Temptation for chocolate and sweets is everywhere in the lead up to Easter, with chock-a-block displays of Easter Eggs of all shapes, sizes and flavours piled high along every aisle of your local supermarket. More people fall off the weight-loss wagon at Easter than any other time of the year except for Christmas, but it doesn’t have to be that way if you take control. At Easter time, a chocoholic’s willpower can go out the window but with a little motivation, you can resist temptation and continue on your healthy eating regime. One of the keys is to remember that you are not missing out on anything as funnily enough Easter isn’t the only time you can eat chocolate. It is sold 365 days of the year and yet more people quit their diets over Easter, often after making a great start to the year. If you don’t want this to happen then having a plan of attack will help. For children too, Easter can be like a free-ticket to eat as much chocolate as they want. However, while it’s fine to enjoy some Easter treats the key here is moderation, and to have a treat occasionally rather than all the time. Remember that eating habits are learnt early on and your children will follow your example – so it’s up to you to set some healthy guidelines. With a little planning now, you and your family can sail through Easter without weight gain and all that can lead to. Decide right now how much chocolate you will allow at Easter and then stick to it. Just remember the more sweet food they eat the more they may crave. If your children are given chocolate eggs by well meaning family and friends, then encourage them to share the treats around and only have a few at a time. The other treat enjoyed over Easter are hot cross buns, which have around 2-5g of fat, but when you add lashings of butter it’s just like chocolate, and needs to be eaten in moderation. Try to balance any addtional treats with healthy family meals and put an emphasis on outdoor activites, walks and exercise to counter balance the treats.
HERE’S THE FAT COUNT OF SOME POPULAR EASTER TREATS CHOCOLATE
FAT GRAMS DOZEN CRATE EGGS (1 egg only) 5.0g – eat 1 dozen and it’s now 60g fat!
CARAMEL CENTRE EGG (1 only) 3.0g
WHITE CHOCOLATE 50g 16.7g
MILK CHOCOLATE PLAIN 50g 15.0g
CAROB 50g 15.0g
LINDT GOLD BUNNY 100g 32.0g
CHOCOLATE RABBIT 180g 47.0g
Happy cooking!
Rich Chocolate Squares Recipe
This delicious recipe is from the Symply Too Good To Be True Book 4. Makes: 15 slices
SLICE
- 2 egg whites
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon bi carb soda
- ½ cup apple sauce (in jar)
- ⅓ cup cocoa
- ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- ½ cup skim milk
- ½ cup Nutella® spread
- 1 cup self raising flour
- cooking spray
ICING
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1½ tablespoons cocoa
- 2 tablespoons Nutella® spread
- 1–1½ tablespoons skim milk
Method
Preheat oven 180ºC fan forced. To make slice: In a medium sized mixing bowl beat egg whites and sugar for 1 minute using an electric beater. Stir bi carb soda into apple sauce (it will froth) then add to bowl. Place sifted cocoa, vanilla essence, milk and Nutella into bowl and mix well. Gently fold sifted flour into mixture in one go, treat as if it is a sponge. DO NOT BEAT, as this will make the slice tough. Coat a slab tin with cooking spray then pour mixture into tin. Bake 25-30 minutes or until firm to touch in centre. To make icing:Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a small mixing bowl. Place Nutella and milk into bowl, mix until a smooth icing is made. Add only enough milk to make the icing spreadable. Whilst slice is still warm spread icing over top, leave to cool. Once cooled, cut into 15 squares.
2:23 pm
8:06 am
11:24 pm
8:38 am
7:42 am
8:22 am
8:59 pm
12:05 pm
10:42 pm
11:56 am
10:42 am
8:00 pm
7:50 pm
3:09 pm
7:17 pm