The Chocolate Diet
What it is: British diet author Sally Ann Voak created this diet that allows you to maintain healthy eating habits, while still indulging in chocolate. The goal of the diet is to break your addiction to chocolate, so that you will then be able to incorporate it back into your diet in a healthy way.
How it works: The low-calorie diet (about 1,000 calories the first week and 1,200-1,300 thereafter) and exercise plan will help you lose weight. Voak claims that following the diet closely will lead to losing 7 pounds in two weeks.
What you do: Voak categorizes chocoholics into 6 different types:
- Secret bingers – those who hide chocolate or consume it secretively
- Romantics – people who use chocolate as a substitute for physical and emotional connection
- Comfort eaters – the most common type. People who eat when they are stressed or upset
- Weekend indulgers – those who use weekends or celebrations as an excuse to indulge
- Sugar addicts – people who consume a lot of carbs and may use chocolate as an energy boost
- Premenstrual cravers - women who overindulge at certain times in their cycle
Based on what category you fall in, there is a specific calorie-conscience diet and exercise plan for you. All of the diets start with the complete elimination of chocolate for the first week, followed by dieters being allowed a daily chocolate reward in subsequent weeks.
The meal plan allows you to consume an unlimited quantity of certain vegetables, including broccoli, spinach, tomato and mushrooms. In addition, dieters are encouraged to drink skim milk and herbal tea, and to supplement their eating plan with a dietary supplement. Each diet plan also has a recommended exercise regimen that may include walking, swimming or yoga.
Benefits: Because the diet allows you to consume some chocolate, you will feel less deprived and tempted to binge or cheat on the plan. The diet also emphasizes a low-calorie diet full of vegetables, and a healthy exercise routine.
The Down Side: The calorie intake of the meal plans may be too low for someone with a physically active lifestyle. In addition, consuming small portions of chocolate may lead some dieters to crave even more. The 7 pound weight loss laid out in this plan is thought by experts to be unrealistic, and in some cases, unhealthy.
Easy Chocolate Recipes to Incorporate Back Into Your Diet:
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