Chocolate Diet 2

So, you have been indulging in loads of chocolate recently and suddenly found that all your clothes had shrunk. Including the ones you bought a week ago! So, what do you do? A professional dietitian will tell you to dump any leftover chocolate in your house along with other sinfully fattening foods such as chips, candies, sweets, cakes, ice creams, etc. She will probably put you on a strict, low-calorie, low-fat, low-sugar, tasteless food diet which leaves you craving for more of those sinful stuff.

To a chocoholic, like me, dumping the rest of the sinful food is easy but when it comes to chocolate and chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream, I just could not bring myself to it. It is like throwing out my BFF (that’s Best Friend Forever). It is like throwing out my lifeline. It is like throwing out the reasons for living…I am sure you get the picture.

So, what do I do when the scales are moving the wrong side of the spectrum? It is sadly true that I go on a diet too but nothing as restrictive and as boring as a normal diet. I go on my very own ‘custom-made to suit myself’ chocolate diet. And I combine that with exercise and an active lifestyle to get the pounds moving. Or simply to keep the pounds away.

The meal plan of my chocolate diet was mentioned in my first chocolate diet post and to keep from getting bored, I have since changed some of it and incorporated an easy exercise regime to burn off some of the unwanted calories. Here is my very own customized meal plan and fitness regime.

Disclaimer: This blog author shall not be held responsible for any additional addiction to chocolate or addiction to exercise (if ever that is possible!) as a result of this meal plan and exercise regime. These are merely her very own custom-made plans based on personal experience and readers are advised to follow it at their own peril! No weight loss is guaranteed but I absolutely guarantee that no chocolate will be left out!

Day 1

Morning:

A brisk 25 minute to 40 minutes walk / jog

Breakfast: Chocolate and banana shake (refer to this post for recipe), a glass of water

Morning tea break: One serving of fruits, a glass (or two )of water

Lunch: Wholemeal cheese and tomatoes sandwich (Recipe: Place cheese on bread, add chopped tomatoes and you have your sandwich!), a glass (or two) of water, small bowl of mixed salad.

Tea break: One bar of chocolate wafer, a glass (or two) of water, 5 roasted plain almonds and if still hungry, a banana.

Evening:

Hit the gym for a bout of 20 minutes to 40 minutes of resistance training. Do two sets of each exercise. This can be two sets of sit-ups, two-sets of lower body exercise and two sets of upper body exercise.

Replenish body moisture by drinking loads of water after gym.

After workout snack: A tall glass of fruity freeze (Recipe: Throw in green apples, peeled oranges, carrots and ice into a blender and blend it all together. If too sour, use ripe red apples instead).

Dinner:

Starter: Big plate of mixed salad, dressings on the side

Entree: Grilled / poached salmon / cod topped with mushroom or lemon sauce and served with stir-fried vegetables.

(Recipe for stir-fried vegetables: Cut broccoli into bite-size. Slice carrots thinly. Chop some garlic. In a pan, heat a spoon of olive oil. Stir-fry the garlic till fragrant and then add the carrots. Stir for a while and add the broccoli. Add soya sauce or salt to taste. Once the broccoli turn a bright green, it is cooked.)

Dessert: Two scoops of low-fat chocolate ice cream topped with a spoon of chocolate sauce and some roasted almond flakes.

At least another two glasses of water.

Day 2

Morning:

30 minutes to 1 hour of power yoga and floor exercises.

Breakfast:

Fruits, milk with chocolate sauce, a bowl of full grain muesli, a glass (or two) of water

Morning tea break: two glasses of water, 3 pc wholewheat crackers, 5 dark chocolate-covered almonds

Lunch: a glass (or two) of water, wholemeal egg sandwich, celery and carrot sticks

Afternoon tea break: 5 dark chocolate-covered raisins, a glass (or two) of water, one serving of fruits

Evening:

Pre-workout snack: a banana (preferably an hour before workout)

Workout: Go for a 30 minute jog or power walk. No cheating. Really sweat it out. Drink a glass (or more) of water.

Dinner :

Starter: Mixed salad, dressings on the side.

Entree: Roast chicken breast in brown sauce served with baked asparagus, carrots and tomatoes.

Dessert: A bar of 75g chocolate bar or four truffles.

Do remember to drink lots of water throughout as it is really good in cleansing your system. Do note that most of the meals do not have simple carbohydrates (except for the chocolates!), this is so that you can indulge in some chocolate at least twice a day!

I will come up with Days 3 to 5 soon. Just keep a lookout for future postings.

Make your own easy non-bake chocolate cake

After all the previous posts on diets and health, I think this time I will post a recipe which I read somewhere and modified to suit my taste. This recipe is for those who absolutely loved chocolates of all types. No chocolate haters allowed!

It is quite easy and does not require baking or any complicated stuff. You can even get your children to help out!

Ingredients

20 bars of chocolate-coated wafers, crushed

Chocolate sauce

A packet of 200g chocolate-covered peanuts (crushed) / raisins

250g dark cooking chocolate

250g chocolate bar (of any type, can be milk/ dark/ plain/ with nuts/ with raisins), chopped

Tub of rich chocolate ice cream

Instructions

1. Place half of the crushed wafers on the bottom of a pan. Crush it further and try to make it even.

2. Pour in the crushed nuts / raisins and again try to level the mixture.

3. Dribble some chocolate sauce over the mixture depending on your taste.

4. Add the chopped chocolate bar and level it out.

5.  In a heatproof pan, place the cooking chocolate over a boiling pan of water and melt it. Stir occasionally until it is melted through. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.

6. Scoop out 3 – 4 ice cream and smoothen it over the chocolate wafers, nuts, raisins and bar mixture. Add more ice cream if you prefer.

7. Top up the ice cream with the crushed wafers.

8. Pour the slightly cooled melted chocolate over the mixture. Make sure you have everything covered and let it seep into the whole mixture.

9. Place in the fridge for it to set.

10. Once it is set, you are ready to serve the non-bake, crunchy, nutty and rich chocolate cake! If you are worried it may be too sweet, use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate for most of the ingredients.

This will satisfy all of your chocolate cravings in a jiffy! If you use dark chocolate (especially those with less sugar content), it will taste absolutely wonderful. However, if you are a milk chocolate type, the result will also be wonderful but be warned, it will definitely be very sweet! So, brace yourselves for that.

What are you waiting for? Go get started on it and tell me how it turned out! Do feel free to add or reduce the ingredients in accordance to your taste. There is no strict ruling to follow the recipe ingredients exactly. After all, this is a non-bake recipe using ready made chocolates so nothing will go wrong! It won’t be burnt or turn out flat or anything. It will still taste like chocolate.

Is chocolate healthy?

According to countless research, the ultimate decision is still a ‘Yes, but…’ and there is a string of conditions attached to discuss the health benefits of chocolate which remained quite unconfirmed.

Sure, there has been loads of research, studies and tests which revealed that dark chocolate may be beneficial to health and could possibly lower cholesterol level, has antioxidant capacities, reduces blood pressure and boosts brain function. So, are these claims true? Just like any chocoholic, I sure wish they are!

Wishful wishing aside, I did some research and here are what the various research, studies and tests claimed that dark chocolate does to the average human.

1. Dark chocolate contains lost of flavonoids which are known as flavonols. These can be found in cacao seeds (the raw form of chocolate before all that processing…). It is not any man-made chemical but is a natural compound that works as an antioxidant which prevent damage to the body’s cells and tissues. Do note that only dark chocolate seemed to have more of this compound as the process of making milk chocolate may have removed most of the flavonols.

2. Dark chocolate has cholesterol…but before you drop that chocolate bar in horror, it contains good cholesterol- inducing compounds. To put it simply, it contain a few other compounds which fights off bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise good cholesterol levels (HDL). The chocolate and cocoa butter contain palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid. Stearic acid is a neutral fat and oleic acid is a mono-unsaturated fat which can also be found in olive oil. Remember the craze of consuming olive oil for health? Well, replace it with chocolate. If olive oil can lower cholesterol, so can cocoa and dark chocolate!

3. The next time you feel your pressure going up, reach for that bar of dark chocolate and it may just help you lower your pressure. And I meant that literally. The miraculous flavonols I mentioned above do help in regulating blood flow and blood pressure so eating chocolate not only relaxes you but literally lower your blood pressure.

4. After lowering your pressure, the hard-working flavonols also worked to prevent blood clots and acts like a low-dose aspirin to help your blood flow. This will reduce heart attack and stroke risks.

5. So, what is it that you are eating when you bite into that bar of chocolate? Plenty of nutrients, that’s what! Milk chocolate contains the recommended daily values of protein, riboflavin, calcium and iron. If it is a chocolate bar with almonds, peanuts or any other nut, there will be more nutrients.

 

6. Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? Scientifically, it may be true because chocolate contains serotonin, especially phenethylamine, which can act as a mild sexual stimulant. However, no studies or tests can conclusively prove that. But we all know chocolates as gifts (especially on first dates and birthdays) do work sometimes, especially if the girl absolutely loves chocolate!

7. Oh happy days are here when you have a cupboard full of chocolates. This is more true than you know it because the carbohydrates (quick, those who have sworn off carbohydrates, close your eyes, you didn’t read this sentence!) in chocolate raise serotonin levels in the brain which releases a chemical called endorphins which gives you that dizzy happy feeling. I can personally attest to how happy chocolate has made me!

So, there you are, seven health benefits of chocolate. Of course, there are also research, studies and tests stating that chocolate could also be bad for health but I will not dwell on that for now. It is not something a chocoholic, who eats chocolate everyday, would want to know!

The only bad thing I would admit about chocolate is that over-consumption will lead to extra pounds, extra inches and eventually obesity.This is due to the high sugar content (albeit carbohydrates) in most chocolates so unless you exercise self-control and portion-control or negate the effects by exercising more, please do not over-consume chocolates! There is such a thing as too much of a good thing!