Addicted to chocolate? Enjoy it the healthy way
Thousands upon thousands of people love chocolate. It’s a modern day fact and the diet of a typical adult now includes chocolate in some form. So instead of telling you that you are not allowed to eat chocolate, we thought we’d give you some tips on how to enjoy it responsibly!
1. Eat chocolate in the morning
This technique is a little like subliminal mind programming and it all relates to biology. When you wake up in the morning, your serotonin levels are highest meaning that your craving levels are at their lowest point. Throughout the day, the serotonin levels reduce and your craving levels for indulgent foods (e.g. chocolate) go up. Eat a small portion of chocolate in the morning when your serotonin levels are highest and chocolate won’t be as satisfying – the effect of this is that whenever you see chocolate throughout the rest of the day, you won’t crave it as much. But remember, only eat a few squares in the morning at most.
2. Eat chocolate with a minimum 70% cocoa
Cocoa is a superfood, hoorah! It’s high in fibre, protein and potassium while having a low sodium content. It’s rammed pack full of healthy antioxidants and mood-boosting compounds. So when choosing your chocolate of choice, go for one with at least a minimum 70% cocoa. There are some chocolate bars that have up to 99% cocoa, but the flavour is intense – perhaps too intense for some. Lindt and Green & Black’s are good choices for dark chocolate, however some manufacturers may reduce the cocoa mass and replace it with cocoa butter so have a quick check of the ingredients. Ingredients are listed in order of mass, so if cocoa butter is the first or second ingredient listed - you should probably avoid it.
3. Eat it with nuts
Unroasted and unsalted nuts make a beautiful pairing with chocolate and the majority of nuts have a superb nutritional value. Purchase the nuts yourself from the whole foods section of your supermarket to ensure the nuts are as healthy as possible and enjoy together. Walnuts and dark chocolate make a good combination.
4. Mix cocoa power in with other foods
Buy yourself some organic cocoa powder and start mixing it in with your home-made healthy recipes. You can easily add cocoa powder to your protein shake, yoghurts, smoothies and porridge amongst others. It means that you can enjoy the chocolate taste but it’s healthy!
5. Avoid white chocolate
At the risk of sounding chocolate-ist, white chocolate should be avoided at all costs. White chocolate is a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter and milk – some people say that because white chocolate contains no cocoa mass, it isn’t real chocolate. Cocoa mass is not found in white chocolate, therefore has significantly less benefits that brown chocolate.
A comparison: Lindt Excellence (85% cocoa) vs. Cadbury Dairy Milk
Take a look at the comparison of nutritional content below and next time you decide to buy chocolate, it may influence your decision.
Values are per 100g. (L) = Lindt chocolate. (C) = Cadbury Dairy Milk.
Calories: (L) 530kcal (C) 525kcal
Protein: (L) 11g (C) 7.5g
Fat: (L) 46g (C) 29.8g
Saturated Fat: (L) 28g (C) 18.5g
Carbohydrates: (L) 19g (C) 57g
Sugars: (L) 14g (C) 56.7g
Fibre: (L) 7g (C) 0.7g
It’s important to mention that because the cocoa content in higher in the Lindt chocolate, a lot of the goodness isn’t quantifiable by a standard nutritional comparison found on the packaging. Cocoa has high levels of antioxidants and the more cocoa mass that remains in the chocolate you eat, the better it will be for you. Note that the fat content is lower in Cadbury Dairy Milk, however the sugar content is a lot higher – keep this in mind, because sugar that your body doesn’t use is easily turned into fat for your body to store.
So, now you have enough information about chocolate to enjoy it responsibly.
Thousands upon thousands of people love chocolate. It’s a modern day fact and the diet of a typical adult now includes chocolate in some form. So instead of telling you that you are not allowed to eat chocolate, we thought we’d give you some tips on how to enjoy it responsibly!
1. Eat chocolate in the morning
This technique is a little like subliminal mind programming and it all relates to biology. When you wake up in the morning, your serotonin levels are highest meaning that your craving levels are at their lowest point. Throughout the day, the serotonin levels reduce and your craving levels for indulgent foods (e.g. chocolate) go up. Eat a small portion of chocolate in the morning when your serotonin levels are highest and chocolate won’t be as satisfying – the effect of this is that whenever you see chocolate throughout the rest of the day, you won’t crave it as much. But remember, only eat a few squares in the morning at most.
2. Eat chocolate with a minimum 70% cocoa
Cocoa is a superfood, hoorah! It’s high in fibre, protein and potassium while having a low sodium content. It’s rammed pack full of healthy antioxidants and mood-boosting compounds. So when choosing your chocolate of choice, go for one with at least a minimum 70% cocoa. There are some chocolate bars that have up to 99% cocoa, but the flavour is intense – perhaps too intense for some. Lindt and Green & Black’s are good choices for dark chocolate, however some manufacturers may reduce the cocoa mass and replace it with cocoa butter so have a quick check of the ingredients. Ingredients are listed in order of mass, so if cocoa butter is the first or second ingredient listed - you should probably avoid it.
3. Eat it with nuts
Unroasted and unsalted nuts make a beautiful pairing with chocolate and the majority of nuts have a superb nutritional value. Purchase the nuts yourself from the whole foods section of your supermarket to ensure the nuts are as healthy as possible and enjoy together. Walnuts and dark chocolate make a good combination.
4. Mix cocoa power in with other foods
Buy yourself some organic cocoa powder and start mixing it in with your home-made healthy recipes. You can easily add cocoa powder to your protein shake, yoghurts, smoothies and porridge amongst others. It means that you can enjoy the chocolate taste but it’s healthy!
5. Avoid white chocolate
At the risk of sounding chocolate-ist, white chocolate should be avoided at all costs. White chocolate is a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter and milk – some people say that because white chocolate contains no cocoa mass, it isn’t real chocolate. Cocoa mass is not found in white chocolate, therefore has significantly less benefits that brown chocolate.
A comparison: Lindt Excellence (85% cocoa) vs. Cadbury Dairy Milk
Take a look at the comparison of nutritional content below and next time you decide to buy chocolate, it may influence your decision.
Values are per 100g. (L) = Lindt chocolate. (C) = Cadbury Dairy Milk.
Calories: (L) 530kcal (C) 525kcal
Protein: (L) 11g (C) 7.5g
Fat: (L) 46g (C) 29.8g
Saturated Fat: (L) 28g (C) 18.5g
Carbohydrates: (L) 19g (C) 57g
Sugars: (L) 14g (C) 56.7g
Fibre: (L) 7g (C) 0.7g
It’s important to mention that because the cocoa content in higher in the Lindt chocolate, a lot of the goodness isn’t quantifiable by a standard nutritional comparison found on the packaging. Cocoa has high levels of antioxidants and the more cocoa mass that remains in the chocolate you eat, the better it will be for you. Note that the fat content is lower in Cadbury Dairy Milk, however the sugar content is a lot higher – keep this in mind, because sugar that your body doesn’t use is easily turned into fat for your body to store.
So, now you have enough information about chocolate to enjoy it responsibly.
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