On what to do after you've broken your diet--chocolate, gummies, cookies
2.5lb off from my true weight! Whoot! But that's not actually what this blog post is about; I actually want to write about breaking your diet.
So on Easter Sunday I made a few dozen toffees for a potluck, with matzo, sugar, butter, chocolate--all the good stuff. And I went through the whole potluck without touching it (I knew they were good, I'd made them before), and the Monday after as well as I gave away leftovers as Easter gifts.
Well the problem were the leftovers--on Monday night I had 4 toffees left, lying in the fridge, that I simply couldn't bear to waste by throwing away. I already knew on Monday that leaving them in the fridge was just asking for trouble. But they didn't fit in the gift jars so I left them anyway. Well by Tuesday morning they were gone. All four of them--because you know, once you cave, you can't just stop caving--once you have a chocolate you'll have the whole lot.
So on Tuesday I was understandably terrified, because now that my body realized that I could cave I knew that my dessert and junk food cravings would become simply uncontrollable. I had to do something about it, and fighting wouldn't work. See, the thing is that willpower is like a muscle; there's no such thing as infinite willpower--sooner of later you will overexert it and it will sprain. That's why the trick to dieting is to deny yourself of unhealthy things without your body realizing that it's being denied of unhealthy things. Which is extremely complicated and difficult because, well, your body just isn't stupid.
So on Tuesday I started on a 'bad food' making spree to ensure that the risk of breaking again at this critical stage was at a minimum. The first things I made were chocolate bars.
Now I've been making Dukan nutella, and the thing you realize with it is that the more milk powder you use, the firmer it gets--to a point. And at that point you can't mix it anymore and then it's neither a paste nor a solid, and you're kind of nowhere. But once you nuke the mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds it gets softer and then you can stir it again. I'm not saying this is like a conventional chocolate bar, but there's something about eating a rich, solid chunk of 'chocolatey something' that satisfies my cravings completely.
Anyway, here's how I did it:
1. mix:
3. nuke 20 seconds in the microwave, mix again while soft
5. stick in the fridge to harden
One bar (one recipe) is about 80 calories
Next I made gummies, which is a very good study snack. You can find all sorts of recipes online; I made it with 2 (0.3 oz) pckt fat-free jello, 3 pckt knox unflavored gelatine, and 1/2 cup water and used candy molds sprinkled with corn starch (to keep them from sticking) to set them with.
Finally, I found a King Arthur flourless chocolate fudge cookie recipe and adapted it into the Dukan guidelines. They were amazing: rich, gooey, and decadent.
1 1/3 cup powdered sweetener (just put granulated sweetener in a blender and pulse until powdered-- I used my usual Splenda--Equal--Stevia blend of artificial sweeteners)
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa--use good ones, and very dark: I used 1/4 cup Hershey's Extra Dark, and 1/4 cup Droste unsweetened.
a pinch of salt
1 large egg
1 tbsp essence--use what you have, I used 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp chocolate essence, 1 tsp butter (more suggestions would be coffee, rum... be creative! We have to add complexity and flavor with what little means are available to us--good quality essence can really make the decadence in a recipe)
1. Preheat oven 350 F
2. Mix together--don't give up! At first it seems like a dry mess but be very ungentle and it will suddenly turn into a stiff chocolatey dough
3. Using a spoon and wet fingers (dip your fingers in water before handling every cookie), shape into 1/2 tablespoon (as in the ones you use to eat) balls on a cookie sheet. They should make 18.
4. Using wet fingers, flatten as artificial sugars do not allow cookies to spread.
5. Bake until done. I don't give a time because the recipe said 8 min, but mine took 4 min. The thing with artificial sweeteners is that you can't really predict how much faster they will bake. Take them out when they are still soft in the centers.
So on Easter Sunday I made a few dozen toffees for a potluck, with matzo, sugar, butter, chocolate--all the good stuff. And I went through the whole potluck without touching it (I knew they were good, I'd made them before), and the Monday after as well as I gave away leftovers as Easter gifts.
 |
| These were the culprits, don't they look good? |
So on Tuesday I was understandably terrified, because now that my body realized that I could cave I knew that my dessert and junk food cravings would become simply uncontrollable. I had to do something about it, and fighting wouldn't work. See, the thing is that willpower is like a muscle; there's no such thing as infinite willpower--sooner of later you will overexert it and it will sprain. That's why the trick to dieting is to deny yourself of unhealthy things without your body realizing that it's being denied of unhealthy things. Which is extremely complicated and difficult because, well, your body just isn't stupid.
So on Tuesday I started on a 'bad food' making spree to ensure that the risk of breaking again at this critical stage was at a minimum. The first things I made were chocolate bars.
Now I've been making Dukan nutella, and the thing you realize with it is that the more milk powder you use, the firmer it gets--to a point. And at that point you can't mix it anymore and then it's neither a paste nor a solid, and you're kind of nowhere. But once you nuke the mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds it gets softer and then you can stir it again. I'm not saying this is like a conventional chocolate bar, but there's something about eating a rich, solid chunk of 'chocolatey something' that satisfies my cravings completely.
Anyway, here's how I did it:
1. mix:
1 tbsp cocoa
5tbsp milk powder
1 tbsp sweetener
1/2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp sweetener
1/2 tbsp milk
few drops vanilla and imitation butter
2. Separately, mix:
1/2 tbsp. milk with ½ tsp cornstarch
and combine with first mixture
3. nuke 20 seconds in the microwave, mix again while soft
4. heap onto aluminium, roll out and shape like a chocolate bar, lift aluminium off and sprinkle with sea salt
 |
| The finished product (and my half-baked rolling out attempt) |
One bar (one recipe) is about 80 calories
Next I made gummies, which is a very good study snack. You can find all sorts of recipes online; I made it with 2 (0.3 oz) pckt fat-free jello, 3 pckt knox unflavored gelatine, and 1/2 cup water and used candy molds sprinkled with corn starch (to keep them from sticking) to set them with.
1 1/3 cup powdered sweetener (just put granulated sweetener in a blender and pulse until powdered-- I used my usual Splenda--Equal--Stevia blend of artificial sweeteners)
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa--use good ones, and very dark: I used 1/4 cup Hershey's Extra Dark, and 1/4 cup Droste unsweetened.
a pinch of salt
1 large egg
1 tbsp essence--use what you have, I used 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp chocolate essence, 1 tsp butter (more suggestions would be coffee, rum... be creative! We have to add complexity and flavor with what little means are available to us--good quality essence can really make the decadence in a recipe)
1. Preheat oven 350 F
2. Mix together--don't give up! At first it seems like a dry mess but be very ungentle and it will suddenly turn into a stiff chocolatey dough
3. Using a spoon and wet fingers (dip your fingers in water before handling every cookie), shape into 1/2 tablespoon (as in the ones you use to eat) balls on a cookie sheet. They should make 18.
4. Using wet fingers, flatten as artificial sugars do not allow cookies to spread.
5. Bake until done. I don't give a time because the recipe said 8 min, but mine took 4 min. The thing with artificial sweeteners is that you can't really predict how much faster they will bake. Take them out when they are still soft in the centers.
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