How to make guilt-free festive truffles - with benefits!

This is a very quick and easy recipe for indulgent but healthy truffles!  They are sugar free, dairy free, gluten free and raw, so even if you have a food allergy or intolerance, you can probably eat these. They also make perfect presents to take when visiting friends or family (especially those who are pregnant – read more below) over the festive season.  So here’s how to make them…

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Ingredients:
15 dates (stoned)
4 tbsp gluten free oats
2 tbsp dessicated coconut
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp cacao powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 shot cold decaffeinated coffee or a tbsp of your favourite liqueur (optional) or some grated orange zest

Method:

• Mix all ingredients together – either in a food processor (I LOVE my Magimix, 12.5 years old and still going strong...) or by hand with a bit of elbow grease!  It's easier to chop and mash dates on a plate with a fork.
• Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 mins.
• Roll into balls or chop into small chunks.
• Roll them in a dusting of extra cacao powder (or you can use dessicated coconut, or finely chopped nuts if you prefer).
• Enjoy (responsibly!) These are best stored in the fridge to stop them going too gooey…

The health benefits from eating dates include relief from constipation, intestinal disorders, heart problems, anaemia,  sexual dysfunction, diarrhoea, abdominal cancer, and many other conditions. Dates are also good if you are trying to gain weight as they are a good source of sugar, energy and fibre. Dates are rich in several minerals such as calcium, sulphur, iron, sodium, potassium, phosphorous, zinc and magnesium which are all beneficial for health. They also contain vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin A and vitamin K.

In 2011, a study was published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology entitled “The effect of late pregnancy consumption of date fruit on labour and delivery”. Researchers at Jordan University of Science & Technology investigated the effect of date fruit consumption on labour parameters and birth outcomes. Over the course of 11 months, two groups of women were enrolled in a study where 69 women consumed six date fruits per day for 4 weeks prior to their estimated date of delivery, versus 45 women who consumed none. These women were matched so there was no significant difference in gestational age, age and parity (the number of times a woman has brought a pregnancy to viable gestational age) between the two groups.

The results of the date intervention were reported as follows:

• Improved cervical dilation – the women who consumed date fruit had significantly higher average cervical dilatation upon admission compared with the non-date fruit consumers (3.52cm vs 2.02cm)
• Less damage to membranes – the intervention group had a significantly higher proportion of intact membranes (83% vs 60%)
• More natural spontaneous labour – spontaneous labour occurred in 96% of those who consumed dates, compared with 79% women in the non-date fruit consumers
• Fewer drugs required –  use of prostin/oxytocin was significantly lower in women who consumed dates (28%), compared with the non-date fruit consumers (47%)
• Shorter labour – the average latent phase of the first stage of labour was shorter in women who consumed date fruit compared with the non-date fruit consumers (510 min vs 906 min - that's a difference of almost 400 minutes which is almost 7 hours. That's a HUGE reduction in time!)

The researchers concluded “that the consumption of date fruit in the last 4 weeks before labour significantly reduced the need for induction and augmentation of labour, and produced a more favourable, but non-significant, delivery outcome. The results warrant a randomised controlled trial.”
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Although this was quite a small study, I think the results are fascinating. So if you have any friends or family members in the last few weeks of pregnancy, knock up a batch of these truffles and take them round! You could have a dramatic impact of their experience of labour.