Today's theme, as you can see from the article at left, is treating yourself without mistreating your body. Subtitle: Sweets that aren't full of the twin evils of white sugar and white flour.

Patti Spiegelberg's request fit right in: “;Do you have a recipe for mango bread that would use something like whole-wheat flour, no refined sugar and a low-cholesterol oil? Over the years we've used that classic recipe with while flour, refined sugar and corn or Wesson oil, but we're hoping to get a little healthier now days.”;

The solution came from Dorothy Whitaker, who sent the recipe that follows, using wheat germ and bran to boost the whole-wheat flour, plus honey for sweetening and the relatively heart-healthy canola oil.

Whitaker says she and her husband started with a recipe for an Apple-Raisin Muffin from the 1984 “;Rodale's Basic Natural Foods Cookbook.”; The recipe can be used to make a quick-bread loaf or 12 muffins. It produces a moist, flavorful bread with a nice chewiness.

As an experiment, I made mine with olive oil, which is supposed to have cholesterol-lowering properties, just to push the health angle to the max. The results were good, but you're better off with the milder flavor of canola.

I compared the nutritional breakdown to one for a recipe posted at allrecipes.com, which used the usual white flour, sugar, butter and oil. It also used the same mix-ins of nuts, raisins and coconut. As far as calories and fat went, the results were close, but Whitaker's bread had half the saturated fat, much less cholesterol and sodium, and twice the fiber.

A few more notes: Whitaker makes the bread with all the optional mix-ins. And for the bran in the recipe, we're not talking bran cereal. You'll probably need to make a trip to a natural-foods store. Down to Earth sells bran in the bulk bins, so you can buy just what you need. Wheat germ can be found in most supermarkets, but you'll have to buy a whole jar.

Mango Quick Bread

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons wheat germ

2 tablespoons bran

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped mango

» Optional mix-ins:

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-1/2 by 4-1/2-inch loaf pan or 12 cup muffin tin.

Combine eggs, oil, honey and vanilla.

In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients except mango. Stir until just blended. Fold in mango and any of the optional mix-ins. Pour into loaf pan and bake 45 minutes. For muffins, bake 25 minutes.