I’m always on the hunt for gut-friendly foods made with high-quality ingredients…and even more so when they’re low carb and keto friendly 🙂 A couple of weeks ago, I took an honest look at what I’ve been eating for the past 6-9 months. And the truth is, when I’m following an alternate day fasting schedule, I can tolerate a much wider variety of foods than I ever could before (excluding my pre-Crohn’s days…I could eat anything before IBD came into my life!).
So, for much of this past year, I’ve been enjoying more vegetables (things like potatoes and corn…I still find the starchy vegetables easier to digest), started reaching for crackers when I craved a snack or something crunchy, and even began baking my own bread. I’ve said before, I love food, so when I was able to expand my diet without suffering from Crohn’s symptoms, I did.
One thing that really made me look at what I was eating however, was how I’d been feeling for the past few months. I just couldn’t shake a certain level of fatigue and I was getting frustrated with myself that even after all these years, I still couldn’t stop myself from turning a few crackers with my cheese and wine into a whole box of crackers…
So, I went ahead and re-committed myself to a low-carb, ketogenic diet. Low carb is nothing new to me, I’ve been on some version of a low-carb diet for about 90% of the time since the late 1990s. I like having boundaries with food and I feel better overall, so it’s a win-win for me. One thing I tend to crave when I eat low carb, however, is the crunch and texture of certain foods.
This is where Uplift Food currently comes into the picture.
A few weeks ago, Uplift Food reached out to me and asked me to try their Gut Happy Cookies in exchange for an honest review. After I went to their website and researched the product, I was definitely interested. For starters, I have a sweet tooth and I love foods that have a shortbread kind of flavor and texture, but then I saw the ingredients and was shocked and excited to see lupin flour as the first on the list.
If you’ve never heard of lupin flour or lupin beans, you’re not alone…I only first heard about them myself just two months ago when I was trying to get creative and bake low-carb bread; that’s when I stumbled upon lupin flour. Low in carbs, I quickly learned that lupin beans are nutritious, devoid of starch, contain prebiotic fibers, and are even called the latest protein-rich superfood by some. The only problem I found with cooking with lupin flour, however, is that it has a strong nutty flavor and working it into recipes is a challenge. Needless to say, my bread didn’t turn out, but from then on, I’ve been on the lookout for products made with lupin flour; so the timing on discovering the Gut Happy Cookies seemed like it was meant to be!
Long story short, I love these cookies and I just placed an order yesterday to purchase two boxes (yes, the samples were sent to me with a request that I post an Instagram photo/review, but I bought two boxes because I really do love them). They also don’t upset my sensitive, Crohn’s-Diseased digestive system and they are filled with lots of gut-friendly ingredients. 👍
There are three flavors of the Gut Happy Cookies, but the sunflower butter with vanilla and chia are my favorite, followed by the salted almond butter with vanilla and chia. The cookies have a slightly sweet taste with a hint cinnamon and slight nutty flavor. Honestly, I think it’s the perfect level of sweetness because for me, whenever I eat something that is outright sweet, I just crave more of it and can’t bring myself to stop. So, this is the perfect amount of sweetness combined with a shortbread-like texture for the cookie and a nice Oreo-style cream filling that meets all my taste sensation needs.
The Gut Happy Cookies are made with high-quality, simple ingredients; are low in carbs (thank you lupin flour!); AND contain resistant starch along with four different prebiotic-rich plant-based ingredients (together with 1 Billion CFU (colony forming units) of effective probiotics) that support gut, digestive and immune health.
So if your mouth has started watering by now, I definitely encourage you to go check them out and give them a try for yourself! There’s even a sample 3-pack if you’re not sure which one to try. Happy eating!