Time to quit chocolate?! These may help!
I have recently been tracking my food intake and noticed one thing that has crept into my diet far too often…chocolate! Yes, PTs struggle with cravings just like anyone else and have found lately that even with dark chocolate where I used to stop at a couple of squares I now need more to feel satisfied. This can happen with certain foods that we get a lot of pleasure from – we term them hedonic or hyper-palatable foods and you may slowly need more and more to get the same response. So, I have decided to go cold turkey on the chocolate for a few weeks just to reduce my cravings and get back in control. I have to confess that on day 2 I totally forgot and put raw cacao nibs on my breakfast…buuuut this isn’t exactly the type of chocolate I want to keep away from so I’m not throwing in the towel altogether!
It’s so important to keep foods you enjoy in your diet and not restrict yourself too much but there will no doubt some foods you know you simply cannot help but overeat and these can sometimes sabotage your efforts altogether. Even when everything else you eat is healthy and in moderate quantities, overeating that one food can push you into a hypercaloric state (surplus calories), leading to weight gain. These are the types of food you should consider removing from your diet. It often helps to replace it with a healthier alternative or something you still enjoy but can easily put down. This is because we often eat certain foods under certain situations or contexts. For me, I do like something a little sweet in the afternoon or after dinner and while I’ve removed the chocolate, that contextual cue is still there so it’s far easier to replace the type of food than to remove it altogether. Remember, you can’t form a habit by not doing something so adapting or modifying behaviour is the easiest and most sustainable route to behavioural change.
So, in my quest to replace the chocolate I made these delicious lemon and coconut squares. They’re simple to make, sweet, refreshing and can be kept in the freezer so you won’t be tempted every time you open the fridge door. Try them instead of your usual 3pm chocolate biscuit – the protein and fat in the nuts should keep you going a little longer too 🙂
Ingredients:
1 cup almonds
6 medjool dates
½ cup desiccated coconut (plus extra for topping)
2 Tbsp. pea protein (optional)
1 Tsp. coconut oil, melted
1/2 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 lemon, juiced + ½ the zest
Method:
First blend the almonds to a fine powder
Add the coconut, dates, pea protein (if using) and blend until crumbly
Add the coconut oil and vanilla, blend for another 30 seconds or so
Finally add the lemon juice + zest a little at a time until the mixture starts to clump together (I had a little left over for the 1 lemon)
Line a tin or container with grease proof paper and press the mixture in to form a slab
Sprinkle with desiccated coconut and drip the remaining lemon juice over
Place in the freezer for a few hours and then slice into small squares (I made 15)
