With Easter weekend having just passed, many retailers will have been reducing their Easter treats to unbeatable prices, making the temptation to fill your basket with chocolate more tempting than ever before.
Plus, if you have children in the home, there will be plenty of Easter goodies lying around the house trying to tempt you. From leftover Easter Eggs to a family-sized sharing bag of tasty treats, it’s only natural to be finding it tricky to stick to a healthy diet and fight temptation.
However, there are ways to satisfy those cravings without having to break your healthy eating streak.
High-protein chocolate snacks
Even though this may feel a little bit like cheating, it’s not. Having a high-protein diet is important – even if you want to lose fat. So, swapping out an everyday sweet treat, like a bar of chocolate or a pack of sweets, for a high-protein alternative is the ideal way to satisfy your sweet tooth.
With 20g of protein in every pack, SCI-MX’s Protein Brownie is the perfect indulgent treat for anyone wanting a sweet treat on the go. Alternatively, if you’re craving white chocolate, SCI-MX recently launched the new Protein Blondie. It boasts luscious white chocolate chips and a soft, gooey texture that delivers an authentic treat for your taste buds.
Add chocolate-flavoured protein powder to recipes
As well as high-protein chocolate snacks, there is a variety of chocolate protein powders available across the market. Whether you’re looking to build muscle and bulk up, or you’re trying to repair muscle after a workout, protein powder is a quick and easy way to increase the level of protein in your diet.
SCI-MX has a range of chocolate-flavoured protein powders, meal replacement shakes, and breakfast shakes, which will help satisfy those chocolate cravings. The range includes Pro V-Gain Protein in chocolate – perfect for those who are either vegan or vegetarian – Ultra Whey chocolate, and even a chocolate Breakfast Shake, to name just a few! The protein-rich products include cocoa powder, which gives them that smooth, chocolatey flavour people often crave when they’re steering away from chocolate.
If you’re looking for an alternative way to use your protein powder that isn’t a shake, below are a couple of chocolate-inspired recipes which will help satisfy your chocolate craving without breaking your healthy eating plans:
Chocolate French toast
Ingredients:
- 2-3 slices of bread of choice
- 60ml liquid egg whites OR 1 large egg
- 15g SCI-MX Diet Chocolate Protein powder
- 30ml plant/dairy milk
- 5g cocoa powder
- 8g granulated sweetener/sugar of choice
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 8g vegan/dairy butter
Method:
- Mix the egg/egg whites, cocoa powder, sweetener, milk and vanilla extract together.
- Soak the bread slices one at a time on both sides in the mix for 10-20 seconds.
- Add butter to the pan and heat it up to medium heat. Once butter begins to bubble add in the bread.
- Cook on both sides until the egg mixture is cooked.
- Top each slice with toppings of your choice to serve.
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Chocolate and jam cake
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 15g SCI-MX Chocolate Ultra-Why Protein
- 15g Flour
- 10g Cacao
- 3g Baking Powder
- Sweetener
- 50-100ml Milk
- 2 Eggs
For the filling:
- 150g Yoghurt
- 10g Jam
For the chocolate ganache top:
- 5g Cacao
- Liquid Sweetener and Water (dependent on the consistency you want)
Method:
- Start off by mixing all of the ingredients for the cake.
- Once you have a smooth mixture, pour it all into a baking tin before cooking for 20-30mins at 180C.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cake time to cool.
- When cooled, cut 3-4 circles out of the cake – you can use a glass to help you!
- Spread a thin layer of jam and yoghurt on each layer and then stack them on top of one another.
- Mix all of the chocolate ganache ingredients together (be very careful with the amount of water!) and pour it on top.
It's all about balance
Don’t forget, a healthy diet is all about moderation. So, if you really are craving some chocolate and high-protein alternatives aren’t quite hitting the spot, think about how you can include chocolate in your diet in moderation.