My Chocolate Fantasy

Are you always on-the-go and have little time to eat? Do you spend a lot of time at the gym and often need an instant energy boost? Or are you currently on a diet and looking for a snack that won’t spoil your weight loss plans?The food bar was created to satisfy the need for a quick, convenient, delicious and filling snack, and is usually marketed as a meal replacement bar or a protein bar. Food bars provide people with an active and busy lifestyle – and those just looking for a snack – an instant source of nourishment. Many people turn to chocolate bars when they need a quick bite. It’s hard to find something that can beat the satisfaction of sinking your teeth on good ol’ chocolate. But chocolate nutrition has always been a source of controversy. Chocolate is derived from the fruit of the cacao tree. A single spoon of raw cocoa powder contains more than 25,000 beneficial antioxidants, as well as other nutrients. However, processing strips chocolate of most of its potency and as a result, most chocolate products do not deliver the potential health benefits.What Makes a Healthy Natural Energy Bar?Many food bars in the market are chocolate-based, therefore, if you’re looking for a food bar that’s truly healthy and nutritious, choose one that uses a high-quality chocolate cocoa. Organic dark chocolate will be your best bet because it’s the chocolate closest to its original raw state. Avoid milk chocolate because milk and milk byproducts cancel out the antioxidants.Here are other important things to consider when looking for a food bar:* Sugar content – The lower the sugar content, the better. Avoid bars containing high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose. Organic raw agave syrup or nectar is one of the more acceptable sweeteners.* Contains smart fats like omega-3 and other essential fats – Avoid bars containing dangerous trans fats * Quality protein source – Avoid unhealthy soy proteins * No allergens, artificial additives, colorings, flavors (MSG), preservatives or stabilizers* Contains fiber to enhance your digestion If possible, look for a bar using natural organic ingredients. When it comes to nutrition and safety, organic produce is superior to conventional produce. You can’t go wrong with a natural energy bar containing healthy all-organic ingredients.

Why do we need to eat healthy chocolates? The main reason might be that we want ourselves to be more healthy and fit. Nobody wants to fall sick and it is painful even to see patient suffering from chronic heart diseases. Many kinds of pulmonary diseases are also equally fatal. If a patient suffers from some hereditary disease then of course it is not in our hands to prevent it, but we try to do o in out own way by finding medicines and herbs which prevents heart ailments. Scientists have found a special substance called catechins in chocolates which are able to prevent heart, skin and pulmonary diseases.

It is not available in any other form of chocolate except the dark variety. Dark chocolates contain a special substance called cocoa by which heart diseases can be prevented. The available catechins in dark chocolates may prevent blood coagulation and strokes. The amount of flavonoids (anti oxidizing agent) in dark chocolates is far more than found in milk chocolates. It is even said that dark chocolates contains 3 times the amount of flavonoids as found in green tea.

Research says that dark chocolates comprise 8 times more flavonoids than flavonoid rich fruit strawberry. Thus the nutritional value of dark chocolates is extremely high. It is considered to reduce the blood pressure level by minimizing the unhealthy substances of blood and thus prevents unnecessary clotting. Another essential property of dark chocolate is prevention of heart diseases. Dark chocolates are essentially used to prevent diseases of the immune system.

The immune system of human body is susceptible to various kinds of diseases. Especially when pollution has engulfed the entire surface of the earth leading to melting down of snow caps and consequent global warming, immune system is the worst hit. Many a times, fatal diseases are encountered with. The dark chocolates consist of those healthy substances which are considered to prevent nerve diseases and prevent problems of the immune system. For the pregnant mothers the healthy chocolates comes as a special boon. It helps them to deliver healthy babies without chronic diseases and with a healthy immune system.

We often face situation where we have to give gifts to people around us. Choosing the right gift is an important decision because the gift determines whether the purpose for which we are giving the gift will be served or not. One of the best ways of pleasing people and getting across a message at the same time is giving chocolate. Few people can honestly say that they do not like it.Although chocolate is loved so widely, few people make good use of it and opt to choose to items of stationary as gifts while trying to make an impression on others. Stationary items, pens, and other generic gifts fail to cut any ice these days because they have been used ad infinitum ad nauseam. This is usually because most people do not know that personalized gift like chocolate hearts, squares, and roses are actually available.To get customized chocolate squares you have to get in touch with the manufacturers. If you go to their websites you will be able place orders from the comfort of your home or office. All you have to do is choose the right design from the catalogs and then place your order. If you wish to have a logo or picture embossed on the square, you may send the design to the manufacturer and the chocolate square will be made with the logo. Usually it takes about ten days or so to get personalized pieces, so it may be a good idea to plan in advance.These chocolate squares can be used to attract traffic in trade fairs were everyone vies for the attention of customers, because of the novelty of giving a gift that can actually be eaten. If you can emboss a few memorable words on the gifts, then you may be sure that they will not forget your treat in the middle of a busy day.These are also great ways to let your employees know how much you appreciate their efforts. Often employees feel that their employers forget about their existence, if they are regularly given small personalized gifts, they feel loved. Giving small gifts to your students will also remind them that you love them in spite of being strict with them. If you think that chocolate is a bad gift because it leads to obesity, you must remember that research has revealed that dark chocolate enhances insulin sensitivity when consumed in moderation.So show the people around how much you love them by giving out chocolate squares.

You see smoothies everywhere, so much that you finally decide that you’ll make some for yourself and your family (or friends, if you’re single). You have the fruits and vegetables you need, but there is one particular ingredient that makes the smoothie craving go on a different level, yet you hesitate to put it in. Yes, the everlasting question remains: How to make smoothies healthy but flavored with the guilt-ingredient called Chocolate?

One only has to look at chocolate ads to know that there is a tempting yet forbidden aura to it. To us not endowed with the perfect body, to even smell it is a sin, a crime worthy of capital punishment. But did you know that chocolates have health benefits too?

Cocoa, most especially dark chocolate, contains antioxidants – surprisingly 8 times more than found in strawberries. The flavonoids also help lower blood pressure and lowers blood cholesterol. If you’re depressed you are allowed to eat chocolate because it contains serotonin, the happy neurotransmitter that makes you a little happier. Plus, it tastes good – correction, very, very, very good – and keeps you awake. So this is good news.

That said, here are some recipes that are sure to tickle your taste buds:

Cocoa-Banana Smoothie (finally, a recipe that doesn’t need a blender)

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons cocoa mix, 1 cup of frozen whipped topping (thawed), 2 ripe bananas, 8 chocolate cookies (crumbled. Note: These are sandwich cookies, not chocolate chip ones.)

Procedure: Stir cocoa and whipped topping. Fold in the banana and half of the crumbled cookies. Divide into 4 glasses and top with remaining cookie crumbs. Refrigerate.

Choco Protein Smoothie

Ingredients: 2 cups of milk, 2 tablespoons of chocolate milk syrup, 1 frozen banana (or half a teaspoon of dry chocolate pudding mix), one-fourth cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of ice, 1 to 2 tablespoons of whey powder (optional).

Procedure: Blend and process for about 30 seconds. Serve while cold.

Chocolate Mint Smoothies

Ingredients: half a cup of instant cocoa drink (made with a heated half cup of milk and one-fourth cup of instant cocoa mix), half a teaspoon of vanilla extract, one-eighth teaspoon of peppermint extract, 1 pint of vanilla ice cream, 1 and a half cups of milk.

Procedure: Blend almost all the ingredients (except for the ice cream) until smooth, for about 30 seconds. Add ice cream and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.