I told someone I was craving chocolate. She immediately said, “Oh, you’re going to go off today? I had a day like that last week.” Hmm. Go off what? The deep end? The ledge? The merry-go-round?
Of course, I knew what she meant. I’m a woman! But, I just smiled. There are no magic pills; acquire healthy habits, find your own meaning for balance, enjoy life, enjoy the taste of natural, fresh food and how it makes you feel rather than worry about what it does to the scale. We deserve to be healthy, we deserve to nourish our bodies, and we can have chocolate, too!
Words I suggest be removed from your vocabulary:
1) diet (i.e I’m trying this great new diet)
2) start (i.e. I will start on Monday)
3) cheated (i.e. I was bad, I cheated. Listen up, you’re bad if you rob a bank not if you eat a cookie.)
I believe we can both psych ourselves up and psych ourselves out when we feel we are dieting. We get very excited to begin the diet, but when we are tempted by that ice cream, chocolate or cake, we give in for the moment and then get discouraged. We can quickly lose our dedication and focus, think we cheated, go off for 4 days and then wait until Monday to start again. Instead, find ways to incorporate the foods you love into your everyday life. Live well, find balance, get rid of guilt- it’s a waste of emotion.
So, as I mentioned I am in need of chocolate today. I don’t feel guilty about it, plus chocolate has antioxidants and I actually prefer the taste of dark chocolate (the healthier kind). But short of picking up a Dove Dark which can easily be gone before I’ve had a chance to enjoy it, I want to make something delicious and quick because I am short on time today.
Here are a couple of ideas I am tossing around in my head:
* Dark Chocolate and Raspberries: melt it down and pour over fruit in a small bowl. This will last much longer than the bar itself.
* Dark Chocolate Ricotta Creme : melt it down and mix with part skim ricotta, pure vanilla, and a dollop of whip cream…kind of like chocolate cheesecake.
* Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Rolls : melt it and mix with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter and roll in raw oats sprinkled with cinnamon…reminiscent of an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.
All three are yummy, take just a few seconds to make, and are healthy. It will be a tough decision, but I’m leaning towards combining option 2 & 3, by adding a little peanut butter to the ricotta creme. I used to love Reese’s.
