Oh, Mondays. The alarm goes off, the dogs (or kids) clamor to be fed, and you just may have to talk yourself into being excited about the day.
What can make a Monday morning better? Easy—chocolate!
Lest you think I’m still in a Valentine’s Day coma, let me assure you that chocolate is a regular food group for me. Stripped down to its essential natural ingredient—cocoa—chocolate is an antioxidant-rich, ancient tradition that can balance hormones, fight free-radicals, and of course, delight the senses.
What gives chocolate a bad rap is all the things we do to it in the candy aisle–read the average candy label and you’ll find loads of sci-fi sounding ingredients, plus ladles of sugar, which wreaks havoc on your metabolism.
If you’ve read my post “Does Breakfast Make You Hungrier?”, you know that I advocate a low carb morning breakfast to help manage insulin levels and fight fat. (Read, no grains or other carbs until noon other than veggies and occasional fruit.)
This wasn’t too hard for us until we recently found out, after some allergy tests, that my husband has sensitivities to eggs, cheese, whey protein, bananas, peanut-butter, and almonds–which had all been staples in our morning breakfasts.
And while a tofu-veggie scramble will do the trick most days, sometimes it’s just not very fun. Enter Chocolate Raspberry Walnut Chia Pudding–a yummy low carb morning breakfast that you can whip up the night before and then grab-and-go in the morning.
So enough talk–let’s get down to the recipe, so you TOO can enjoy a chocolatey snack first thing while actually doing your heart a favor.
Chocolate Raspberry Walnut Chia Pudding Recipe
2 cups unsweetened flax or almond milk
1/2 cup chia seeds
2 scoops chocolate protein powder (I use Garden of Life vegan Raw Protein)
1 Tablespoon dark cocoa powder
6 drops liquid Stevia (I recommend Whole Foods’ 365 brand in french vanilla)
Stir all ingredients together with a spoon, and leave overnight in the fridge. The mixture will be thin when you put it in the refrigerator–the chia seeds take time to absorb the moisture and plump up to a nice, rich pudding.
When ready to serve, top with fresh raspberries and walnuts, and maybe a splash of coconut coffee-creamer for an extra rich treat.
This also makes a good dessert, obviously, but why not try it for breakfast?
This morning I opted for a cup of yerba mate tea in lieu of my usual coffee. I feel like I’ve become a little too dependent on my morning cup of joe–not because coffee is bad for you, but because it hasn’t been tasting as good to me lately and yet I still drink it out of routine.
HABIT ALERT! If you’re eating or drinking something you don’t absolutely love, that doesn’t necessarily do anything for you health wise, we have a problem.
We can so easily fall into ruts of dependency and habit that don’t really increase our happiness. This can be especially true of things like alcohol, sugar, cheap junk food, drive-through’s, etc.
And while I don’t advocate giving up everything that brings you pleasure (hello, I just told you to eat chocolate for breakfast), I do absolutely urge you to pause before each thing you eat or drink and ask yourself,
How much do I really want this?
If the answer is, “not much,” then see if it will kill you to go without temporarily. As I was brewing my tea, I told myself that if I really wanted coffee afterwards I could have it.
I’ll likely have my one or two cups of morning coffee most mornings, but the point is that I didn’t miss it terribly by giving it up. I listened to my body and my tastes, and if a habit as entrenched as coffee can be dismissed with no big deal, so can more detrimental habits. (Sleeping in, binge-watching tv every night, the morning donut run, etc.)
Love your food. Love yourself.
(For more tips on healthy food choices that also make you happy, download my free Make-Ahead Breakfast Recipe Guide for 4 more easy, high-protein, low-carb recipes!)
