The Chocolate Diet

Putting Chocolate and Weight Loss Together

 

Weight loss is obviously an important topic in our society these days, with 2 out of 3 people overweight. But there are a lot of issues that go into it, and I want to discuss some of what's involved to show how chocolate can be a useful part of dieting without cheating!

 

Although there are a lot of fads that come and go around weight loss, there are three key elements to maintaining a healthy weight:

 

1) Eat a balanced, healthy diet in a balanced, healthy way. Experts will define this in different ways because of the fad agenda. But let's be honest about this: you know this doesn't include packaged foods with artificial colors, flavors, or other ingredients. Humankind made it pretty far without getting overweight by eating from nature. They weren't worried about whether they ate grains or beef or eggs. They ate what nature gave them.

 

Yes, I think that limiting certain types of food might be useful, but we're very early in figuring all of this out. Your heritage, blood type, and other factors may be involved in what's really the best type of food for you to eat. But until we really know, I would mainly recommend eating as much from nature as possible, and avoiding packaged foods made by humans.

 

In addition, eating 5 meals a day of around 300 calories each is a better approach than eating 3 large meals. It's important that each meal contain around 300 calories to kick the metabolism into gear. Snacks aren't metabolised as well as meals.

 

And drink plenty of water. I recommend a minimum half gallon a day; tea and fresh (not bottled) juice should be on top of this, and not substitute. Extra water is needed if you drink any coffee (which is great to avoid).

 

2) Maintain a healthy lifestyle. This includes getting plenty of sleep and exercise. Most experts agree that 7 to 8 hours of sleep is ideal for most people, but again, this will vary. The main thing is to provide adequate down time for repair. And then to get adequate exercise in the waking hours. This doesn't just burn calories (during and after the exercise), but it keeps everything including the metabolism working correctly in the body.

 

3) Address the emotional components of weight issues. Many of our habits, including eating habits, come essentially from sub-conscious programming. These programs are especially built in during our early years, but can also be the result of any emotional pain or trauma throughout our lives. This is the theory behind using hypnosis and other techniques for correcting sub-conscious issues to maintain dietary change.

 

There is evidence, for instance, that the brain can make the body hold on to weight -- regardless of diet -- because of fears surrounding survival. If a past survival issue isn't cleared up, perhaps it slows the metabolism way down in order to hold onto calories as long as possible. We can't know all the possible mechanisms in the body, but we do know that emotions can drive weight issues and very often need to be addressed.

 

 

How Chocolate Fits into Weight Loss

So now we need to look at how chocolate can fit into weight loss ... without being a cheat!

 

First of all, most chocolate is not a good solution for those trying to lose weight. And I don't care what kind of marketing you've run into. Remember that most marketers are trying to accomplish one thing only: to get your money for their product or service. There are very few who consider your well-being first and the sale second.

 

So when you run into chocolate that's loaded with sugar, do you think they can make an honest claim about helping you to lose weight? Sugar -- no matter what kind of pretty name they've given it -- spikes blood sugar levels. And when your blood sugar levels aren't balanced, you want to eat. Keeping balanced blood sugar levels is precisely your goal when you want to keep eating under control. (This is why it's better to eat several small meals a day, because more frequent eating leads to better-balanced blood sugar levels.)

 

Cacao beans, from which chocolate is made, provide a great number of health benefits. They load the body with antioxidants and many important nutrients; most importantly, they may be the #1 food source of magnesium, which is America's primary dietary deficiency. But when you add dairy (as in milk chocolate) and sugar (as in almost all chocolate) to the cacao beans to make chocolate, these health benefits are compromised. And the sugar makes the chocolate unsafe for diets and for diabetics.

 

If you want to eat chocolate on a diet (and you should -- see below), look for chocolate with natural, healthy alternatives to sugar like xylitol and agave nectar. Neither one spikes blood sugar. Rather, they help to keep blood sugar balanced to keep you from feeling hungry.

 

Now, I mentioned that exercise is an important part of losing weight and staying fit, and we all know that. But did you notice that I mentioned magnesium as America's #1 dietary deficiency? Do you know what a primary role of magnesium is? It's used in muscle function, which is why it's so important for the heart. So don't you think that magnesium might be important for those who are exercising? Healthy dark chocolate is an excellent food source for this magnesium,

 

I also talked about the emotional component of weight loss. Chocolate is a natural "feel good" food because it stimulates the release of many different neurotransmitters in the brain. As a result, it can affect mood, energy levels, hormones, and appetite. These are all important to those on diets, and chocolate is a natural "go to" food for those who use food as an emotional crutch.

 

This is bad news for those eating chocolate that's loaded with sugar or other foul ingredients. It's good news for those eating truly healthy chocolate. Especially because this healthy chocolate can satisfy cravings for other unhealthy foods, helping to eliminate other problem areas of the diet. You see, benefit stacks on top of benefit.

 

As mentioned in other places, I strongly recommend only 2 chocolates that I've come across so far: Gnosis Chocolate (raw, organic, and made with agave nectar rather than sugar) and Tru Chocolate (organic, and made with xylitol rather than sugar). However, for those specifically trying to lose weight, I especially encourage the use of Tru Chocolate, and here's why:

 

Tru Chocolate was specifically designed to be safe for diabetics and to be USEFUL for dieters. First, the xylitol provides several health benefits, in addition to helping balance blood sugar. Second, the sweetness is purposely kept on the tongue for up to 30 minutes so that water becomes sweet during that time. This helps even those who don't typically like water to drink quite a lot. And finally, the herbal mixture added to Tru Chocolate is designed to support appetite regulation and to boost the metabolism.

 

The ideal approach in using Tru Chocolate for weight loss is to eat a piece of the chocolate 10 minutes before a meal and to follow it with a big glass of water, prior to eating. I'm recommending small meals throughout the day. I would recommend using the chocolate in this way 2 to 3 times per day (4 to 6 bags per month), depending on how much weight you have to lose.

 

 

My Personal Results

While I can't promise results for everyone who eats the chocolate (only drugs can be promoted like that), here's why I'm very excited to encourage use of the chocolate for weight loss. You see, I'm already thin. In fact, if anything, I'm a little under weight. I actually have to make sure I'm eating enough so that I don't lose weight. In short, this is because I've basically got a monster metabolism that easily works through whatever I eat.

 

If you're overweight, you might be wondering how I can possibly relate to your situation, but read on!

 

Despite my low weight, at least my weight has been stable for years. I could rely on hitting the scale and seeing myself within a pound of my norm, depending on the time of day, whether I'd just eaten, etc.

 

When I started eating Tru Chocolate, I wasn't aiming to lose weight of course. I simply ate it for its nutritional benefits, and I would follow it with a lot of water because the water was so good. (I'm already pretty good at drinking water, but this encouraged me to drink even more.)

 

Within a week, however, I noticed that I was losing weight! Yes, somehow even my metabolism seems to have sped up after eating this chocolate. So as a matter of fact, I have to even be more aware of my weight in order to keep the pounds on!

 

I know, this might yield a "boo hoo" from some readers needing to lose weight. But my point isn't about my weight situation. It's about my metabolism situation!

 

If Tru Chocolate has that kind of apparent effect on my metabolism, I believe it can stimulate anyone's, and help them to achieve the weight loss they're after.

 

Interested to try it for yourself? Tru Chocolate is sold through word of mouth marketing, also known as network marketing. This is a turn-off to some people because they think there is pressure involved in being "sold" and in selling.

 

However, this entire site is dedicated to educating you as a chocolate consumer. You can see exactly why I recommend Tru Chocolate as a health consultant. I wouldn't do so if I hadn't researched the heck out of the product. And because I've put all the information on the site, there's no one "selling" you on the product. I feel that we all need to find the path that's right for us.

 

Also, you'll never be called on to sell this product to others. You can simply use it for yourself and never get involved in the opportunity aspect. If you WANT to get involved, you can. I'm second in line from the CEO of the company; we're at the very top. And Tru Chocolate only launched in May 2008. So it's a new company with loads of potential. But this is all in your hands.

 

To get Tru Chocolate for yourself, get with the person who sent you to this website. Or if you found it on your own, visit my Tru Chocolate website.