Just A Few Squares?
Just a few squares?
A lot of people ask us why only a few squares of our chocolate can satisfy their chocolate cravings, when usually they could quite happily demolish an entire bar of mass produced, refined sugar filled chocolate before their cravings were satisfied.
Why?
There are a number of possible reasons for this:
REFINED SUGAR:
Refined sugar behaves a lot like a drug in our bodies, in that we instinctively want more and more.
Our bodies break down this type of refined sugar very quickly, meaning that insulin and blood sugar levels skyrocket (giving us that notorious sugar ‘high’ which inevitably leads to a sugar ‘crash’). It is because of this fast digestion that you don't feel anywhere near as full after you're done eating a refined-sugar-laden snack as you would if you were to have eaten something more nutritious.
We use unrefined coconut sugar and Lucuma powder rather than refined white sugar in all of our products. These types of sugar have a lower glycemic index than refined white sugar and therefore are much more likely to satisfy a sugar craving long term than refined white sugar and are less likely to cause those dreaded sugar ‘crashes’.
HIGH QUALITY BEANS:
When you have chocolate cravings, often the higher cocoa percentage chocolate you eat, the quicker that chocolate craving is satisfied - however, if the high percentage chocolate you are eating has been made from over-roasted/burnt beans (like much of the mass-produced chocolate cocoa beans are), you are less likely to be satisfied by their bitter taste.
As bean to bar makers, we have full control over the roasting process of all varieties of our cocoa beans. This means that they will never, ever be over-roasted or burnt (none of our chocolate is bitter for that very reason) and will deliver that satisfying flavour journey that all good quality, expertly roasted cacao should give you, without any of the bitterness. This is just one of the reasons why you are likely to be much more satisfied with just a few squares of our chocolate than a much larger quantity of mass-produced, poor quality chocolate.
FIBRE:
As well as our Lucuma powder having a lower glycemic index than refined sugar, the addition of it means that our chocolate has a higher fibre content than a lot of mass-produced chocolate (our Belize chocolate contains 13g of fibre per 100g when compared to a leading mass-produced chocolate brand which contains only 2.1g of fibre per 100g.
The reason a higher fibre content makes for a more satisfying chocolate experience is because fibre slows down the absorption of sugar.
High-fibre foods take longer to digest, making you feel fuller and more satiated for longer.
MAGNESIUM:
Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It can help to maintain normal nerve and muscle function, can support a healthy immune system, can keep the heartbeat steady, and can help bones remain strong.
A chocolate craving can sometimes be your bodies way of telling you that you need magnesium. Chocolate (particularly dark chocolate and even more specifically bean to bar dark chocolate) contains magnesium. The higher the cacao content (and the higher quality the cacao), the higher the magnesium content of the chocolate will be, so often when you have a few squares of a high quality bean to bar chocolate, your secret magnesium craving will be satisfied. This craving may have taken much more mass-produced milk chocolate to satisfy it.
HEALTHY FAT:
When we are ‘satiated’, we are satisfied. Eating foods that are more satiating means that we are less likely to overeat.
Healthy fats are a satiating food as they are last to leave the digestive tract and therefore provide satiety and can keep us fuller longer.
We use organic, unrefined cocoa butter from Peru in all of our chocolate - which is a high quality, healthy fat.
The majority of chocolate companies buy preprocessed cocoa mass, add fats that are cheaper than high quality cocoa butter (such as vegetable oils). They then need to use emulsifiers (such as Soy Lecithin) to create a better consistency.
Because the fats in our chocolate are ‘healthy fats’ (high quality, organic cocoa butter), they could help you feel satiated longer than if you were to eat chocolate that was loaded with refined sugars and poor quality fats. This could explain why our chocolate leaves you more satiated than mass-produced chocolate.
DISCLAIMER: While everything above may be true, we must let it be known that we ENTIRELY support you devouring full bars of our chocolate if you so wish!