORISTS: TWEAKING TASTE AND CREATING CRAVINGS
LONG-TERM BLOOD CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING EFFECTS OF A DIETARY FIBER SUPPLEMENT
