Vegan Almond Banana Bread

Almond Banana Bread | Well and Full | #vegan #recipe

This Vegan Almond Banana Bread is cozy, delicious, and made with healthy, whole food ingredients!

I’ve partnered with One Degree Organics to bring you this delicious recipe today. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Well and Full!

You know a recipe you’ve made is good when someone says, “Hey, this actually tastes like real banana bread!” LOL. Well, I guess that’s a job well done, right? But seriously, I don’t understand the continuing stigma with vegan food. I know there are vegan recipes out there that use ingredients a lot of people aren’t familiar with – like jackfruit, seitan, etc – but for the most part, vegan food is just food. For example, this almond banana bread. Bananas, One Degree Organic’s Sprouted Spelt Flour, maple syrup, coconut oil, nuts. Nothing crazy here! So I would imagine that it does, in fact, taste like “real” banana bread. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In Nutrition News, a new study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that found a correlation between various dietary factors and the incidence of heart disease, Type II Diabetes, and stroke. The study examined the diets of Americans (as recorded in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 1999-2002 and 2009-2012), and looked for a correlation between their diets and the various diseases listed above. Essentially, what the researchers found is that those who consumed higher levels of sodium, processed meat, sugary drinks, and red meat had a higher incidence of the listed diseases. The limitations of this study, of course, should be mentioned – as an observational study, this analysis doesn’t tell us anything about the underlying biochemical mechanisms that caused these results. However, does this mean that this study is worthless? Absolutely not.

I read a Yahoo article discussing this new study, and the comments section was extremely disheartening. Comments ranged from “Nobody dies healthy, so enjoy it while you can,” to “My grandfather ate bacon and butter and he lived until 89, etc. etc.” There are two problems with statements like these. First, diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke don’t happen overnight. In most cases, they are a result of many years of a poor diet coupled with genetic factors. Second, knowing one person who continuously ate the unhealthy foods from the study and turned out fine has no statistical significance. Every single person’s physiology, biochemistry, and genetics are different, which is why scientists perform analyses on large populations of people, not just one person. Furthermore, this study speaks in terms of associations, not inevitabilities. It’s simply saying that if you eat high amounts of sodium, processed and red meats, and sugary drinks, you are statistically more likely to have heart disease, Type II Diabetes, and a stroke.

However, I think there is some merit to the “enjoy it while you can” philosophy. While I’m definitely not recommending for anyone to drink sugary drinks every day and have absurdly high sodium levels, will one Coca-Cola kill you? No way. It’s all about moderation. Eating healthy isn’t about deprivation or being miserable. You have to keep your body and soul happy. So if that means breaking out a bag of chips every once in a while, go for it! Above all, do what’s right for you – and it’s going to be different for every one of us. Just remember, as always, to talk to your doctor before you start any dietary changes!

Almond Banana Bread | Well and Full | #vegan #recipe