— Melissa Myers

I would use maple syrup, or I would use date paste, because earlier when we discussed sugars, um, I like to do what I know. And, uh, it's not that I don't like to try new things, but I know that this amount of maple syrup works perfectly in my pumpkin, um, muffin recipe. And I always say to go to, uh, Jane Selten has some very, uh, delicious recipes. I've got her cook her and grips cookbook behind me, right where my thumb is pointing. Um, she's an avid baker, she's a really good oil free baker and uses a lot of maple syrup. So, uh, you might wanna try that. And if I move over a little bit, right there is a banana bread I made today. It's called badass banana bread. And, uh, it's very, very good. And I'm gonna take that to my grilling class tonight because you can grill, um, banana bread on a grill and have it as a dessert with, um, some banana ice cream, or I actually made a strawberry coolie to go with it, uh, with some fresh mint. So, yes, work, find what works for you. And, um, you know, uh, for people who aren't plant-based, they really are addicted to sugar, whoops, tables bouncing. They really are addicted to sugar. And, um, we all have to move them further away from that. And I'm just gonna share one quick story with you. Um, I'm working with a group of senior citizens, uh, at a health center in Philadelphia. Uh, most of them were referred to me by their physicians because they have lifestyle related conditions like hypertension, type two diabetes, et cetera. So I always start out, my first class was giving everyone a small mason jar and we make overnight oats in class, and then they take them home. So I said to them, I would love to see what you have for breakfast. Send me your photo. And I was so glad that this woman sent the photo, but my heart was a little broken because there was her bowl of overnight oats, which she really liked, and then next to it were about four or five prescription medicine bottles. And I thought, oh, wow, I would really love to throw away some of those medication bottles so that this lovely woman will call her Peggy, so that Peggy would, would understand the benefits of following a whole food plant-based diet. So anyway, um, that's just my, my little, uh, um, soap box about that. But she enjoyed not having an oatmeal that wasn't sweetened with lots of sugar. Instead, we used mashed bananas, put the bananas on the bottom, then the oatmeal, and then more fruit on top so that the sugar from the bananas at the bottom also infiltrates up.