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Archive for April, 2010

CHOCDiet Day 4 and still happy!

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Wow, so 4 days in and I still feel good and haven’t been tempted to over eat. It’s pretty typical for me though to start very enthusiastically and then the enthusiasm starts waning…but this is not about will power, it’s essentially a simple routine change. I don’t really feel restricted and drinking the CHOC Shots when I need a boost (normally around 2pm) and before each meal seems to be working.

Lovely porrdige with blueberries and nuts

The best thing is that I don’t find myself thinking about food all the time, I just eat when I’m hungry (I’m starting to notice when I’m hungry as well, which is a first for me!) and have tried to exercise a bit more. It’s not rocket science really, but just knowing that you can choose healthier alternatives seems to be the key.

The advice from Tina at Diet Freedom was incredibly helpful. It’s not about denying yourself the foods you love, but simply choosing foods that have a low Glyceamic Load which release sugars slowly into your system, so you feel satisfied longer and don’t get the massive sugar cravings. It actually does seem to work. I start my day with porridge, which I love, adding a teaspoon of our raw cacao powder and some blueberries or raspberries and a handfull of nuts is absolutely divine and I just add a small teaspoon of Sweet Freedom to sweeten. For lunch so far this week I’ve chosen whole wheat breads or wraps with hummus and chicken or avocado and egg (used creme fraise instead of mayo!) and have added a salad as well, so I feel like I’m eating loads. I’ve also eaten yogurt, some fruit or ryvitta crisp bread when I’m peckish in between meals and then at dinner, what amazes me most so far is that I’ve not had second helpings (normally I wolf down one plateful and then serve myself another AND then finish whatever is left on my daughter’s plates).

Excercise wise it’s all pretty doable as well, today’s plan was the same as Tuesday’s:

Walk 5-10 minutes to warmup

Then do 3 sets of 10 of the following exercises:

squats

crunches

tricep dips

lunges

I did my excercise first thing in the morning and hopefully this will become a part of my daily routine. I do feel that so far the changes to my diet and routine haven’t been huge but actually feel a big difference. Let’s hope this lasts and fingers crossed for the bank holiday weekend!

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The CHOCdiet – Day 3

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

I'm just gonna look at this pic next time I fancy something sweet!

Wow, what a day! Anything I write about my diet progress will be totally overshadowed by the fact that I got to spend a whole day surrounded by 7 semi naked butlers from www.cheekybutler.co.uk at a photo shoot in London (I love my job!).

The day started off a bit panicky as I had to get my girls ready for school and then get CHOC Chick Kits and chocolates ready for the photo shoot in London. I nearly ran out of the house without eating anything, but actually stopped myself and sat down and had a bowl of porridge (with some raw cacao powder and blueberries) before I dashed out.

So glad I did as the photo shoot took 4 hours in the end and all we had to eat were my raw chocolate truffles, individual chocolates and chocolate covered strawberries! I actually only ate 2 truffles as the boys loved them and to be honest, I was so overwhelmed by the amazing bodies of young men around that I couldn’t have eaten anything even if I wanted!

By the time I got to the train station I was starving (next time I will plan better and bring a sandwich), so grabbed a tuna baguette which I scoffed very unelegantly on the train back home. I was so knackered by the time I collected my daughters from their friends that I really didn’t fancy making any dinner, so it was fish fingers for all with a bit of frozen veg (can’t be Nigella every night, or any night for that matter).

The excercise plan Sam (Miss Fit) set for me for today was:

Wednesday

30 minute walk…this time add a little jogging in short 30-60 secs bursts

Now, with all the goings on, I didn’t manage to set aside any time for this, but as I traipsed around London carrying two very heavy bags and panting like an old Labrador, I think I at least managed to walk for over 30 minutes so did get some exercise in (and in high heels!! does that make it high impact walking??).

Overall, I’m pretty pleased, I could have planned my food better and not left such a big gap between breakfast and the tuna baguette at 4pm, but at least I didn’t succumb to the pastries and cakes at London Bridge Station and just had a slug of my CHOCShot which I brought with me in a little plastic bottle.

Bring on Day4!

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The CHOCdiet – Day 2

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

So far so good. Day 1 was great and I’m still full of enthusiasm (it is indeed very early days!). I started my day by drinking a CHOCshot first thing and then 2-3 during the day, before a meal or when I feel the need for something sweet (which is most of the time). So far I’m happy to report that I managed to avoid eating the chocolate biscuits my daughters had and a rogue sausage roll that was lying about (only healthy food for me thank you!) .

I also managed to fit in Sam’s (Miss Fit) excercise plan for the day, which really made me feel great:

Tuesday

Walk 5-10 minutes to warmup then do 3 sets of 10 of the following exercises:

squats

crunches

tricep dips

lunges

I actually managed to do most of them and did walk for 30 mins, so am pretty pleased with myself.

Now for the food intake. The lovely Tina from Diet Freedom asked me to write down all the food I love. It was pretty easy to be honest, any and all carbs are what I love. There’s a saying in Spanish that if you want to lose weight you need to reduce/remove all foods beginning with P – pasta, pizza, patatas (potatoes), pan (bread)… but thankfully Tina’s advice wasn’t extreme at all.

After reading my list of favourite foods, here is what Tina said:

‘I think from what you have told me the first thing you need to do is recognise that your issue is eating too many highly processed, high energy carbs and then not using all that energy which has nowhere else to go so it’s laid down as fat for future energy use. Great in a famine but not in our land of plenty!

These foods have a high GL (glycaemic load) which means they will cause your blood sugars to rise and peak and then suddenly drop again and each time your blood sugar crashes back down an hour or so after eating these types of foods you will crave more of the same as your body struggles to bring your blood sugar levels back up to normal so you are in a vicious circle of eating high GL foods and then feeling hungry and craving more of the same. You need to aim to keep your blood sugar levels stable by choosing slower acting carbs that provide sustained energy throughout the day.

You can eat carbs such as bread and pasta but choose the lower GL ones that are not so highly processed. Pumpernickel or Burgen soya and linseed bread, chickpea pasta are good choices.

Including choc shots is perfect as they are nutritious, low GL and healthy, the Sweet Freedom adds sweetness and is low GL so ideal in place of sugar. We used to recommend a few pieces of dark chocolate a day to our members but of course it has sugar in so we are now recommending your choc kits instead (they are ideal to make up the chocolates and keep in the freezer so you aren’t tempted to overeat them). I make them up in small tin foils and add different nuts, my favourite ones are adding slivered almonds to the mix, delicious and very filling, they actually ‘taste’ good for you. I never buy normal chocolate now, it takes me about 3 minutes to make a batch, I was amazed at how easy it is to make your own healthy chocolate to be honest!’

Tina co-founder www.dietfreedom.co.uk

So now that I have all this great advice and support I feel a bit more confident about my chances of success. I’m actually looking forward to Day 3 now and to finally fitting into those size 14 jeans soon!

Onwards and upwards Chicks!

CHOC Chick x

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The CHOCdiet. Can I lose weight eating raw chocolate? The challenge begins…

Monday, April 26th, 2010

CHOC Chick Galia

Well Chicks, it’s high time I tested the amazing properties of raw cacao properly.

I have never been a slim person and have always struggled with my weight. I have honestly tried every diet and food fad known to woman.

When I discovered raw chocolate, I couldn’t believe how it not only tasted amazing, but after eating one or two pieces, I didn’t get the urge to gorge myself with chocolate as I would have after eating a dairy milk bar (or two). Making my own raw chocolate meant that I stopped buying commercially processed and sugar laden chocolate and without changing any other eating habits, I actually lost 20 lbs in 1 year. I dropped 2 dress sizes and went from a size 20 to a 16. Two years on and I’m still a size 16 but am definitely ready to drop 2 more dress sizes.

So the challenge is to lose 14lbs in time for our summer holiday in Spain this July. I will be drinking a CHOC Shot before every meal and when I feel hungry during the day/evening, will try and excercise a bit more and will simply eat healthier meals and snacks. (CHOC Shot of Antioxidant Goodness: mix 1tsp of raw cacao powder with warm water, sweetened with1/2 tsp Sweet Freedom).

No major dieting involved, just healthy eating and CHOC Shots and a little help from my friends at Diet Freedom and from the lovely Sam at Miss Fit Personal Training.

I will be speaking with Tina from Diet Freedom durng the week for advice on healthy eating and Sam (the original Miss Fit) has planned a light excercise routine for me for each day this week. Here is what Sam recommended for me today:

Before you start: Write down on a piece of paper EXACTLY why you want to start exercising and what you are going to achieve. Example: ”I’m going to be size 14 by July 1st and have more energy.” Then visualise how you would look, feel, behave once you have achieved this. Experience all the good feelings surrounding this visualisation (rather than focusing on what you’re not happy with at the moment). Stay in this ‘feel good’ factor emotion for a few minutes.

Every day: Start off with warm water and lemon to hydrate and cleanse. You are a super busy lady so do these exercises before you do anything else to be guaranteed to stick to the plan! Plus, your concentration for the rest of the day will be soooooooo much better and you’ll work smarter!

Day 1 - Monday April 26

Remember that ‘feel good’ factor of reaching your goal then go for a 30 minute brisk walk, focusing on breathing in deeply the fresh air, ipod on with favourite upbeat music.

OK, so rather than writing on a a piece of paper, I will be blogging about my chocolate weight loss challenge. I did manage to go for a brisk’ish walk with my daughters and our two dogs (it was around 20 minutes…Rome wasn’t built in a day) and have so far eaten pretty healthy meals. Dinner was particularly delish, we had grilled tuna steaks with mixed greens and broccoli and a very small amount of oven chips (I can’t believe I only had a few, I normally eat loads of chips, it’s early days though!). Since I had some ripe avocados that needed to be eaten, I made our CHOCalicious Raw Chocolate Mousse recipe (look out for our May Recipe of the month next week!) which we all enjoyed for dessert. (my girls were particularly pleased that this chocolate mousse, with avocado in it, actually counts as one of their 5 a day fruit and veg portions!)

As you can see, I have no intention of depriving myself of the things I love, but hopefully I will manage to enjoy this healthier lifestyle and lose weight as well. I have weighed myself, although am a bit ashamed to announce my weight to the world just yet and will try and keep the weighing to a minimum. The proof will be in dropping at least 1 dress size and comfortably fitting into size 14 jeans by July 1st 2010.

So far so good…wish me luck!

CHOC Chick x

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Heston’s Feast, CHOC Chicks and Goddesses of Chocolate

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Oh what a night! A truly terrified Heston Blumenthal gate crashed one of our Goddess of Chocolates nights in Brighton last October and it was a total blast. We’d already spent a few hours making lots of CHOC Chick chocolates, truffles and amazing CHOCtails with the Sumptious Sam from Cocktail in a Box and the Fabulous Fay from Diosa Media. We all even had gorgeous chocolate massages and scrubs from the divine and luscious Zoe and Katie from Into Beauty Hove and were very much enjoying all things chocolate, when Heston Blumenthal walked in.

The atmosphere, that was already pretty hyper before, became totally electric and a slightly startled Heston, the only man in the room, was soon surounded by lovely ladies high on chocolate! (before he arrived, the only male figure was a golden male torso that dispensed CHOCtails from his nether region!)

We treated Heston to a CHOCtail master class with Sam, body scrubs with Zoe and Katie (using CHOC Chick’s amazing cacao butter and cacao powder) and super easy chocolate making with CHOC Chick. It was amazing to have the opportunity to chat with him about chocolate and what it is about chocolate that makes us so happy and everyone got involved in the debate.

It was an incredibly fun night, we all had a blast and Heston was charming and gracious to everyone.

Amazingly CHOCtastic night!