A few months ago an interesting study came out, which, like others, is part of the line of studies that tries to show that calories are not all the same. This study I’m talking about today explains for example that you can eat chocolate to lose weight, as long as two conditions are met.

• The chocolate must be milk.
• And it should be eaten in the morning for breakfast as a first food.

If, on the other hand, our goal is not to lose weight, but perhaps sleep better and be more active during the day, milk chocolate should be consumed in the evening before going to bed.

The study on chocolate therefore shows that not only calories are important, but that there are times of the day when a food consumed can give us positive effects, and times when it can hurt us. This study, for example, focuses on milk chocolate , which as a food is often demonized. Today, even the most strict nutritionists introduce a piece of chocolate into their diet, as long as it is dark or even very dark. The reason is obvious.

FONDANT AND NOT ONLY

As I explained in this article on the benefits of dark chocolate, this variety has less sugar and more cocoa mass, has no milk and is rich in antioxidants, as well as monounsaturated fats, the same as in olive oil, and saturated fats in butter. of cocoa. Both dark chocolate and bitter cocoa have been studied precisely because of these benefits, and it has been found that they promote weight loss.
However, the result obtained on milk chocolate is equally important.
If it makes you lose weight, in fact, it is precisely because of that extra mix of sugar, cocoa butter and milk and not just cocoa mass, which obviously has a lower quantity than dark chocolate.

This alone should make us understand how nutrition is anything but an exact science.
How can we explain the paradox that if it is milk and if I eat it in the morning, I can eat chocolate to lose weight?
It is not a paradox. This is explained precisely thanks to the study.

EAT CHOCOLATE TO LOSE WEIGHT: HERE’S THE MAKEUP

The study looked at a group of women who had gone through menopause.
In fact, women are more inclined to eat sweets, more gluttonous of sugary foods and carbohydrates, in general, and those who go through certain hormonal phases are more so. Cycles, pregnancies, menopause: every hormonal storm changes this relationship of women with food (“we are so, sweetly complicated”).

The group was divided into three subgroups. All the subgroups could eat the food they wanted in the quantities they wanted (it is called, in research, “diet ad libitum”) but under certain conditions.

• One group had to have breakfast with a hectogram of milk chocolate, which had to be the first thing ingested in the morning (including coffee, after) within one hour of waking up.
• The other group had to eat milk chocolate before going to bed in the evening, as a last food.
• The third was not supposed to eat chocolate. All for 2 weeks.

Well, what did the researchers discover?

That only the first group, the one who ate chocolate for breakfast, lost some weight in two weeks and had an improvement in blood sugar. In fact, compared to before the two weeks, thanks to chocolate he introduced an average of 300 fewer calories per day. Without a diet, without even realizing it. Now you will say to yourself: how can this be explained?

The reason why milk chocolate makes you eat less during the day is explained by 4 factors.

1. In the morning, first you should eat sugars to have a good blood sugar during the day.

   This has been the conclusion of numerous studies, which have found that those who drink sugar-free coffee first in the morning have worse blood sugar during the day and that those who skip breakfast are more likely to have blood sugar problems and metabolic syndrome.

2. Several studies have shown that people with blood sugar problems should eat a lot more in the morning and a lot less in the evening.

3.  Naturally calcium-rich but low-fat foods such as milk and low-fat dairy products have a positive effect on blood sugar, cholesterol and overweight, and mood.

   The reason is that they reduce levels of cortisol , the hormone responsible for, among other things, a common type of nervous hunger. This has been shown by numerous studies on the benefits of low-fat milk and yogurt, which improve anxiety and depression.

4. In satiety, a factor called palatability or palatability of food counts.

For example, foods that contain the basic sixth taste known as umami are usually very palatable and lead to less eating. In fact, if you are on a diet, a trick that I will never tire of advising you is to make it palatable: no one gets excited about eating a slice of chicken with some unseasoned salad, and sooner or later it will fail. But if I make myself a chicken salad with a yogurt and mustard sauce, or marinate the chicken with citrus juice, or glaze it with good balsamic vinegar after cooking… things change.