Hormone Balancing, Iron Replenishing Salted Caramel Truffles

Be prepared. My partner of 12 years who has tried everything I’ve ever whipped up in the kitchen just said these caramel truffles are the best thing I’ve ever made. At different points in the recipe testing process he’s also said:

“I could eat so many of these.”

“They just bring a smile to your face.”

“They’re like little balls of happiness.”

Maybe I’m hyping them up too much - but to me, eating delicious treats that not only taste good, but you know are doing you good too, is like the crème de la crème. And these babies taste really, really good.

What’s even better is that you can bring these to Christmas events where you know you’re going to have sugary delights shoved in your face that might trigger a flare up for you. But because I’ve made these as low sugar as possible, low glycemic and low glycemic load, they’re less likely to trigger a blood sugar spike, which can result in inflammation and a flare of pain.

Plus, I’ve added some special ingredients that can balance your hormones, improve your stress response and help you recover from a heavy period. You’re welcome.

This recipe is:

Prebiotic and endo belly healing:

This recipe is rich with polyphenols from the mulberries, dark chocolate (or carob if you’re using that) and maca, AND contains psyllium husk to improve bowel movements and short chain fatty acid levels (something people with endo can be low in).

Polyphenols are types of antioxidants found in certain plant foods that not only have a profound effect on reducing inflammation levels and improving overall health, but they are also a favourite food for our gut microbiome.

Because people with endo tend to have microbiome dysbiosis, with lower levels of some beneficial bacteria and higher levels of pathogenic (bad) bacteria, feeding our gut bugs is essential to reestablishing balance.

But this isn’t where the magic of polyphenols end. Polyphenols actually can help inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria through various mechanisms, and cacao has exhibited antimicrobial effects against the pathogens we see that are elevated in endo, such as e.coli.

Psyllium powder is a type of fibre which helps to improve both diarrhoea and constipation, but also feeds our good gut bugs and helps to boost short chain fatty acids. Short chain fatty acids are produced when our good gut bugs eat fibre, and these SCFA have protective properties against endo, and in fact, they’re low levels in the endo population are now thought to be involved in its development.

Blood sugar balancing:

This caramel in this recipe is made with dried white mulberries. Most dried fruit spikes blood sugar, but white mulberries are a bit different and have in fact, been shown to have beneficial effects on blood sugar and diabetes. These contain a compound called 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ), which helps regulate blood sugar levels by slowing carbohydrate digestion.

Additionally, I also used a high percentage dark chocolate with a very low amount of sugar per 100g (7g) so ensuring you’re using a low sugar chocolate will further keep the sugar content down. I also added psyllium husk, which is a type of fibre that creates a gel in the gut, and slows down the absorption of glucose. Finally, I added almond butter and coconut oil to add some extra fat and protein, as these two can also slow down the uptake of glucose.

Keeping blood sugar levels stable helps to prevent oxidative stress, which leads to more inflammation in the body and that may trigger further pain and symptoms.

Additionally, 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. You can learn more about blood sugar and endo here, here and here.

According to AI, each serve has a low to moderate glycemic load, which means that it won’t cause a significant spike in blood sugar, and instead, should just create a slow, steady rise - however, remember everyone is different, especially when it comes to blood sugar! You can learn more about the glycemic index and load and how they can help you manage endo here.

Hormone balancing and period supportive:

This recipe contains a small amount of maca. Maca improves hormonal balance by supporting the HPA and HPO axes, and as a result, maca has demonstrated improvements in sex hormones in studies on humans and animals. What’s great about maca is that it isn’t a phytoestrogen so it’s not mimicking the affects of oestrogen, instead, it’s helping your body to work optimally and therefore to make the right amount of hormones for you, whatever your particular struggles or imbalances are. To be clear, I am not suggesting phytoestrogens are ‘bad’ for endo, in fact, they can be helpful, but they don’t always agree with everyone.

Now, if you’re worried about maca because you’ve heard it raises oestrogen, that’s not exactly true. Maca just supports your body to make normal amounts of hormones, but everyone is unique, and whilst many are fine on maca, some feel more oestrogenic. This can be due to the dose, so this recipe has a small introductory dose, which you can increase or reduce (or omit entirely) if you wish! Scroll down to read how to tailor it to you.

You can learn more about maca’s hormone supportive properties here.

This recipe is also a significant source of magnesium and iron.

These truffles contain up to 17% of your daily iron intake from the mulberries, maca and dark chocolate (AI estimation). What’s even better is that the vitamin C in the mulberries actually aids iron absorption. Iron is typically difficult to absorb from plant foods, and pairing with vitamin C aids uptake, so you’re much more likely to reap the benefits of the iron in this recipe!

Low levels of iron are extremely common full stop, but even more so in people with heavy menstrual bleeding. 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 due to having SIBO, avoiding red meat, heavy periods or other reasons. Supporting healthy iron absorption and intake is a key part of beating endo fatigue and recovering from heavy blood loss.

Magnesium helps reduce PMS symptoms, supports healthy oestrogen metabolism (clearance) and is a treatment for period pain, because it lowers prostaglandins, the suckers that drive up menstrual pain.

Adaptogenic:

Maca is an adaptogen herb, which means it helps our bodies to adapt to physical and emotional stressors. Maca does this by acting on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA axis) to promote a more normalised stress response.

The HPA axis is a system between our brain and adrenal glands that controls our stress response and our cortisol and adrenaline output. Maca prevents the overstimulation of the HPA axis, which stops cortisol levels from getting excessively high, but because maca supports the HPA axis to function optimally, if you’re struggling with low levels (which is a problem in the endo community), it can raise them to normal, healthy levels that help you to deal with stress. You can learn more about maca’s adaptogenic properties here.

Anti-inflammatory:

This recipe is rich in polyphenols which are powerful antioxidants, that as we explored earlier, can lower inflammation. But mulberries are also a rich source of vitamin C, and vitamin C is an anti-inflammatory antioxidant that has been shown to reduce inflammatory markers and pain in people with endo and in animals, was shown to shrink endo lesions. Vitamin C also has been shown to raise progesterone levels, which can help counteract the proliferative effects of oestrogen. Of course, you’re not going to get the studied doses from just some caramel truffles, but one serve can potentially provide up to 20% of your RDA, so can really go a way to meeting your daily vit C needs.

Additionally, this recipe may also provide up to 20% of your daily vitamin E requirements. Vitamin E is an antioxidant which can help us fight oxidative stress (a contributor to endo), it’s also been shown to reduce pain, pain duration and blood loss in people with primary dysmenorrhea.

Important notes to help you tailor this toast recipe to your own body and needs (and tastebuds!)

Psyllium husk

Whilst psyllium is an evidenced based tool for constipation and diarrhoea that’s been studied over and over again, it won’t always be right for everyone. That’s particularly true if you have SIBO, as we can sometimes find that even well tolerated fibre may be reactive for some and cause symptoms like bloating and gas. However, the amount of psyllium per serve in this recipe is just 1g, so it really shouldn’t cause you problems and in all honesty, you could eat double or triple servings, and it should be fine, because it’s such a small amount (an average dose is 14g so you can see how tiny this is).

However, if you’re unsure or concerned, read/listen to my podcast episode all about psyllium and how to use it safely for you personally.

Maca

Each serve contains less than 1g of maca, which is a low, often well tolerated dose. In my training, the recommended dose of maca is up to 2g a day, but I know some doctors suggest up to 5g. I absolutely do not recommend jumping in at that level, it’s much better to start slow and low with maca to allow your body to adjust and test your tolerance. That’s why the amount in this is low.

You can increase it 3g to give each serve 1g of maca, if well tolerated, and you can reduce or remove entirely if preferred. The maca does add some caramel flavour, so be aware lowering of increasing will change the taste, but the mulberries make up the bulk of the caramel, so don’t worry too much.

To learn about maca and dosing, head here.

Is this recipe low FODMAP?

Every ingredient is low FOMDAP, other than the mulberries. Mulberries haven’t been tested yet, so we just don’t know. However, the serving size of the mulberries is pretty small, and often the issue comes down to the serving size of FODMAPs, so even if they are high FODMAP, you may find you tolerate these.

If you find you bloat from this recipe or have any intestinal distress, it could be the mulberries, but it could also be any other ingredient you don’t do well with, as we’re all different. Try one truffle only, and see how you respond - it may be that you can eat one at a time, but not two or more in one go.

Further resources

If you’re struggling with your 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 gut health and blood sugar.

To understand more about the low FODMAP diet, start here.

Method:

Pull the stalks off the mulberries if any are present. Soak in boiling water for 1 minute but no longer, as they go too soft too quickly and will be too wet for the recipe. Drain immediately.

Put the mulberries in a food processor and pulse a few times until broken down into almost bread-crumb like pieces.

Add all the ingredients (including salt to taste) except the chocolate, and blend until smooth. There will still be flecks of the mulberry inner stalk in the paste (this creates a slight crunch that is reminiscent of popped rice pieces!), but other than that, it should be smooth.

Place the paste in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up.

Once firm, separate into 6 equal portions and roll between your palms to create even balls.

Freeze for one hour.

Once frozen, gently melt the chocolate either other a double broiler or in the microwave in 10 second blasts. You want the chocolate melted, but still quite thick, not super runny.

One by one, use a cocktail stick to hold the truffle balls (insert into one end) and ‘paint’ the truffles with the chocolate, with a spatula. Top with a little flaky sea salt. The chocolate will firm up almost immediately, so you could put them down on a baking paper, on a plate and return to the freezer, but I prefer to keep them on the sticks and insert into something like a potato to keep their lovely shape. Freeze for 15 minutes.