Chocolate!?

Question

ok, here's the deal, i cant stop eating! especially chocolate! i cant help it...it's like when it's late at night, and i walk out, i get a cookie...ugggg...i mean, im still thin..but im worried it will catch up to me soon!

Answer 1

Ive also read that dark chocolate is a good thing. I just read it again last night in the latest issue (or last month) of either "Alternative Medicine" or "Today's Diet and Nutrition". Maybe it was "Body + Soul". (I was able to read a few magazines last night after the boy for whom I was babysitting went to bed and while he was playing by himself. He said he wanted to play by himself, so I let him.)

Anyway, as for the way most chocolate is farmed, it's not done in an environmentally friendly manner. That's one of the reasons why I rarely eat chocolate. Also, with milk chocolate, most of the good stuff is taken out and replaced with milk. There are some good environemtally friendly, organic chocolate bars out there. One I reccommend is from Equal Exchange. Yum. It is not only farmed environmentally friendly (as well as the yummy coffees), but is done in a way that gives the farmers a fair pay for it. (My church sells the coffee; I don't have any of the regular, but my husbnad bought me three bags of decaf the Sunday after we found out about my pregnancy. Admittedly, I mix the decaf with regular store brand coffee. I don't drink much coffee any more, and I have stocked up on that when it's on sale. This week, through tomorrow, the Krogers in my area have the Kroger brand coffee 3/$5 for the regular sized cans. It's over $2, maybe close to $3 regular price. I stock up, let it last six months and get some more. I don't feel as guilty that way.)

Also, I use the following recipe for my chocolate fixes and for potlucks and group dinners. I use whole wheat flour and replace the oil with apple sauce. (Apple sauce can be used as either an oil or an egg replacer in most recipes. Bananas also work for eggs, but a banana taste might result.)

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
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3 cups flour (680 grams)
2 cups sugar (450 grams)
6 tablespoons cocoa (100 grams)
2 teaspoons baking soda (10 cc's = 10 ml)
1 teaspoon salt (5 cc's = 5 ml)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (200 cc's)
2 tablespoon vinegar (30 cc's)
2 teaspoon vanilla (10 cc's)
2 cup cold water (480 cc's)


Instructions:
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Mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes two layers of a two-layer 9-inch or 8-inch round cake, or one small sheet cake. When cool, frost it.

I use the following frosting recipe, which I found on Veg Web:
1 cup of sugar
1/2 of a teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 of a cup of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons - 3 tablespoons of vanilla soy milk

Directions:

Mix all ingredients. Use more soymilk for glaze, less for frosting.

For chocolate-mint: add some peppermint extract, you can add less vanilla if you want. Probably 1/8 of a teaspoon, I have never measured, all I know is it is a very small amount, just a couple drops or so.

I buy the cocoa powder when it goes on sale at Kroger (usually at Thanksgiving and Christmas) for $.99 a box and stock up. Four or five boxes usually last me the year. Though I'm running out early this year; I've been going to more dinners.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Milk Chocolate

Answer 3

I was exactly the same,lol. I ate like 2 chocolate bars a day for years. I finally got too control it though, it was not easy. All I did was eat less and less sugar which made chocolate to sweet for me. I also heard in the news they were going to stop making chocolate because the cocoa plants are going extinct, awful for chocolae lovers. If you really love chocolate, eat only a small piece a day but dont chew it or eat it up so quick, take your time to taste it, smell, look at it and by doing that you will satisfy your craving faster..like mind trick. I still love chocolate and get cravings for peanut butter cups but I get scared to buy one for the fear I'll get addicted to it. Some people can easily let go while others take years, but sooner or later Im sure you will too. good luck and do atleast an hour of cardio daily to not let it catch up.

Answer 4

Eat it by all means but part of food and before eating anything else.

Eat only when hungry and not more than thrice a day. Nothing other than water in between. Include plenty of uncooked vegetables and fruits in each meal, preferably 50%. Chew each morsel at least 32 times to activate ur body to generate signals of hunger/fullness. Obey these signals.

Take light exercises and brisk walks regularly preferably twice a day.

U will achieve what u have not even dreamt and that too in a reasonable time. Do not be in a hurry.

Answer 5

Well if you are eating it anyway...
It's the best medical news in ages. Studies in two prestigious scientific journals say dark chocolate -- but not white chocolate or milk chocolate -- is good for you.



Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure


Dark chocolate -- not white chocolate -- lowers high blood pressure, say Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Cologne, Germany. Their report appears in the Aug. 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.



But that's no license to go on a chocolate binge. Eating more dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure -- if you've reached a certain age and have mild high blood pressure, say the researchers. But you have to balance the extra calories by eating less of other things.



Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate


Dark chocolate -- but not milk chocolate or dark chocolate eaten with milk -- is a potent antioxidant, report Mauro Serafini, PhD, of Italy's National Institute for Food and NutritionNutrition Research in Rome, and colleagues. Their report appears in the Aug. 28 issue of Nature. Antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.



"Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate ... and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate."



Translation: Say "Dark, please," when ordering at the chocolate counter. Don't even think of washing it down with milk. And if health is your excuse for eating chocolate, remember the word "moderate" as you nibble.



The Studies


Taubert's team signed up six men and seven women aged 55-64. All had just been diagnosed with mild high blood pressure -- on average, systolic blood pressure (the top number) of 153 and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) of 84.



Every day for two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance its 480 calories by not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. Half the patients got dark chocolate and half got white chocolate.



Those who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.

In the second study, Serafini's team signed up seven healthy women and five healthy men aged 25-35. On different days they each ate 100 grams of dark chocolate by itself, 100 grams of dark chocolate with a small glass of whole milk, or 200 grams of milk chocolate.



An hour later, those who ate dark chocolate alone had the most total antioxidants in their blood. And they had higher levels of epicatechin, a particularly healthy compound found in chocolate. The milk chocolate eaters had the lowest epicatechin levels of all.



Chocolate for Blood Pressure: Darker Is Better


What is it about dark chocolate? The answer is plant phenols -- cocoa phenols, to be exact. These compounds are known to lower blood pressure.



Chocolates made in Europe are generally richer in cocoa phenols than those made in the U.S. So if you're going to try this at home, remember: Darker is better.



Just remember to balance the calories. A 100-gram serving of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar has 531 calories, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If you ate that much raw apple you'd only take in 52 calories. But then, you'd miss out on the delicious blood pressure benefit.



A hint: Don't replace healthy foods with chocolate. Most people's diets have plenty of sweets. Switch those for some chocolate if you're going to try the truffle treatment.

Answer 6

Eat as much as you need but exercise regulary
so you wont put on.So then you can stay fit and enjoy at the same time.
:)

Answer 7

omg i was going to ask this Q about now i love it to and always want it. and it starting to catch up with me i h8 it i duno what to do either

Answer 8

mmmm... chocolate... well, i'm no help. sorry ;)