Sunday, April 24, 2011

Five Tips For Including Chocolate In Your Daily Diet

When it comes to dark chocolate, sometimes we just can't get more than enough!

It's perfectly fine to add a daily part of chocolate for your diet, and perhaps recommended for health benefits, however there are some things you have to look at just before splurging.

Tip #1: Be Careful With Calories

Dark chocolate is very full of fat and full of calories. It's not recommended to eat a pound of chocolate a day, even though it can feel hard to not overload.

Along with a well-balanced diet, you ought to be looking to add no more than 100 grams (or 3.5 ounces) of dark chocolate per day to maximize the advantages.

One bar of chocolate will normally have around 400 calories. So, if you choose to eat 1 / 2 of that bar, that equates to around 200 calories. Therefore, you need to do something to balance out those 200 extra calories, whether it's giving up something you'd eat, or increasing your physical activity levels to burn off those extra calories.

Tip #2: Don't Inhale It!

With regards to dessert (especially chocolate), I've been known to inhale my way through sight.

Don't do this! Instead, concentrate on tasting the chocolate.

Since chocolate is really an intricate food with over 300 compounds and chemicals hiding in each bite, you need to really slow down and concentrate on enjoying and appreciating the unique flavour.

Professional chocolate tasters (wow, I want that job!) have actually developed a system for tasting chocolate, which include a variety of quality assessments which range from appearance, smell, feel, and taste of each and every delicious piece.

Tip #3: Skip The Milk

I understand that milk chocolate is more creamy and sugary than perhaps 70% cocao chocolate, but trust me, once you dark, you won't want to go back!

Chocolates has so many more antioxidants compared to milk or white chocolate, both of which do not provide any real health benefits. Select a nice chocolates that has 65% of higher cocoa content. My personal favourite is 70 - 75% cocoa. Yum!

Tip #4: Avoid Fillers

Whether it's a nougat, caramel, or nutty centre that's hiding inside your bar of chocolate, you won't exactly be getting the entire many benefits from it when it's been full of plenty of sugary, chemically, trans fat stuff!

Instead, search for pure chocolates with nuts, orange peel, or other flavours. By doing this, you are able to still obtain the pleasure in tasting different flavours if you're not the largest fan of plain, dark chocolate.

However, be sure to avoid anything with caramel, nougat, or other sugary fillers.

Tip #5: Avoid Drinking Milk Together with your Chocolate

Sounds strange, doesn't it? This is a hard one for me.

Although washing your tasty chocolate treats down with a nice, cold glass of milk afterward seems like a good idea, some scientific study has learned that this may actually prevent certain antioxidants from being absorbed because of your body.

Should you really should quench your thirst, try substituting it for any glass of water instead.

Elise is a chocolate lover of all types, looking to educate people on dark chocolate health benefits. If you want to find out more about dark chocolate health benefits, please visit her website and be sure to pick up her free dark chocolate health guide!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elise_M.

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Saturday, April 2, 2011

Buy a pack of chocolate

Buying wholesale candy is not something that most people think of when looking to save money on the household budget. In some respects it's probably the last thing you would think of. If you are considering buying household items in bulk it's typically dry goods and cleaning products as these tend to have a long enough self life to merit a wholesale purchase.

But candy has a longer shelf life that you would normally think. Most people buy and consume candy and chocolate pretty quickly. Lets face it who wants to wait a month before tucking in to a bar of your favorite candy. So you might be surprised to learn then, that candy can store for, on average, 6 months and more. Some types his can be even longer, up to a year or more.

Another factor is the concept that candy and chocolate are a 'one off' purchase, a treat every now and again. However think again, next time you're at the grocery or convenience store think about how many times you pick up a candy bar, box of chocolates or even a pack of gum. You will find it is more often that you realize.

If you have a family then this is another area to consider. Just think of the number of parties, holidays & events that take place during the year where a supply of candy and chocolate is required. If you are a normal parent, what generally happens is, a few days before the event you go rushing around in a mad panic getting everything organized.

Here's the thing, making a rushed purchase just to get it done is seldom the most economic way to go about things.

Now if you were to add up all these purchases over a year and get an average for a month you may be very surprised at what you spend. You might think about how much you would save by buying wholesale candy, considering that buying wholesale can save you as much as 50%.

Think about it for a moment and do the math. When you buy a pack of candy, say for $2, buying a case of 12 at a wholesale price you can get the same candy for $1. This is a big 50% saving. Similarly with chocolate, if you pay $10 for a box of chocolates a bulk purchase of 6 can again save you 30% - 40%.

You can get even more saving you go for unwrapped candy and chocolate and these are great for parties and events. The best thing is almost any type of confection you can think of can be purchased in bulk. Better yet it's delivered right to your door. Another great benefit of course, is that you have a supply of your favorite candy ready and waiting for any social event you might be having, very handy during the hectic holiday seasons.

So it makes sense to buy wholesale candy. You could literally save yourself a mint! Why not pay a visit to thelittlesweetshop.com ...now where did I put those chocolate almond truffles...

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Giles_Baker

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