Love Nutella? Here’s Why You Should Never Eat It And Opt For A Healthier Alternative Recipe

Nutella was a pantry staple of mine for many years, until I started to learn more about nutrition and how to decipher labeled ingredients.

In theory Nutella is pretty healthy, chocolate has been shown to release happy hormones in the brain along with other benefits. Hazelnuts are high in vitamin E, various minerals such as magnesium and essential fatty acids.

Then there’s skim milk which many people have been led to believe is a healthy food for strong bones and teeth.

No wonder people are giving their children Nutella sandwiches for lunch, thinking it’s a healthy treat. But when you find out what’s really in that jar of chocolate hazelnut spread, you may think twice about eating Nutella.

What’s Really In My Nutella?

Sugar

It’s no surprise that the number one ingredient in Nutella is refined sugar. A whopping 21 grams in 2 Tbs! This is equivalent to an Oh Henry bar or three lollipops.

There aren’t many people who would eat lollipops and candy bars for breakfast. One mother even sued the company for making claims that Nutella is a healthy whole food to feed her daughter.

On top of the heinous amount of sugar, they aren’t even using real sugar.

Genetically modified sugar beets are a cheap sweetener that many big companies use to save money.

Independent studies show major health implications from GMO “frankenfoods”, such as digestive problems, liver and kidney toxicity, and in the case of sugar beets, increased risk of diabetes .

Palm Oil

Palm oil is a controversial ingredient as its production is unsustainable and destroying important and fragile ecosystems.

Though it is a healthy saturated fat (which is fine if consumed in moderation), the method of procuring it involves unsavory practices like massive deforestation, indigenous rights abuses and animal cruelty.

The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) states that the equivalent of 300 football fields of rainforest are cleared every hour to make way for more palm oil production.

Soy Lecithin

This ubiquitous ingredient is present in nearly all processed food. A by-product of soy oil production, soy lecithin is used as an emulsifying agent.

Soy is another one of those pseudo health foods touted by the FDA to be part of a healthy diet. What they’ve failed to realize is nearly all soy is genetically modified, and it’s a substance with markedly high levels of xenoestrogens.

These xenoestrogens are part of the reason reproductive cancer rates are soaring, they can cause low levels of testosterone in men, early onset of puberty, thyroid problems and more.

The soy industry has to be one of the sneakiest out there. Nearly all commercial livestock in North America are fed GMO soy.

We are only beginning to see the implications of this food in our society. Bottom line, soy is in most processed food, make your own goodies and you won’t have to worry about it.

Vanillin

Vanillin is an artificial flavoring agent made entirely from chemicals devised in a lab to trick your taste-buds into believing it’s the real thing.

Corporations save big money using fake additives like these. This chemical food is highly addictive, the excitatory qualities of vanillin throw your brain cells into overdrive, causing a short term boost in serotonin only to knock you to the ground ten minutes later. Vanillin is a neurotoxin and you are far better off using real vanilla.

A Few More Things To Pay Attention To

Hazelnuts

One of the oldest crops known to man, hazelnuts originated near the Black Sea. Today they’re grown commercially in Canada, U.S and Turkey.

Hazelnuts are full of nutrients as I’ve mentioned in my post about the health benefits of nuts and seeds, but most often they are sprayed with pesticides.

When buying hazelnuts try and source organic nuts free of pesticide contamination.

Cocoa

Although cocoa is very healthy, and I’ve already written a post about the health benefits of cocoa, in some cases, workers in the cocoa industry are paid next to nothing. So it’s best to buy organic and fair trade cocoa and chocolate.

According to my research, Nutella does not use fair trade cocoa.

Skim Milk

For decades, high milk consumption has been recommended for the prevention of osteoporotic fractures. But as time went on, its health benefits were questioned. Many nutritional experts became cautious about milk, especially when consumed in large quantities.

Heard enough about all the junk in this “healthy” spread? Isn’t it a bit nuts to claim such a slew of industrial by-products and 12 chocolate bars worth of sugar per jar could ever be touted as a healthy breakfast or snack.

Especially to be pushing such a dishonest agenda towards parents of young children. Even if you love Nutella, try making your own!

You’ll see just how easy it is to make a delicious chocolate hazelnut spread from real wholesome ingredients.

How to Make Your Own Nutella

nutella

Ingredients

1½ C roasted hazlenuts

2 Tbs cacao powder or paste (melted)

2 Tbs coconut oil, melted

⅓ C raw honey

½ tsp sea salt

¼-1/3 C water

Instructions

1. In a high powered blender or food processor, add hazelnuts and process until they start to form a smooth nut butter. You can add a bit of water here to get things moving.

2. Use a double boiler method to melt the coconut oil and cacao paste, stir in the honey and add this liquid to the hazelnuts.

3. Add salt, blend everything together until super smooth, adding water as you go to achieve desired consistency.

8 Signs Your Partner Is With You Because Of Love (Not Just Sex)

Relationships. You never know for sure if it’s going the right way, but you know that you want it to work out. Unfortunately, many guys and girls end up in relationships that involve unrequited love, abuse, disrespect, and just toxic behavior that leads nowhere.

It’s true – there will always be people who will want to be with you for a personal gain – sex, money, having a babysitter, or just using you for the status called ‘relationship.’ These relationships take the best of us.

In such relationships, you will find yourself struggling and you will continue with the struggle even when you get out. You simply find people hard to believe after spending time with someone who didn’t love you at all and simply used you.

However, not everyone is like this. There are people who still believe in being with someone because of love, and you are sure that someone is truly in love when you see how dedicated they are to the relationship.

So, how can you know if someone is in for the love, and not just for sex?

1. They are genuinely interested in your life and well-being

A person who is with you just for the sex won’t care too much about your life and your well-being. They might show concern if you have gained a few pounds (and might even ghost you for this), but they will never try to learn what led you to that state.

If someone is truly in love with you, they will be interested in everything about you; they will truly care about what is happening to you, how your day was, and they will never spend a day without asking if everything is alright with you.

Even if they are not so much on the ‘wordy’ side, they will show this genuine care and interest in every possible way they know and can.

2. They tend to you when you are sick

Your only-interested-in-sex lover will be disgusted by your pale face and stuffed nose if you get sick. In fact, they will wish you to get better and they might be frustrated that you can’t pay attention to them because of your situation.

However, a person who is with you for the love will try to cancel every arrangement they had and tend to you. They will run with the tissues after you and they will fetch medications from the pharmacy at any time. They simply care about you and they will do everything to make you feel better.

3. You are on top of their priorities

Not only when you’re not feeling well – a person in love will always have you on top of their priorities. Since when are the friends more important than you?

You may both like to have some nights out with friends, but that person will never put others in your place.

If you are with someone who’s in just for the sex, they will be done with you the moment you’ve had your ‘fun time’ and they’ll run after their priorities.

This is not the case with a person in love – in fact, they don’t prioritize sex the way they prioritize you and your place in their life.

4. They will always make time for you

We are all very busy – being busy is what makes us push forward, really. But a person in love will never be too busy when it comes to you. They would even ‘sacrifice’ that little time they have left because they don’t see it as a sacrifice.

Someone who’s just in for the sex won’t have time for you if they’re not in the mood for some ‘play.’ You know that someone loves you when they make time to listen to your silly complaints about trivial things when they make time to come and see you, or at least write a text message.

5. They like talking to you and they show interest

There are so many things that make us who we are – so many trivial things we want to talk about; so many boring situations that seemed stressful for us.

The person who is in just for the sex won’t bother to listen to these things, and they will definitely not talk about such things.

The person in love, on the other hand, will always listen attentively and may even want to try to help you fix some problems (at least in your head).

They enjoy talking to you about stuff, they are interested in what you want to say, and they will always show this.

6. They aren’t afraid to show commitment

Of course, if they are in love, they will never be afraid to talk about commitment and work toward achieving it. If someone is with you for the sex, they will be definitely afraid to think of commitment – they didn’t sign up for that, did they?

A person in love will be proud of the idea that they are committed to you and they won’t be afraid to eliminate all reserves that could replace you.

7. They want to be liked by your friends and family

And they will do everything to show them that they are worthy of being with you. As we all know, the loudest judges about your partners are your closest friends and family because they care about you.

If someone is with you for the sex, they won’t bother to even show up in front of your company, and if they do, they won’t try to communicate too much with them and won’t really care about their opinion about the relationship.

A person in love, though, will be on their best behavior and will show your closest that they are worthy of being around you and that they will never make you feel used or abandoned (at least not on purpose).

8. They are ready to do things they wouldn’t normally do

If you see your partner trying to dance with you with their clumsy feet because you love dancing, or they sing karaoke with you even if they are terrible at it – it’s because they are doing something they wouldn’t normally do.

That is definitely a sacrifice that not many would do, especially not someone who is in just for the sex. If you see your partner doing things that don’t go with their character, and they are doing them for you – it’s because they love you.

If you are with a person like this, keep them close to you and don’t let them go. You may have quarrels, misunderstandings, and tough periods, but you will be able to overcome those challenges because of the love you have for one another.

Stay away from toxic people and respect every breath made out of love. People who aren’t afraid to love will always find someone who will respect their love and love them back.