high antioxidant, low fodmap sweet potato pecan brownies
I’m going to be honest with you - I didn’t have high hopes for these brownies.
I’ve made sweet potato brownies before based on other people’s recipes and I was never that into them, and so I wanted to give my own a whirl, especially as sweet potatoes are on my list for autumn-inspired ingredients.
I had intended to make these really decadent to try and avoid the falling into the trap of the ones I tried before, but honestly, I felt like the ingredient list was just too long and would overwhelm those of you who aren’t feeling well but really want an autumnal treat. So I scaled it right back, and was fully prepared to warn you that these were going to be very healthy tasting brownies.
How wrong I was.
I know I said this the last time I made brownies, but these brownies have topped the best brownies I’ve ever made list, and Chris is in agreement.
They are insanely rich and dark, and so fudgy they almost have a ganache like texture.
The best bit is they’re made with whole foods, one veg, one fruit, two types of nuts, and a healthy dose of rich dark cacao and dark chocolate, offering you a host of polyphenols, fibre, vitamins, minerals, protein and slow release carbs.
These sweet potato pecan brownies are…
Better for blood sugar to stabilise hormones, reduce PMS and lower oxidative stress.
Blood sugar spiking foods such as high sugar foods and processed foods can potentially contribute to more PMS, menstrual pain and endo pain. Blood sugar spikes increase oxidative stress, which leads to more inflammation in the body and that may trigger further pain and symptoms. In fact, oxidative stress is higher in people with endo, and it’s a key driver of endo growth.
Whilst I love brownies, I don’t love the added sugar content so for this recipe, I have focused on the presence of healthy fats (from the almond butter and pecans), fibre (almond butter, pecans, dates, sweet potato and cacao) and protein (pecans, almond butter and cacao), which have all been shown to help stabilise ground blood sugar levels and slow down the uptake of glucose/starch from our food (dates, dark chocolate and sweet potatoes in this case) to our blood stream, preventing blood sugar spikes. In fact, just one quarter of the batch gives you around 8g of protein and 9g of fibre.
One of the easiest ways for us to support our blood sugar is to opt for whole food carbohydrates, such as dates, instead of sugar or maple syrup, as I have done here. Whole foods still contain their fibre, which helps slow down digestion and the resulting absorption of glucose to the blood stream, creating a steady drip rather than a flood.
Another great way to support blood sugar is with lower glycemic index foods, and every ingredient in this recipe, is low to moderate on the glycemic index scale (yep, even sweet potatoes!). The glycemic index is a tool that looks at foods and the impact they can have on your blood sugar, on a scale of 0-100. A high GI index would be 70 and above, a medium GI is 56-69 and a low GI index is 55 or less. High GI foods are very likely to spike your blood sugar levels and do so quickly, foods with a medium GI rating tend to cause a moderate rise and low GI foods tend to keep blood sugar levels stable and steady over time with a gentle rise. This is because low GI foods break down slowly in the gut because they are rich in fibre and slow release carbohydrates, this means that the release of glucose to the blood stream is slow and gradual.
A quick word about dates: Dates have a low to moderate glycemic index, which means they shouldn’t cause a dramatic or quick rise in blood sugar. However, research has shown that individual blood sugar responses vary from person to person, and if you eat a lot of even a low glycemic index food, it may have a greater impact on your blood sugar levels because you’re eating more in one sitting. You can learn about this here. Therefore, I’ve kept the date amount to 100g for the whole batch, resulting in 16g per serve, which is about one small medjool date.
To counteract the impact of the naturally occurring sugar in the dates, I’ve also intentionally used almond butter, pecans and cacaoin this recipe to further support blood sugar.
Nuts have been shown to have a positive effect on blood sugar, and whilst less attention has been focused on cashews in the research, they are rich in healthy fats, fibre and protein, which have all been shown to help stabilise blood sugar levels and slow down the uptake of glucose from our food to our blood stream, preventing blood sugar spikes.
Almonds have been shown in the research to be one of the most beneficial nuts. One study showed that almonds significantly reduced the increase in glucose levels following a high glycemic food like white bread (high glycemic means this food tends to spike blood sugar levels, learn more here). Another study found that 28g almonds (which is about a serving of almonds/handful) reduced the blood sugar spike in healthy individuals from a high glycemic meal of a bagel, juice and butter.
Pecans can also support healthy blood sugar levels. One intervention study found that 4 weeks of a pecan rich diet improved insulin sensitivity and fasting insulin levels.
And what may surprise you is that cacao can also improve our blood sugar response! A high cacao content chocolate eaten before a glucose challenge (when people drink a large amount of glucose to test blood sugar responses) was shown to significantly decrease the blood sugar spike following glucose ingestion.
Constant blood sugar swings can take their toll on hormones, leading to issues like elevated androgens (think testosterone), which can affect ovulation and cycle length. Blood sugar swings may also cause oestrogen excess or dominance and low progesterone if ovulation is interrupted or stopped entirely. Both of these imbalances can cause more PMS, heavier periods, and may also exacerbate endometriosis symptoms.
Additionally, blood sugar balancing treats like this cake can help us out with luteal phase or period cravings. When we’re in our luteal phase, we often experience more blood sugar swings because oestrogen, which dominates in our follicular phase, helps us to regulate our blood sugar response, but is lower in the luteal phase. As a result, we tend to get cravings for sweet foods or foods high in starch. The problem is, these foods keep us on a blood sugar rollercoaster, and raise inflammation levels, resulting in more of those inflammatory symptoms and pain that we’re trying to avoid. These brownies, being lower in sugar and rich in fibre, can help us get our fix without the pain and PMS triggering spikes.
Finally, blood sugar swings are linked heavily with mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, so if you struggle with low moods in your luteal phase, supporting blood sugar can actually support your mental health.
Now, let’s be clear before we wrap up this section. I am not saying you have to avoid sugar or refined carbs for the rest of your life, but if like me, you enjoy a sweet treat as a snack or after dinner, it can help to make these regular goodies a bit more blood sugar balancing, so that we’re looking after ourselves on a day to day basis.
Rich in prebiotics and polyphenols to help heal the endo belly and reduce systemic inflammation.
The latest data shows that 96% of UK adults are getting less than the recommended 30g fibre a day. That’s not great for our guts, which rely on fibre to thrive, and people with endo need extra gut support already (as you’ll come to learn shortly) so a lack of fibre isn’t going to help the situation (though you may find you need to tailor your fibre sources if you have IBS or SIBO).
A serving of this recipe (1/6th) provides around 9g of fibre!
Additionally, a major study of 10,000 people found that eating 30 or more plant foods a week helps to create a healthier and more diverse microbiome. This recipe offers you around 5 of your 30 already, and with herbs, spices, olive oil, fruits, veggies, beans/legumes, teas and coffee and whole grains all counting, you can easily top up your levels further. For extra guidance on how to reach your 30 a week, check out this article by The Gut Health Doctor or this one by Zoe.
And thanks to our specific ingredients of pecans, dates, almonds, chocolate/cacao and sweet potatoes this recipe is also a good source of polyphenols. In fact, pecans are one of the richest sources of polyphenols we can eat!
Polyphenols are types of antioxidants found in certain plant foods that not only reduce inflammation levels and improve overall health, but they are also an absolute favourite food (prebiotic) for our gut microbiome, which means they can support our good gut bugs to thrive.
But why does this matter for us endo folk?
Research is finding a strong correlation between microbiome disturbances and endometriosis development, such as reduced levels and variety of good gut bugs and higher levels of pathogenic (bad, infectious), opportunistic (in high numbers, can cause problems like inflammation) gut bugs, as well as gut bugs linked to elevated oestrogen levels. These microbiome differences have also been associated with higher IL-8 levels, a type of inflammatory cytokine shown to be involved in the development of endometriosis.
Polyphenols and prebiotic fibre are like gut bug boosters - the more we provide to our good gut bugs, the more they grow and outnumber the bad guys. This helps to bring the gut back into harmony, which can improve gut symptoms and intestinal inflammation and whilst we need to do more research, could even help us fight endo.
These prebiotic fibres help us to increase our production of gut friendly fats, called short chain fatty acids, which are made when good bacteria consume fibre. Research shows that people with endo may be low in short chain fatty acids and that this may be linked to endo pathogenesis, so by improving our fibre levels, we may actually be improving some of our defences against endo.
A good source of hormone and endo supportive vitamins and minerals.
Amongst several other micronutrients (there are so many goodies in this!), these brownies are a good source of vitamin A, magnesium, iron, zinc, and a little folate and B6 vitamin.
Vitamin A
Various studies have shown an association between low vitamin A intake and endometriosis risk. Researchers believe that low vitamin A levels may be involved in the pathogenesis (development) of endo, as the active form of vitamin A has anti-prolific and anti-oestrogenic properties, halting growth of endo tissue. Whilst there are other factors that could be affecting our levels of active vitamin A, nutritional intake is one of them and the research has shown that these levels can be altered, having a significant impact on oxidative stress markers in the body and in the pelvic area, due to vitamin A’s antioxidant properties.
Magnesium
Research has shown magnesium to be an effective treatment in preventing dysmenorrhea (period pain) because it reduces inflammatory prostaglandins that are the drivers of both endo and period pain. One study showed that six months of magnesium treatment reduced prostaglandin F2a by over half! In fact, in recent research, magnesium is being explored as a dietary treatment for endo and a higher intake of magnesium rich foods was associated with a lower risk of endo. Additionally, magnesium helps to regulate our sex hormones, and as result, is a recognised treatment for preventing PMS.
Iron
Iron deficiency is extremely common in general, but even more so in people with heavy menstrual bleeding and even more so in endo, with a recent major study of over 43,000 endo patients finding that we have a six-fold higher odds of iron deficiency.
Iron plays a major role in preventing fatigue, and yet many of the clients who I work with, come to me with significantly low levels. Supporting healthy iron absorption and intake is a key part of beating endo fatigue and recovering from heavy blood loss and low levels can cause brain fog, extreme tiredness, heart palpitations, dizziness, muscle weakness and depression to name a few.
Healthy iron levels are also essential for ovarian function, which is key to producing healthy amounts of sex hormones and low levels are associated with menstrual irregularities and fertility problems. Additionally, low iron levels are linked to ADHD development and can worsen ADHD symptoms, and ADHD is a condition which many people with endo struggle with.
Whilst heme iron (found in animal products and spirulina) is the easiest form of iron to absorb, we can also top up our iron levels with non-heme iron rich foods, found in plants. Ideally, pair with a vitamin C food like berries, to aid absorption, as non-heme iron can be difficult for our body to absorb, but vit C has been shown to aid this process.
Zinc
Low levels of zinc have been linked to endo, and research has shown it can significantly reduce period pain thanks to its anti-inflammatory benefits. It additionally supports follicle development and ovulation, while deficiency has been linked to infertility.
Folate
Folate is crucial to ovarian function and ovulation, and low folate levels can cause irritability, mood swings and fatigue, and fertility problems.
B6
B6 is one of the most important B vitamins for balanced hormones as it supports progesterone production and oestrogen metabolism. Additionally, research has shown that B6 treatment can help reduce PMS, especially the mood challenges that can come with the syndrome.
IMPORTANT NOTES TO HELP YOU TAILOR THIS RECIPE TO YOUR OWN BODY AND NEEDS (AND TASTEBUDS!)
Everything you’ve said about blood sugar and processed foods, does that mean I can never have my favourite treats again?
Absolutely not. I am all for ‘worth it moments’. Enjoy our fav foods, whatever they are, in moments when we really desire them. But I am a health coach, and my goal is to minimise your symptoms and lower things like oxidative stress and inflammation that could contribute them, so I am going to encourage snacking smarter and leaning on healthier treats on a day to day basis, and that’s way these recipes are for. So you can have your cake, and eat it!
Is this low FODMAP?
Yes!
Can I make this nut free?
You can use sunflower seed butter for the brownie mix and leave out the pecans.
Is this recipe suitable for SIBO?
Everyone’s triggers vary with SIBO, but as this recipe is low FODMAP, it should be better tolerated (in theory), but see what works best for you.
Further resources
If you’re struggling with your endo symptoms or gut health, you might find my courses and one to one coaching helpful. You can find out more here. I’ve also got endless podcast episodes on endometriosis and SIBO.
high antioxidant, low fodmap sweet potato pecan brownies
Ingredients:
Brownie batter
200g cooked sweet potato (use 300g when raw to be safe)
120g nut butter (almond or cashew work best)
100g medjool dates
50 cacao or cocoa powder
Mix ins
40g pecans
40g 90% dark chocolate
Makes: 6 brownies
Prep time: 20 mins
bake time: 25-27 mins
Method
Weigh out about 300g of sweet potatoes.
Wash, and pierce multiple times with a fork, and then microwave on high for about 10 minutes, until the centre is almost done i.e. if you cooked for 1-2 minutes longer, the flesh would be completely cooked and soft, so stop cooking when there’s still a slight bite left (basically, if you were eating the potato for your lunch, you would think it’s totally edible but could have done with a little longer). If you don’t have a microwave, I recommend you buy pre-chopped sweet potatoes, and the steam until soft.
Remove from the microwave and scoop out the soft flesh from inside the sweet potato.
Destone the dates and blend the sweet potato, dates, cacao powder and nut butter in a food processor until smooth.
Roughly chop the pecans and dark chocolate. You can either stir these through immediately but work quickly, as the batter will be warm and if you stir too much, the chocolate will just melt. Or, pop your batter in the freezer for 10-15 to cool down and then add the pecans and dark chocolate. Alternatively, leave the chocolate in the freezer for 30n minutes before using, so it doesn’t melt as quickly when it hits the warm batter.
Scoop into a lined loaf tin and spread to even out, then bake for 25-27 minutes. The brownies should feel soft to touch but the outside should no longer look wet or glossy, and the edges should be set.
Remove from the tin, and leave to cool on a cooling rack for an hour, before refrigerating. However, these can be eaten warm, but the rich, fudgy texture improves with chilling.
Slice into six squares and sprinkle with sea salt to serve.
Endo of summer special offer - if you’ve got half way through the year and endo has taken much of that time from you, I’m offering £500 off my 12 session 1:1 coaching or £250 off the six session coaching. Learn more about coaching here.
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These are some of my favourite brands…
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Need more help or want to learn how to work with me?
Ways to work with me:
One to one coaching info and application
Live and Thrive with Endo 2.0 DIY online course
Endo Sessions: Single and mini-package one to one endo coaching
SIBO Sessions: Single and mini-package one to one SIBO coaching
Masterclasses in endo nutrition, surgery prep and recovery and pain relief
This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast digital cookbook
Free resources:
This podcast!