Chocolate Every Day!

Nicole Carter

The Wellness Experience

A LITTLE CHOCOLATE IN YOUR DAY!

Would it be hard to convince you to eat a little bit of chocolate every day?  Most people trying to lose weight consider chocolate a serious no-no.  However raw cacao was originally used as a health tonic especially for the digestive system and for the kidneys as well as for health conditions such as anemia, fatigue, fever, low sex drive and respiratory problems.

Cornell University food scientists discovered that cocoa powder has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine, and up to three times the antioxidants found in green tea.  Raw cocoa has the highest antioxidant value of all the natural foods in the world!

Cacao is one of the highest sources of flavonoids, potent antioxidants that have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and other aging diseases.  The high antioxidant levels have also been shown to have a beneficial and protective affect on the skin and may protect again sun damage and even skin cancers as well as improve skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis and burn.

The chemical components in cacao and their effects are impressive and include:

anandamide - a euphoric substance

arginine - a natural aphrodisiac

neurotransmitters - stimulate and balance brain activity

tryptophan - an anti-depressant

antioxidants and other beneficial compounds known to have rejuvenating and anti-ageing elements.

Magnesium- essential for helping the heart to pump blood efficiently, building strong bones, and lowering blood pressure. (may explain the strong desire for chocolate during the female menstrual cycle)

sulphur – a mineral responsible for healthy skin, nails and hair.

Theobromine – may help with coughs

Dark chocolate can also help you lose weight! Because it has appetite-suppressant properties, cocoa is often added to weight loss products to help control hunger.

While you may have been told that chocolate is “fattening”, the truth is that the fats found in cocoa butter are actually healthy fats! Cacao contains oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat which is also found in olive oil and is believed to raise the level of the “good cholesterol” known as HDL cholesterol (the acronym HDL stands for “High Density Lipid”).

When it comes to chocolate, we are talking about the purest, unpolluted form of chocolate called cacao.  This is harder to find and is a far cry from a Hershey bar, however it still is chocolate! Cacao is naturally bitter, when consumed in its raw state cacao nibs.  But you can get all the benefits of cacao in dark chocolate and it only takes a very small amount consumed regularly.

Despite it’s benefits, chocolate is still high in calories so it should be eaten early in the day.  Since cacao naturally contains low levels of caffeine, consuming too late in the evening could potentially interrupt your sleep. Eat small amounts (less then ½ ounce) each day after lunch.  Enjoy this treat daily and known that you are doing something great for your body, guilt free.

Here’s my Fast and Easy Sugar Free Chocolate Recipe

1 c coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup monk fruit power
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1 tsp Himilayan Sea Salt
Sliced raw almonds (0ptional)
Get more info on healthy eating with my FREE MEAL PLAN at www.healthywithnicole.com

5 Ways to Avoid Holiday Smack Down!

This the the month we get a holiday smack down! Unless you stick to your diet, reduce stress and get enough rest!

Here are my 5 tips for avoiding the Holiday Smack Down!

1. Reduce Sugar consumption- use natural sweeteners such as stevia or monk fruit powder.
2. Reduce alcohol intake - only drink clear alcoholic beverages and for every cocktail drink 1 8oz glass of water in between!
3. Get 20 minutes or more of cardio exercise daily, this helps increase endorphins and reduce the effects of stress on the body.
4. Get enough rest. Rest reverses the cortisol effect on the body which creates weight gain among other problems. Get to bed 1 hour earlier when things get hectic.  You can't get the sleep back later!
5. Turn off your phone for 10 minutes each day, mid day and close your eyes. Listen to your breath or far off sounds. Don's speak or think about your to-do list. This is the simplest for of meditation!


Watch the the Video here: https://youtu.be/g7lLrREN9Ms

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Eat Fat to Lose Weight!

For those people thinking that fats are something to eliminate from the diet, consider this…Fat is a major source of energy and aids your body in absorbing vitamins. It's important for proper growth, development and keeping you healthy. Fat provides taste to foods and helps you feel full so you eat less! Fats are an especially important source of calories and nutrients for infants and toddlers. Dietary fat also plays a major role in your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is important in manufacturing chemicals and hormones in the body and especially the brain.

Somewhere along the way it was decided that eating fat was a bad thing. Why fat was singled out, I can only guess, is because it has more than double the calories as carbohydrate and protein (9 calories per gram vs. 4 calories for carbs and protein). It is true fat is more calorie dense, but it is also naturally occurring in smaller amounts in nature. For example, fruits are often larger and nuts and seeds smaller. So we still eat fats, just not as much.

There are fats we need and fats we should definitely avoid.

Here are the GOOD FATS THAT CAN HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT…

Essential Fatty Acids (EFA) and Omega 3 Fatty acids – These fats are not manufactured by the body, so we need to include those in our diet. They are needed for basic functions in the brain, and eating them can actually help you lose weight.
Omega 3 Fatty acids come from plants and fish that eat plants. I like chia seeds the best, which is a complete protein and has many other health benefits. Omega 3 fats help your body create a hormone called Leptin, which is responsible for telling your body when to stop eating. It also helps the body covert fat to fuel. Omega 3 fats help you to feel full longer, balance the blood sugar, reduce inflammation in the body and help the hair, skin and nails stay strong and supple. Omega 6 and 9 Fatty acids are also good, but the 3’s are the ones we get the least of and need more than the rest!
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) – This potent nutrient is called conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, and the best possible sources of CLA are grass-fed beef and raw (unpasteurized) dairy products that come from grass-fed cattle.

Medium Chain Triglycerides (MTC) – coconut oil, palm kernel oil (non hydrogenated)
These fats increase the metabolism, help the body use fat for energy instead of storage (body fat) and curb the appetite. Medium chain triglycerides are a form of fat that the body prefers to burn immediately, rather than store. Unrefined coconut oil is a very large source of MCTs, on average about 66% of it is MCT oil. This oil is great for cooking because it has a high smoking point, and can be used in all forms of baking and cooking where oil is needed. In addition to helping with weight loss, coconut oil has been used to prevent heart disease, cancer and diabetes as well as strengthen the immune system and improve skin and hair.

Some of the foods you might want to include over the holidays include those with Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Chia seeds, sardines, salmon, flax seeds and walnuts are excellent food sources of omega-3 fatty acids. For the CLA sources include grass fed beef in your recipes as well as cheese plates made with raw cheese and maybe some raw milk or creamer in your coffee. The last one is easy, MTC is best in pure coconut oil. This you can get my just replacing any oil you normally bake with.
Learn more about healthy weight loss by taking the Six Week Slim Down!

Nicole Carter is a Holistic Health Educator with 15 years of teaching and public speaking experience in wellness.  To book her for a presentation or learn about online learning opportunities please visit www.mywellnessexperience.org

Why Calorie IN versus Calorie OUT is failing! Follow these 2 Tips for weight loss!

The word calorie is defined Calorie as:  the heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water from 0 to 1°C. In 1887 the word was used to describe food energy from a popular article published in Century magazine, at the time a mainstream publication.  This went on to be listed in the Farmers Bulletin 23 in 1894, which is where the idea of every food being attached to a measure called calories. To put this into perspective, during this time Heroic medicine was still a part of the health care system, which included bloodletting and numerous other now outlawed practices.

 

Today, it is required that every packaged food contains a label indicating the calories, fat, protein, sugar and other pieces of information about the food. While this is helpful to consumers to teach about food density, and give them an informed choice about food, its most valuable attribute is the ability for consumers to see the ingredients in the product.  Therein lies the most important factor for human health. Food quality, not quantity.

 

As we try to battle the obesity epidemic in the U.S. we continue to be defeated as the low fat, low-carb, calorie counting, and other useless strategies fail people.  It’s time to take a real look at food quality, and be more demanding with our government and manufacturers about what is in our food. Or better yet, bypass the manufacturers entirely and eliminate all processed foods from our diets completely.

 

But wait, how would we then know what is healthy and what is not if that whole food did not have a label on it????  It's really simple. We teach people the value of foods, not how to count calories.  For more on eating healthy Watch the Interview On Nutrition Here!

 

If calories were only thing that mattered to stay healthy we could be each given a budget of calories each day to maintain. If we go beyond the budget, we gain weight, and if we go below we loose weight. It is true that 3500 calories equals a pound, but then why are people not loosing fat on a 1200-calorie diet? We have to move more and eat less. However if you have even been on a calorie-restricted diet you know how hard it is to battle the appetite! Eating less is difficult when the foods you choose are of poor quality.

We must be able to eat more quantity, yet take in fewer calories if we want to feel full and loose weight.

 

Here are 2 very basic ways to focus on quality and stop counting calories and STILL loose weight.

1.     Every time you eat, at least ¾ of your plate should be low glycemic vegetables. This means non- starchy veggies. The rest of your plate should contain lean protein, and a bit of plant based fat (avocado, nuts, seeds, eggs)

2.     We eat when we are hungry, but never overfill ourselves. Stop eating when you feel satisfied, don't wait until your stuffed!

 

Get more help with weight loss and getting healthy visitwww.mywellnessexperience.org

 

Nicole Carter

The Wellness Experience

www.mywellnessexperience.org

949-395-8002