The Truth About Snacks - Chocolate

In 2001, Americans consumed 3 billion pounds of chocolate, and for one good reason – it tastes awesome. But can this decadent treat really be part of your fat burning diet?

 Benefits Of Chocolate

• Consumption of chocolate has been proven to :Reduce risks of cardiovascular disease and stroke
• Help stabilize your blood sugar
• Improve your blood pressure
• Show more benefits than red wine and tea, because it packs even more antioxidants
• Improve gut flora
• Be a potent anti-inflammatory

Important disclaimer : These benefits come from the consumption of dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa content), not milk chocolate.

Real Chocolate vs Chocolate Candy

Out of these 3 billion pounds Americans eat every single year, you can bet 99% of it comes from candy-like chocolate instead of real high-cocoa chocolate. The difference is crucial if you want to get the most out of your occasional chocolate treat :

What about white chocolate? Well, it doesn’t really exist. White chocolate is made of cocoa butter, sugar and flavorings. Consider it like candy.

How Much Chocolate Should I Eat?

If someone told me that eating two large tablets of tasty chocolate per day could improve my health, I’d do it.But the (unfortunate) truth is – 6.7 g of chocolate per day (about half a bar per week) shows most of the benefits. You can eat more if you’re as fond of chocolate as me; but just make sure to eat it within your calorie needs.

Is There Lead In My Chocolate?

Rumors have been circulation around on the Internet about chocolate containing high levels of leads. It is true that processed chocolate products have been found to contain abnormally high levels of lead because of transportation and manufacturing. However, more recent studies concluded that the contribution of lead from cocoa products in the US diet is very small, and that your body will only end up absorbing 10% or less of it.

 

The only Chocolate I recommend

 
Always choose chocolate that’s at least 70% cocoa. You basically want the highest cocoa content possible, but while still enjoying the taste. Choosing organic and will guarantee you that your chocolate contains little contamination – and probably higher levels of antioxidants. Choosing fair trade is a great idea, because a lot of countries still produce chocolate by using inhumane practices like child labor or forced labor.

Summary

--> Eating about half a bar of chocolate bar per week will likely improve your health.
 

--> If you want any benefits from chocolate, stick with the dark kind that contains at least 70% cocoa
content.

--> Choosing organic and fair trade chocolate will ensure your product is produced in a way that respects
nature and workers.

The Truth About Snacks - Protein Snacks

High-protein snacks are a great choice because they curb your appetite while keeping your blood sugar very stable. Always keep them around.

Beef Jerky

Beef jerky is somewhat expensive, but the 26% protein content and very low calorie count make it the perfect protein snack. That may be why it’s part of the official NASA menu for astronauts during outer space missions.

Avoid

Jerky that’s not 100% beef, or that contains too many added ingredients like MSG and high fructose corn syrup.
 

Choose

If you can afford it, choose the Cadillac of all jerkies – organic, grass-fed, smoked beef jerky.

Raw nuts and seeds

They pack quite a lot of calories, so always portion control when snacking on nuts and seeds. A handful will usually be plenty to curb your appetite and make it easier to wait until the next meal.

Avoid

Roasted nuts and seeds Nuts and seeds with added oil.

Choose

Raw nuts and seeds, Organic, if possible You can also roast these at home, keeping the temperature low (150°F).

Nut butters are great snacks as well, but don’t forget that the same guidelines apply – stick with raw nut butters and portion control carefully.

High-protein raw food bar

Raw food bars that contain high-quality protein powder are great snacks – but only if you’re willing to pay extra and buy the premium stuff. Dale’s Raw Foods bars or anything made by YouBaris your best bet to get high-quality protein that’s actually absorbed by your body – without the usual sugary or refined ingredients.
 

Protein shake

You can use protein shakes as a snack – but keep two things in mind:

• Most protein powders are filled with artificial ingredients and are so processed that they aren’t absorbed by your body.
• Consuming whey protein alone will spike your blood sugar as much as white bread does.

Cheese

Because it contains a lot of fat along with protein, cheese needs to be portion controlled carefully. I usually weigh my cheese with a food scale and eat only 1 oz. at a time. Also, keep in mind that a lot of people may have a hard time digesting any kind of dairy. Listen to your body and never eat foods that make you feel sick or give you side effects.

Avoid

Cheese made with commercial milk (to avoid hormones and pesticides)
 

Choose

• Cheese made from organic, grass-fed milk
• If available, choose cheese made from raw milk
• Cottage cheese for the extra protein, but other fattier cheese are OK too

Milk

I’m not a big fan of milk, because 75% of adults lack the proper enzyme to digest it. But if milk is NOT a problem for you, it can be a great source of protein – especially if it’s raw.

Avoid

• Commercial milk (to avoid hormones and pesticides)
• Milk that tastes just like your favorite candy bar

Choose

• Organic, grass-fed milk
• If available, choose raw milk

Eggs

Always keep unpeeled hard boiled eggs in your fridge. They will last for more than a week and are perfectly tasty alone or on top of your favorite salad.

Avoid

Eggs mixes like EggBeaters®

Choose

Organic, pasture-raised eggs

Deviled eggs recipe

Hard-boiled eggs can get boring at times. This recipe will make you rediscover their goodness in minutes. I don’t use extra mayonnaise or olive oil in my deviled eggs recipe. To me, the extra fat is just not necessary.

Ingredients

• 6 whole eggs (pasture-raised, if possible)
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
• A little bit of water

Instructions

1. Boil your eggs for 10 minutes. Rinse them with cold water and remove shells.
 

2. Cut the eggs in two, and then remove the cooked yolks with a spoon.
 

3. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, mustard, salt and pepper, adding a little bit of water (just a couple of drops) until the texture is creamy. Garnish the cooked egg halves with the prepared egg yolks and serve.

The Truth About Snacks - Chips & Crackers

 

Chips and crackers are simply the most addictive – and unhealthy – snacks out there. Are there any good alternatives at all?

Ever Heard Of Acrylamide?

Heating carb-rich foods like potatoes creates acrylamide, a dangerous by-product that’s tasteless and invisible. Studies have shown that acrylamide increases risks of various cancers, nerve damage and other neurotoxic effects. Even if big corporations like Frito-Lay settled to reduce the acrylamide levels in their products to a level low enough to avoid mandatory cancer warning labeling, the World Health Organization warns that these levels can vary from batch to batch, which makes it virtually impossible to know if your bag of chips is dangerous or not.

Note: Unfortunately, baked chips are not a good alternative. According to the FDA, baked chips contain more than three times the levels of acrylamide found in regular, fried chips.

Fake Chips Are Even Worse
 

To avoid paying extra taxes in the UK, The Pringles Company (owned by Procter & Gamble) argued that the potato content of their chips was so low that they could not be called potato chips. While the judge saw through this stratagem and made the company pay $160 million in taxes (applicable to all potato chips products in the UK), Pringles was right on one thing – these chips do not contain a lot of potatoes. Pringles contain less than 40% potato flour, the rest of the product being filled with cheap rice, wheat, corn and trans fat-laden refined oil.

“Natural Chips”?

PepsiCo – who owns Frito-Lay – expects to boost their nutrition business from $10 billion to $30 billion by 2020. That’s why they are slowly changing ingredients used in their chips manufacturing process. Hydrogenated oils are gone, replaced for not-sobetter refined canola, soybean, corn, sunflower or safflower oils; artificial petroleum-based colors are replaced with beet juice, purple cabbage and carrots, and dangerous seasonings like monosodium glutamate (MSG) with molasses and paprika. While this clearly shows that consumers do have some power in choosing what they want to see on the supermarket shelves, don’t forget that “all-natural” chips are still chips, and that they will never become magically healthy.

Craving Something Crunchy?

Caution – there are very few good alternatives out there…

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Go Ahead And Binge on This

I know: Kale chips are nothing like potato chips. They aren’t as addicting, and will never taste as good. But if you care about removing very unhealthy foods from your diet, they represent a good alternative you can snack on all day long without changing your pants size or making yourself sick. Bonus, kale chips are a superfood that show a ton of benefits:

• Low in calories and fat, high in fiber. Kale chips are filling and diet-friendly, if you don’t use too much oil when preparing them.
• Tons of vitamins and minerals. Kale contains more iron per calorie than beef and great amounts of cancer-fighting vitamin K. It also contains vitamin A and C, and is a good source of calcium.
• Detoxifying and anti-inflammatory. Contrary to potato chips, kale chips help you get rid of the nasty chemicals you put in your body and will make your whole body function better.

 

Homemade Kale Chips

 

Ingredients

• 1 bunch (about 6 oz.) kale
• 1 tbsp. melted expeller-pressed coconut oil (much
• more stable than olive oil)
• Sea salt, to taste
• Spices, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.

2.Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs.
 

3. Cut into large pieces, toss with coconut oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt and spices, to taste.
 

4. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet.
 

5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

The Truth About Snacks - Bars

Nothing is more convenient than a snack bar. But with thousands of different kinds advertised as healthy and showing all sorts of crazy claims – most people end up choosing the wrong ones.

How Fattening Is Your Bar?

The big majority of granola, protein or trail mix bars at the supermarket are nothing more than an amalgam of processed, dead ingredients with added sugar – regardless of how “healthy” they claim to be. Let’s look at the 40+ ingredients of this very common Quaker® Chewy® low fat granola bar:

Ingredients: granola (whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, crisp rice [rice flour, sugar, salt, malted barleyextract], whole grain rolled wheat, soybean oil, dried coconut, whole wheat flour, sodium bicarbonate, soy lecithin, caramel color, non-fat dry milk), semisweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), corn syrup, brown rice crisp (whole grain brown rice, sugar, malted barley flour, salt), invert sugar, sugar, corn syrup solids, glycerin, soybean oil. Contains 2% or less of sorbitol,  calcium carbonate, salt, water, soy lecithin, molasses, natural and artificial flavor, BHT (preservative), citric acid.

 

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How Unhealthy Is Your Fancy Protein Bar?

Expensive bars sold to athletes and people seeking high performance are no different than cheap granola bars. In fact, they often contain most of the same cheap ingredients but use different claims to appeal to their audience. 

Ingredients: chocolatey coating (sugar, fractionated palm kernel oil, cocoa, whey, non-fat milk, soy lecithin, natural vanilla flavor), Trisource™ protein blend (whey protein isolate, calcium caseinate, soy protein isolate), glucose syrup, caramel (corn syrup, sugar, cream, water, fructose, palm oil, soy lecithin, salt, sodium phosphate, natural flavor, carrageenan), high oleic canola oil, maltodextrin, evaporated cane juice syrup, peanut flour, natural flavor, glycerin, peanut butter, soy crisps (soy protein isolate, tapioca starch, salt), soy lecithin, salt, almond butter.

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BUSTED!

Cheap snack bars manufacturers are being busted for bad practices, such as:

• Kashi “all-natural” snack bars (owned by the food giant Kellogg) containing 100% GMO soy
• Nature Valley snack bars (owned by the food giant General Mills) falsely claiming that they contain 100% natural ingredients
• Quaker snack bars being sued for various health claims

Consumers have the real power – remember that.

 

Raw Food Bars – My Only Recommendation

Raw ingredients generally contain more vitamins, minerals and gut-friendly enzymes, and fewer toxins than heavy processed granola or protein bars ingredients. Remember that raw food goes bad quickly. This is actually a big advantage, because raw food products have no choice but to be fresh and nutritious. More importantly, raw bars manufacturers care about the nutrition content of their products, unlike cheap processed granola and protein bars manufacturers.

Warning: Like any quality supplement, these bars are NOT cheap. If you can’t afford them, stick with real food protein snacks like nuts, seeds, eggs or beef jerky.

Here are the 2 manufacturers I trust the most to deliver the best products possible :

Dale’s Raw Foods – Raw food protein bars that contain up to 22 g protein per bar and only healthy ingredients.


YouBar – Customize your raw food bars to meet your specific needs and taste buds. You even get to choose the name on the packaging (which is awesome). Use the code “TFLA” at checkoutto save 5%.

Healthy Ingredients To Look For

 
Make sure your raw food bar is made with the following ingredients:

Bases

• Nut butters
• Dark chocolate
• Dates

Sweeteners

• Dried fruits
• Coconut nectar
• Stevia
• Raw honey

Protein

• Pea, rice or hemp protein
• Quality cold-processed whey protein
• Egg white protein

Extras

• Nuts and seeds
• Cocoa powder or nibs
• Powdered greens
• Spices and sea salt

Fats

• Coconut oil
• Nut butters

The Truth About Snacks - Introduction

 

'' I bet you can’t eat just one.''

This slogan used by Lay’s chips in the past pretty much sums up the mindset manufacturers have when developing tasty and addicting snacks. No wonder most people have cravings for these foods on a regular basis. Added salt, sugar, fat and flavor-boosting additives like MSG make these snacks impossible to resist. I must admit – if there’s a bag of chip in front of me, my hand will reach out for them, even if my mind thinks these chips are nasty and should never be eaten by anyone on Earth.

That’s what you have to fight against when trying to find a fat burning snack. It needs to be at the same time relatively low in calories – because going overboard when snacking is very easy to do – convenient and addictive.

Beware: Most Snacks Are Terrible

Remember – those 100 calorie snack packs still contain 100% of ingredients that do nothing more than giving your body a hard time and promoting fat storage. So obviously, a 100 calorie Oreo snack pack is a very bad snack choice. The problem is – even your “all-natural” granola bar may still be a source of sugar, refined grains, vegetable oil and other ingredients that should all be part of your occasional 10% treat foods category. So while you think the snacks you eat every day help you keep your appetite in control and keep your metabolism going, they may be in fact slowing down your fat loss and making your body sick.