Hormone Healing Hot Cocoa

‘Tis the season! The most wonderful time of the year…and for me, that means hot cocoa, with marshmallows, thankyouverymuch (more on the marshmallows later)!

>> TLDR; straight to the recipe please, ma’am! 🚂

So what if your (read: my) favorite after-dinner indulgence didn’t have to whack out your hormones, cause a blood sugar spike (and succeeding plummet), make you feel bloated, and inadvertently throw off your night’s sleep?

Well, we think that would be pretty grand. And that’s why I (Dr. K) came up with this recipe! Whether it’s after dinner or after skiing (or after lunch, brunch, seeing patients, or writing a blog…just keeping it real over here), it’s just not the holiday season for me without a steaming cup of chocolatey goodness!

First things first: the inevitable “why can’t I just buy the packets from the store?” question. You know, the ones in the blue box with the little dehydrated marshmallows already in the packet? Well, for a variety of reasons. Here’s five:

1. Corn Syrup

2. Artificial Flavors & Stabilizers (like carageenan)

3. Heavy Metals

4. Lots of Sugar with Zero Protein, Fat, or Fiber

5. Dyes like Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, and Red 40 (like come’on, why is that in my hot chocolate?!)

What do all of these things have in common? They’re inflammatory & neurotoxic ingredients that disrupt your nervous, immune, digestive & endocrine systems - leading all of us further down the path of hormonal imbalance (especially for those of us with conditions like PCOS, insulin resistance, and blood sugar dysregulation).

When clients struggle with metabolic issues (or an autoimmune condition like Hashimoto’s, Diabetes or Crohn’s), balancing blood sugar is a top priority. Our goal is to turn the aggressive spikes and drops in blood glucose into gently rolling hills - the types of blood sugar fluctuations that are normal and are not super damaging to our cells and hormones.

Yes, I’m referring to the blood sugar rush & crash that happens when we do something like go to our favorite chain coffee shop and order a Venti Mocha with Oat Milk in a plastic-coated-interior holiday cup…this is a toxic, blood sugar & hormone bomb, no matter how cute and festive the cup might be.
(Don’t get me started on how bad the cups are for us...)

So if you want to support blood sugar balance, keep your inflammation down, love up your hormones, and avoid the hangry, snarky behavior that follows a blood sugar crash, while still sipping on some hot cocoa this year…try our Hormone Healing Hot Cocoa Recipe!

ps. If you really can’t get on board with the making it from scratch idea, you can jump to our three favorite pre-packaged, on-the-go, sachet hot chocolate brands at the bottom of this article!

Pre-Hot Cocoa Blood Sugar Hack:

Have some fiber, fat & protein…aka: a meal! Drinking hot cocoa (even our healthy, hormone-healing version) on an empty stomach or as a stand-alone snack is still going to spike your blood sugar more than having it as a dessert or an after-lunch treat! This is especially true if you choose to opt out of including collagen, MCT, maca, and/or other sources of fat and protein I like to add to mine - they are key ingredients in the “hormone healing” part of the recipe!

Hormone Healing Hot Cocoa Recipe (5 minutes)

This is my original version, straightforward and easy to concoct!
Keep scrolling & you’ll find a few iterations we’ve tweaked over the years.

Feel free to doctor this one up, or simplify it down - the “Base Ingredients” are your foundation, and from there…have fun and find your favorite blend!

Time: 5-10 minutes

Base Ingredients - One Serving:

• 12oz hot milk (we use A2 full-fat dairy, whole goat milk, coconut milk, or homemade cashew/nut milk)

• 2 TBS organic, unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder

• 1 tsp-1 TBS sweetener, to taste (maple syrup is my personal favorite, other options include organic coconut sugar, local honey, stevia** or allulose*** - notes below this recipe)

• 1 TBS Maca powder (we have two brands we like here if you can’t find some)

• 1 scoop Collagen

• Sea salt - a pinch or about 1/8 tsp, to taste

Optional Add-Ons for an Extra Boost:

• 1 tsp-1 TBP MCT Oil

• cinnamon (for blood sugar support)

• organic vanilla bean powder - a pinch or about 1/8 tsp, to taste

• Adaptogens for a “Chill Out Hot Cocoa” version

  • 1 tsp Ashwagandha

  • 1 tsp Reishi Mushroom (if you really want to up the “chill out” vibes, scroll down to see our Adaptogenic Hot Cocoa recipe)

Prep:

Heat milk, whisk in ingredients, pour into your favorite holiday mug, sip, and enjoy!

If you’d like to check out the ingredients I use, I buy them from our FullScript store here - and we can get (and give) a great discount of 20% or more!

** A note on stevia and allulose: we still don’t have a longitudinal set of research studies on either of these as non-sugar sweeteners, and as such I do my best to not include them in my daily routines. I spend at least 6 hours per week in PubMed and the Cochrane libraries reviewing research on blood sugar, nutrition, metabolism and hormones (and I love it)! If/when we have a more definitive answer I will certainly update.

Adaptogenic Hot Cacao Recipe

Time: 5-10 minutes

Swaps from the Original:

Honestly, this is my go-to…and I just throw every healthy thing I can in my cup and sip to my heart’s delight. The biggest change is that it’s just more of a pain in the butt to include so many ingredients and it is a bit of an investment (lol). Sooo, if you just came here for a non-toxic hot chocolate recipe that won’t inflame you and your family…head on back up my friend - that’s why I put the original first.

BUT, if you’re here to really make a shift in your hormones and health…read on!

Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients - One Serving:

• 12oz hot milk (we use A2 full-fat dairy, whole goat milk, coconut milk, or homemade cashew/nut milk)

• 2 TBS organic, unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder

• 1-2 tsp sweetener, to taste (maple syrup is my personal favorite, followed closely by organic coconut sugar)

• 1 TBS Maca powder

• 3/4 tsp Adaptogen “Balance” Blend from Four Sigmatic (find it here for 20% off)

  • I have many of the “elixir” mixes that I love from Four Sigmatic, but for this purpose the “Balance” is fantastic - it contains Tulsi, Reishi, Ashwaganda, Moringa

• 1 scoop Collagen

• 1 tsp-1 TBP MCT Oil

• sea salt - a pinch or about 1/8 tsp, to taste

• cinnamon (for blood sugar support) - to taste

• organic vanilla bean powder - a pinch or about 1/8 tsp, to taste

Prep:

Heat milk, whisk in ingredients, pour into your favorite holiday mug, sip, and enjoy!

Low Sugar (Blood Sugar Friendly) Hot Cocoa Recipe

Time: 5-10 minutes

Swaps from the Original:

The biggest change in this recipe is swapping out the sweetener (maple syrup, coconut sugar, etc) for an alternate (but never one that contains aspartame or saccharin, eg. Equal, NutraSweet, Sweet-n-Low). However, we also have removed the Maca Root, which is an an adaptogen but also a root, so there is 4g of carbs in it and some of our patients with PCOS and/or who are pre-diabetic and doing their best to balance their blood sugar and insulin may want an option without it - totally your choice.

Many of our patients have reported they like the allulose/monkfruit blend option in this as it gives it a little more substance. We typically use the Lakanto brand, which is easy to find at most health food and grocery stores, or of course on Amazon.

Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients - One Serving:

• 12oz hot milk (we use A2 full-fat dairy, whole goat milk, coconut milk, or homemade cashew/nut milk)

• 2 TBS organic, unsweetened cacao or cocoa powder

• stevia, allulose or monk fruit** (I use the one in this FullScript template when I need allulose)

• 1 scoop Collagen

• 1 tsp-1 TBP MCT Oil

• cinnamon (for blood sugar support)

• Sea salt - a pinch or about 1/8 tsp, to taste

• organic vanilla bean powder - a pinch or about 1/8 tsp, to taste

Prep:

Heat milk, whisk in ingredients, pour into your favorite holiday mug, sip, and enjoy!

** A note on stevia and allulose: we still don’t have a longitudinal set of research studies on either of these as non-sugar sweeteners, and as such I do my best to not include them in my daily routines. They are a great option for the occasional treat, but if I was focusing on adding in a “hormone healing hot cocoa” drink or elixir to support me on a daily basis, I would not choose to have any of these non-nutritive sweeteners included. As always, I keep my nose in the periodicals every week and if/when we have a more definitive answer I will certainly update everyone here!

Bonus: One-Packet Healthy Hot Cocoa

Not the “make it from scratch” type? Mom on the go? Tired human who had a long day and just wants to pour a sachet of something healthy into a mug and enjoy the magic? ✨

We’re with you. For those days (and for ski trips), we keep a few other options handy:

1. Original: Treehouse

   These are some of our favorite options if we’re buying packets of hot chocolate. The quality is much higher than most of what you’ll find on a grocery store shelf and we’ve found them in many grocery stores and you can get them on Amazon if you can’t find them.
   I love all their flavors, the original dark (orange packet) or salted cocoa (blue) are delicious…but my favorite is the coconut (white). I’ll admit it isn’t for everyone - but this is what we take backpacking and the coconut makes it feel so creamy mixed into hot water!

2. Adaptogenic: Four Sigmatic “Calm” Cacao Mix with Reishi

   Four Sigmatic is my go-to brand for adaptogens, it’s the brand I use in my drinks almost daily. I love having both the brain boost and the calming effects together…kind of like magic. Especially for anyone dealing with a lot of stress, symptoms of high cortisol, and metabolic dysfunction…the ‘Balance’ add-in from the above is my fave. However, this section is all about packets. Easy. Grab and go! For that, their Reishi Cacao packets are perfect! They’re also available on the FullScript list I made for this blog, so if you want to stock up before heading to the mountains you can!
   I like this with warm milk/mylk best but they actually do taste good in hot water too, which is great for traveling.
   

3. Salty & Sugar-Free (Stevia Sweetened): LMNT - The Salty Hot Cocoa

   LMNT is an electrolyte brand that decided salt and chocolate really go together. We happen to agree! They have chocolate and caramel chocolate, but each year they rotate out seasonal flavors too. The past two years have been awesome, so the variety pack is what we always go for! We sell them in our brick & mortar locations in Littleton, CO and Sonoma, CA but we don’t have a cool hookup code for you guys to get a discount on them online *wuh wuhh* (we’re sorry). We would still recommend them though and you can buy them through LMNT’s main website. My favorite is the Chocolate Chai, but the Raspberry Chocolate is a close second!
   Pro tip: these are best in warmed/steamed milk (of any variety; except Oat - don’t get me started). LMNT will try to convince you they’re also good in water…maybe even room temperature water. Don’t fall for it! Warm milk/mylk or bust on this one - water need not apply!

Homemade Marshmallows, Dye Free & Pillowy

Every year I say I’m going to adapt my own recipe for these…but then I make this one and they’re AWESOME and I don’t bother. So, check them out on this blog post (click here) from our friends over at Against the Grain!

Danielle Walker’s Homemade Marshmallow Recipe on the ‘Against the Grain’ Blog

The only ingredients are unflavored gelatin, honey, vanilla extract, and water - seriously.

We hope you learned something fun (and tasty)! If you want to be the first to know about future recipes, secret sales, and hormone hacking tips - make sure you’re on our list 👇🏼 for the weekly “Doctor’s Note” drop!