Chocolate is one of those things that pops up every time there is a major holiday:
- Valentine’s Day
- Easter
- Halloween
- Christmas
There is a reason for that chocolate is a BIG DEAL – as of 2019 it was a $130.56 billion dollar industry
However, chocolate is one of those things that can hide a great deal of sugars! It can be inethically made and still it’s something all humans love to consume. That might have something to do with the caffine content, but I won’t touch on that today…
Below read my 5 thoughts I have on making healtheir treats with chocolate:
1. Not all chocolate is created equally
Sometimes you’ll see a package that says: sugar free, nut free or labels the chocolate as healthy. This is often a LIE.
What you want to check for is what type of sugar is inside, how much and where is it on the ingredient list.
Always remember to check the ingredient list vs the nutritional label.
Not all chocolate is equal. Some will have 3 types of sugar while some only have one.
2. When in doubt go for dark chocolate
I am not going to lie, I’ve tired milk chocolate again since being dairy and sugar free…I am human!
I was at the M&M factory in times square and well they had some labeled ‘dark chocolate’ only for me to discover with a massive tummy ache later that they still contained milk…
Dark chocolate is going to be your best friend when baking healthier recipes.
3. The truth about artificial sweeteners
Some may argue that if you’re trying to eat sugar free just use stevia or erythritol sweetened chocolates.
Google the side effects of erythritol and tell me that’s something you want in your body…
Now I may be slightly dramatic because the side effects of sugar are just as bad. So this brings me to point #4.
4. You have to pick the less of the evils
You have to do what works best for you! No matter what there is going to be some form of sugar in your chocolate.
Unless you only bake with Hu Chocolate, which if you do I am SUPER jealous.
Ultimately you have to decide what is going to feel the best to you.
5. Lastly, don’t let them fool you!
Yes chocolate can be good for you, BUT it’s not something we need to have everyday.
Chocolate is one of those things that humans can become easily addicted to.
This I know first hand.
There was a time that I couldn’t leave the house without a piece of chocolate.
You may wonder, why?
Well you see…I’d read somewhere that chocolate makes us happier. So all of a sudden I found myself attaching a strong emotion to a food.
This is never a good thing!
What this meant is that I firmly believed if I didn’t have a piece of chocolate before I left the house, I wasn’t going to have a happy day.
That took YEARS to uncover and figure out and I can happily say that chocolate no longer has that hold on me. I no longer NEED it to survive.
So make sure you listen to that inner voice in your head and don’t make up excuses to eat chocolate ‘just because’ – have it because you want it, not becasue you need it.
Chocolate Examples
Let’s talk some chocolate examples. What I’ve used, tried, enjoyed and reccommend.
Camino Natural Cocoa Powder
What I love:
- Subtle flavour
- Organic
- Fair Trade
When you read the packaging it recommends to use this cocoa powder with recipes that use baking soda.
I’ve only followed this a handful of times, really use it when you want less of a punchy chocolate flavour.
Camino Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
What I love:
- Rich flavour
- Organic
- Fair Trade
This package recommends to use this cocoa powder with recipes that use baking powder.
Same as above – simply use it when you want a more rich chocolate flavouring.
HU Chocolate
What I love:
- No refined sugars!
- Organic
- Fair Trade
If you can make the investment this is 110% the only chocolate brand that I would trust and recommend fully.
They make their chocolate with people in mind, not profit and it tastes amazing!
Lindt
What I love:
- Limited ingredients
If I can’t find any chocolate chips that I trust or feel like consuming I often go with 80% or higher dark chocolate from Lindt.
This I will simply chop up and use in replacement to chocolate chips.
It’s by no means the best, but to me it can be better than the alternative.
Lilys Chocolate Chips
What I love:
- Fair Trade
This is one of those companies that says ‘no sugar added’ but uses Erythritol and Stevia in their chocolate – so yes there is sweetener inside!
I have used these many times. They are not my favourite, but there are something you can find at the local grocery store.
