Processed food can be any natural food that has undergone freezing, canning, baking, or drying. Store bought foods can vary in its degree of processed state, which can make choosing the healthier option challenging by posing the question “how healthy is it really?” On the other hand, marginally processed foods can serve as great companions to cooking and baking with unprocessed fresh products, making the consumption of unprocessed foods an appetizing experience.

Consider the Peanut Butter & Date Energy Bites & Chocolate Fudge Brownies. The dates, peanut butter, peanuts, raw cacao powder and vegan dark chocolate have all been exposed to different processing methods, but it has been done in a way that still maintains most of the ingredient’s valuable nutrients. The dates still maintain many of its natural sugars (fructose & glucose) making the addition of extra sugar to the recipe unnecessary.

Peanut butter is an ideal low carbohydrate ingredient and the oleic acid in peanuts improve insulin sensitivity and the resveratrol in peanuts may reduce heart disease. Sublime with Lime specifically makes use of high oleic acid peanut butter that is sourced from quality suppliers. Compared to other plant sources peanut butter furthermore has a high protein content and has a high Vitamin E and B3 and B6 content.

Another example is the raw cacao as opposed to regular cocoa used in conventional baking. The raw cacao contains more flavonoids (anti-oxidants), magnesium and soluble fiber because more of the whole bean is intact. Raw cacao therefore reduces gut inflammation.