Enjoying Chocolate Fountain on a Diet?

Chocolate Diets

Yes, there are Chocolate Diets. But, is it possible to enjoy chocolate fountain while we are on the diets? Let's find out.

Chocolate Diets are the diets that include chocolates in the menu. There are two ideas behind these diets. The first idea is that strong restriction is contra-productive. Eliminating chocolate completely from the diet is unrealistic and potentially detrimental. When chocolate is regarded as a food to strictly avoid during a diet this creates an increased desire for chocolate. When dieters eventually give in to their cravings they may overindulge which leads to guilt and this often results in abandoning the diet completely. This is the basic idea of the Pasta-Popcorn-Chocolate Diet devised by Lenny Neimark, in which dieters are not only allowed to eat chocolate, but also popcorn and pasta. Another chocolate diet also uses this idea to enable dieters to break their addiction to chocolate and learn how to include chocolate in the daily diet without compromising weight loss.

The second idea is that chocolate has appetite-suppressant properties. It is used to stimulate the metabolism and kick start the body’s fat burning mechanism. This idea is used in a chocolate diet that emphasizes eating chocolate and cocoa powder in pills. This diet replaces in-between meal snacking with chocolate-flavoured liquids and powders mixed with milk or water to make a healthy hunger suppressant and add a chocolate-based pill in the diet.

Chocolate diets are basically calorie-restrictive diets, low fat diet plans with small amounts of chocolate allowed daily; some accompanied with exercise recommendation. Dieters will probably lose weight on these plans due to the low calorie intakes combined with exercises.

The meal plans provide very low calories, 1000 -1250 calories per day mostly consist of various low calorie fruits, vegetables, shredded wheat, some with one small serve each of pasta and popcorn. The drinks allowed are low-fat skim milk, water (mineral or carbonated) and at some herbal tea.

How about the chocolate? Well, only a small piece (about an ounce) of chocolate a day is allowed. Chocolate fountain? Why not? As long as it is less than an ounce a day.

While they don’t ban chocolate there are plenty of other foods that are restricted on these diets including alcohol, dairy products (other than low-fat skim milk), oily fruits like avocado, red meat and nuts and seeds as well as the usual list of ‘bad’ foods like fried food and foods high in sugar. It’s a pretty restrictive list of forbidden foods and includes some healthy stuff such as nuts and seeds that have far more nutritional value than chocolate and popcorn.

However chocolate diets are generally classified as fad diets, i.e. diets which are considered to be based on irrational believes and supported by pseudo-scientific claims. Fad diets claim to be scientific but do not follow the scientific method in establishing their validity.

Well, if you are a chocoholic and worried about getting overweight, maybe this is an inspiration. Enjoy your chocolate fountain thinly covering over your fresh strawberry, or apple, or any low calorie fruit of your choice.