If you are like many of us the ability to stop at just one piece of chocolate is almost laughable. The good news is there are ways you can help stop yourself from consuming a whole bar of chocolate, which ultimately leads to regret and feeling sick. Try these 4 ideas to satisfy your sweet tooth while adding brownie points for nutrition:
- Grated dark chocolate to your cereal.
Try adding a light shaving of dark chocolate (aim for at least 60% cocoa solids) on top of your cereal. The best choices are 1 cup of oats, 2 Weetabix or 2/3rds of a cup of whole grain flakes with some milk. The whole grains will keep your body happy above the chocolate from the B vitamins (which are also good mood vitamins). The milk in the cereal gives your body protein, which addition to the fibre in the cereal will satisfy your hunger so you do not fill up on chocolate for energy but for taste alone.
- Trail Mix Done Right.
Trail mix can be a delicious and nutritious snack. Try this recipe:
15g of air popped corn
30g of nuts
1 row of your favourite chocolate
The mix of healthy fats and protein from the nuts, whole grains from the popped corn will help to satisfy your body’s needs for energy and nutrition while in the mix your taste buds get some indulgence from the chocolate.
- Coat strawberries in chocolate.
A delicious and sophisticated desert which also has some health benefits. Try melting some dark chocolate and dipping a cup of strawberries in the chocolate then put into the fridge to set. A cup of berries is a serve of fruit and you can feel good knowing that you are giving your body nutrients like vitamin C for immune support and healthy-looking skin as well as prebiotics to help your good bacteria in your guts stay happy.
- Spice up your salad.
This salad removes all meaning of bland and boring from the word salad. Add 30g of crushed walnuts, 1 cup of baby spinach and ½ a cup of low-fat Greek cheese. Then make a sauce from 25g of melted dark chocolate and 100mls of balsamic vinegar. Drizzle the sauce on top of the salad and enjoy the amazing flavours.
Take home message: there is no need to remove chocolate from your life if you want to achieve a healthy you. Life is there to be lived and learning how to enjoy chocolate in smart ways means you will not regret the experience and your body will thank you in the long term.
