And yes, for the last, chocolate can also help you shed some pounds you’ve always wished to lose.
What is more, chocolate has widely been associated with weight gain and, as such, is discouraged in the process of weight loss. After all, it remains a high-calorie food for which one can easily get carried away and overindulge. However, recent studies suggest that chocolate, in its proper portions taken together with other foods and exercise, may play a role in weight loss, as you are about to discover.
Why Chocolate Has a Bad Image Regarding the Leisure Activity
Chocolate contains many calories and can be consumed in large quantities. A normal serving of chocolate can contain as many as 230 calories and above. One can easily find herself or himself consuming more chocolate than necessary, consequently consuming more calories, which makes her or him put on weight gradually.
It has been a tradition to associate chocolate with junk food.
Candy bars, chocolate syrups, etc., are in the same unhealthy junk food bracket as crisps, cokes, and junk food. This makes all chocolate look terrible just by being with it.
Some chocolate products contain high sugar content.
Candy bars, hot cocoa mix, and chocolate syrup have added sugars—which some baked goods also do—triggering swings in blood sugars and out-of-control hunger, leading to the consumption of the extra calories.
It illustrates the problem of the so-called “healthy halo” around dark chocolate.
Consumers believe that a higher percentage of dark chocolate bars are healthy. But, due to the notion of ‘healthier’ food labels, people consume more of them in an attempt to make a healthier choice, only to be worse off.
9 Fun Facts About Chocolate to Consider When Pursuing Your Weight Loss Goals
Many people have a negative opinion of chocolate. However, more recent studies suggest that when taken in moderate quantities, this food item could be beneficial to those who want to lose some weight through the following ways.
1. New research indicates dark chocolate can help counteract dieters’ hunger.
Previous research has shown a relationship between consuming up to 50 grams of dark chocolate daily and decreased cravings for sweet, salty, and fatty foods. Since it is sometimes tempting to give in to food desires, this is helpful, as it defeats weight loss by causing overeating.
A single trial contrasted changes in appetite and cravings in two groups of postmenopausal-endowed females who received chocolate or cracker snacks. The dark chocolate group experienced less intensity of desire for sweets in the afternoon compared to the salty snack group.
So, when snacking, instead of worrying about cravings, packing on empty calories, or going through a binge session, a little bit of dark chocolate, when needed, could be beneficial.
2. Choc Late May Help Hormones Linked To Satiety
There is also information that 50g servings of flavanol-rich dark chocolate positively affect appetite-regulating gut hormones.
For instance, dark chocolate raises the degrees of the satiety hormones, including GLP—1 and PYY, and brings down the levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin.
In other words, this hormone response assists you in attending to your appetite early and eating more of your meals with minimal cravings in between.
3. Chocolate As an Energy Boosting Product Containing Theobromine
This fact about chocolate surprised me: chocolate contains a compound called theobromine that produces a mild, lasting, vibrant lift without a late comedown or crash.
The small energy increase that comes with chocolate and the impact it has on hunger-fighting hormones means the person has the energy to stick with the healthy eating and exercise plans without giving in to fatigue or the urge because cravings have crept back in.
4. The Joy of Chocolate to Healthy Lifestyle Changes
It should never be underestimated how much chocolate can motivate you in your everyday life. I have learned that having a chocolate bar each day means having something healthy waiting at the end of each day or having a subject to focus on during some healthy activity, like increasing the amount of exercise you do or adhering to a particular diet program.
Realizing you can have one indulgence keeps you from overindulging in other unhealthy foods throughout the day or at night when diets are most triggering.
Thus, creating positive associations with chocolate will help you achieve other healthier lifestyle alterations for slow, steady weight loss in the long term.
How to Incorporate Chocolate into your Diet for those on a Diet
If you are ready to use chocolate’s “weight loss friendly” powers on yourself, you should guarantee that it forms only part of a big, healthy lifestyle picture.
Select Cocoa Solid Bars with a Higher Cocoa Content
Choose chocolate bars with cocoa solids of 70% and above—the higher the percentage, the less sweet the chocolate bar. The strong chocolate flavoring helps you achieve satisfaction when eating less at a time, and just one or two small squares should suffice.
Measure Your Portions
Even while handing out sweet treats in moderation throughout the day, ensure you are precise. Any beneficent effect of consuming chocolates becomes futile if one gets involved in overeating, specifically if the substance in focus is chocolates. Limiting liquefied intake to a maximum of 1-2 ounce serving once daily is also advisable. If this becomes a problem, use a kitchen scale to remind yourself of your goal.
Time It Strategically
Taking your agreed daily quota of chocolates in the evening just an hour before you have dinner is good. This is often where sugar desires complicate diet determination for binging at night. The small chocolate pick-me-up means you do not have to give in to temptation and have a light, nutritious dinner instead.
Swap Out Other Treats
**Eliminate the other sweet and tasty foods such as cookies, cakes, and chips from your diet consideration.** Substitute them with your portioned chocolate servings so you stay within the calorie-less junk food.
Go for Quality
Subscribe to high-quality chocolate with minimal ingredients. It primarily comprises cocoa beans, butter, sugar, and very small amounts of vanilla. This assures that you are getting solid chocolate packed with hunger-control nutrients.
Spend Time Savoring It!
Treat it as a special moment of the day—sit down, close your eyes, and focus on what it feels like as you slowly chew and taste the chocolate. This causes more feelings of satisfaction and stimulates the brain chemistry than carelessly gulping down.
Putting It All Together
While no one food leads directly to weight loss, incorporating chocolate strategically as part of a healthy lifestyle may aid your efforts in these key ways:
• Curtailing or controlling one’s desire to take junk food or sweets
• Strengthening the signal-to-noise ratio of hunger and satiety hormones
• Increasing energy for exercise without the resulting letdown
• Happiness to encourage enhanced encouragement for positive lifestyles
The concepts are: on most days, select dark chocolate containing at least 70% cacao, measure servings accurately, and take time to enjoy chocolate eating.
This MO reveals to one the secret – endearing and mostly uncredited – the ‘Other White Milk’ Chocolate needs to be so that it continues its relatively well-hidden glory of forming part of a successful weight loss plan.
There is no need to feel guilty about chocolate love—use it as a tool to enhance your well-being when consumed sparingly!
