Halloween is right around the corner, and chocolate is in the air!! And probably all around your office, your kids’ schools, and maybe at home right now! As you might be able to tell from some of my recipes, I am definitely a chocolate lover. Make that a cacao lover- the original bean from which chocolate is derived from. Commercial chocolate creeps me out. What’s in THAT can be a real Halloween scare!!!
So if you’re going to Halloween parties, office parties, shopping for treats at your house for trick-or-treaters, or buying for your kids, here are some tips to have the healthiest chocolate possible. I know we don’t have all time to make raw 300 cacao truffles! (Though I will mention that I have done that before for some events 🙂 ), so when we buy we can just make the best choices we can. Eating chocolate does NOT have to mean it is automatically makes us fat, bloated, and zit-faced. 🙂
– Choose organic chocolate, which has more of the healthy nutrients and flavonoids, and less chemical and pesticide contamination. A Fair Trade certification means that it was made according to the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. We should choose the organic/Fair Trade combo wherever possible!!
– Choose dark, organic chocolate that is at least 72% cacao. Trader Joe’s, which many of us have access to, has some great organic, dark chocolate choices.
– Avoid chocolate made from milk or milk byproducts of any kind!!! Pasteurized milk in chocolate zaps the goodness of the chocolate. Fzzzzzzzzzz………… 🙂 Besides its mucus-forming (read: toxin-inducing!) and energy-eating qualities, milk in chocolate can diminish the potent antioxidant benefits.
– Avoid chocolate products containing any high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – which leeches B vitamins and other nutrients in our bodies, and raises blood sugar levels…leading to insulin resistance and weight gain.
– Avoid anything with artificial sweeteners. Chemical poison!! All that “sugar free” stuff made with anything artificial is pure crap, and will take our beauty down.
– Avoid chocolate made with soy proteins or soy protein isolates. Check the label! They could be lurking in there. These are highly processed ingredients that could block our bodies’ absorption of protein and depress thyroid function.
Okay sorry about all the “avoids”, but we are still left with plenty of choices if we nose around for the dark, dairy-free varieties. Remember not to overdo any kind of chocolate though, because it still contains caffeine. Halloween can not only be chocolatey-fun, but healthy chocolatey-fun!
Those delectable truffles I were talking about earlier, the truffles recipe is right here!
I’m headed to Cali so I’ll write from there. Lots of love, Kimberly 🙂
Hey Kimberly-
You write about avoiding milk products which I am going to try and do and promise to even read chocolate bar labels. I am crossing fingers that my favorite Vosges will be alright? Anyway, my question. I want to wean myself from dairy and meat but I want to do one at a time. Which one would you recommend I work on first? Which is the most harmful? I did give up meat for about 6 months last year but then found my hair falling out and wondered if it was the Dubai water or my lack of protein… maybe I should look for chocolate with protein and I would solve that problem!
Bisous,
C
Hello favorite!
I am hosting my own big halloween party tomorrow and I just bought a pumpkin than I can use as decoration. What do you suggest to do with all the stuff inside the pumpkin? Any ideas?
Thank you and happy halloween! 🙂
Stefanie
Hi Stefanie!
I hope you had a great Halloween. 🙂 Did you dress up??
Well the pumpkin seeds are awesome of course, and can be dried!! They are full of zinc and B vitamins. You can be proud because you “made” them yourself.
Come visit me again soon!
xx Kimberly
Thanks for the tips! I have the seeds and the “meat” separately so now I was thinkin about making a soup of the meat.
Thank you and have a great week.
ps. of course I dressed up! But my hair is still full of fake spiders and I have a hard time getting them of since my hair is huge!
Stefanie (FIN)
Dark chocolate tastes much better to me anyways. It has more depth of flavor, so hooray for that. Have safe travels and a happy Halloween in Cali! You’re right, the holiday in NYC is a bit crazy. 😉
Aww safe trip Kim!! I love me some dark chocolate…have a great weekend! xo
Hi,
I will arrive to New York in wednesday first time in my life, so do you have give any tips what to do in there etc.? 🙂 You favorite shops, museums etc.? Thank you very much if you answer!
Greetings from Finland! and my english not be very good so hopefully you understand! 🙂
Hi Elia!
Well you should check out the Met, the Moma, the Museum of Natural History, and Central Park. DON”T miss downtown- most tourists do. You must walk around the West Village, Nolita, and the Lower East Side and Chinatown. It is a whole new world downtown!
Have fun!!
xx Kimberly