Healthy Easter chocolate fix
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Easter is not the easiest time of year to resist a sweet treat, but if your cravings are getting the better of you don’t despair.
Try our selection of super-chocolates to get your sweet fix without sacrificing your diet.
Green & Black’s Dark Chocolate Egg
RRP £2.99
www.greenandblacksdirect.com
Dark chocolate is naturally rich in flavanols, plant chemicals that act as antioxidants. Antioxidants have been found to protect the body against aging, lower blood pressure and even prevent heart disease.
In milk chocolate, healthy flavanols are often removed due to their bitter taste, meaning the health benefits are lost.
Milk has also been found to reduce the absorption of antioxidants into the body.
By choosing an egg with 70% cocoa, you will consume nearly eight times the anti-oxidants found in strawberries, maximising the health benefits.
Prestat Choxi+ chocolate bars
RRP £1.99
www.prestat.co.uk
Choxi+ chocolate bars are carefully made to preserve the natural goodness stored in cocoa beans. Packed full of healthy flavanols, just two squares is enough to provide all the antioxidants the body needs for a whole day.
Choxi+ Dark chocolate not only contains three times the antioxidants as other dark chocolate, but almost 20 times as many as blueberries, helping to protect against heart disease, strokes and even some cancers.
Goji and Lucuma raw chocolate bar
RRP £2.33 until April
www.therawchocolateshop.com
This super-food super-treat contains both goji berries and goji extract that are packed with essential vitamins and minerals to fuel your system with healthy nutrients.
The chocolate bar itself is made from Ecuadorian raw cacao mass, and sweetened with raw agave nectar making it one of the most natural chocolate bars available.
Hotel Chocolat Fruit & Nut Egg Sandwich
RRP £5.00
www.hotelchocolat.co.uk
A layer of 72% dark chocolate studded with slices of pistachio and blackcurrant has been wedged between the two shell halves to form this rich, fruity treat.
Rich in potassium and low in sodium, pistachios can help stabilise blood pressure and also strengthen muscles. The nuts are also rich in vitamin E, and blackcurrants are a great source of vitamin C.
Thorntons Organic Easter egg
RRP £2.99
www.thorntons.co.uk
Thorntons use environmentally friendly crops from cocoa farms in Bolivia, Peru, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic to produce the rich creamy chocolate found in the Organic Easter egg.
Carefully made without additives or harmful chemicals, this egg is a safe choice for the whole family.
If you're trying to maintain a balanced diet visit Closerdiets.com for your very own tasty meal plan.