5 SWEET TREATS WITH LOW CALORIES

It was found by biochemical studies that the three basic nutrients in human body-carbohydrate (sugar), fat and protein are all available to transfer into energy (calorie) through various biochemical processes so as to meet the requirements of body metabolism and activities. 1 gram carbohydrate produces approximately 4,000 calories, and 1 gram fat produces 9,000 calories. Protein cannot be normally consumed as energy, but if in some circumstances when it needs protein to provide energy, then 1 gram protein will also produce 4,000 calories. Meanwhile, excessive intake of the three nutrients will convert the excessive energies to fat. Let us call this principle as “central dogma” of the three major nutrients.

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This law tells us that it is to control the total energy intake that will achieve the goal to lose weight. New proteins are needed everyday in our human body to update old proteins that exist, and therefore we cannot reduce protein intake too much low, we could only figure it out from carbohydrate and fat intake. Atkins and some fellow have proposed a concept of “low-carbohydrate diet” that by reducing the amount of daily intake of carbohydrate to achieve the purpose of reducing caloric intake. And carbohydrates mainly exist in staple food (rice, flour), so low-carbohydrate diet features in reducing the intake of staple food.

And now let’s talk about our favorite desserts. What’s the relation between low-calorie desserts and low-carbohydrate diet? They both feature on low energies, and as we know that desserts are sweet, while carbohydrate contains sugar as well, so it must be concluded that in order to lose weight, you need to eat low-calorie desserts instead of desserts high in sugar content. And both of the two works the same on helping weight loss. I wrote it down just want you to know how the “central dogma” functions and help you understand deeply. So what is a low-calorie dessert?

Low-calorie dessert refers to ingredients containing of no sugar, egg, wheat flour or dairy products but sufficient fruits and nuts. Cookies, brownies and ice creams made without heating can be classified as low-calorie desserts. Like raw food, the enzyme in ingredients of desserts will always exist and bring no burden to digestion, thus help losing weight greatly. Moreover, it could make your skin more elastic, your hair glossier and lose body fat easier.

It would make you feel the delicacy of desserts plentifully without whipping cream but with creamy stuff by blending soaked nuts or dried nuts. Although the process of making would be a little waste of effort, but the nutrition and natural sweetness condensed in raw ingredients are fabulous that few cooked food can approach in health and delicacy. More importantly, it brings not much calories for human body, which is scientifically proved by the concept of “central dogma”. And let’s have a look of how to make these low-calorie desserts!

Special cacao soup

Ingredients: 50g almonds, 100cc water, half a banana, 1 tbsp raw cacao powder, 10g dates, a little fresh orange juice & pepper

1. Soak almonds in water for over 1 hour
2. Drain the almonds and blend fully with 100cc water
3. Cover a clean cloth on a bowl, pour the mix into the bowl to get the almond milk
4. Blend almond milk, banana, raw cacao powder, dates and fresh orange juice together until glossy and smooth
5. Pour the mix into a glass, sprinkle some pepper
Tips: Raw cacao powder refers to non-heated cacao powder in the process of making. Plain cacao powder will do if you cannot buy raw.
You can mix banana with almond milk and get a banana milkshake, or eat with oat.

Special cacao soup

Stew made of fruits

Ingredients: half a grapefruit, 150g raspberries, 4 dates, pinch fruits that you love (banana, pear, pineapple or blueberry)

1. Cut fruits into proper size
2. Remove the stone of grapefruit
3. Blend grapefruit, raspberries and dates fully
4. Pour the mixture into a container
5. Top the mixture with fruits of step 1
Tips: Remove the stones of dates firstly, if it’s hard to do, soak dates with water for several minutes.
Sprinkle some pepper would add soup with more sweetness.

Stew made of fruits

Powdered ginger honey ice cream

Ingredients: 50g cashews, 50cc water, coconut oil, 25g honey, a little salt, 0.5cm long vanilla bean (spoon out the beans), 10g powdered ginger, a quarter lime juice, pinch honey (for processing)

1. In a bowl mix powdered ginger, honey, lime juice well
2. After 1 hour’s standing, soak cashews in water for more than 30 minutes
3. Drain the cashews and blend with water, coconut oil, salt, vanilla beans together
4. Put 1 and 3 together in a container, cover it with a plastic wrap and store in a fridge
5. Top with some honey when eating
Tips: It is for the quality feeling that we use coconut oil, if you cannot buy the coconut oil, you can omit it.

Powdered ginger honey ice cream

Fig waffle

Ingredients: 50g figs (roughly crushed), 30g dates (roughly crushed), 50g walnuts, a little nutmeg & cinnamon, 10g raisins, 30g figs (for dressing)

1. Crush figs and dates, add walnuts, nutmeg, cinnamon ad mix well
2. Cover a box-shaped container with plastic wrap, place figs and raisins for dressing, then add 1, try to adjust the mixture to a 1cm thick square and compact properly. Store in refrigerator
3. Cut it into proper size when eating
Tips: It’s tasty if you match it with red wine or other drinks

Fig waffle

Cashew butter mousse

Ingredients: 25g cashews, 50cc water, half an avocado, 1 cup raw cocoa powder, 2 cups maple syrup, a little salt

1. Soak cashews in water for more than 30 minutes
2. Drain cashews and blend with other ingredients
3. Pour 2 into a mould, and store in a fridge
Tips: it will be delicious as the chocolate mousse after freezing

Cashew butter mousse

A little knowledge about “Mediterranean diet”:

In the investigation of obesity all around the world, it was discovered that in Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain, the total dietary fat intake of their inhabitants is comparable with the Americans, but the incidence of cardiovascular disease is much lower than the Americans. Why could it be like that? In addition to physical exercise and sunshine, the most important thing is that the local residents have different eating habits. This particular diet emphasizes on eating more vegetables, fruits, fish, seafood, beans and nuts, followed by cereals. And they use vegetable oil instead of animal oil when cooking, especially olive oil. And they also drink proper red wine and eat spicy plants like garlic. Thus nutritionists have proposed the “Mediterranean diet” concept, which not merely emphasizes on the balance of the three major nutrients, but also underlines its origin is healthy.

Thus you may wonder which diet is best for good health and weight loss. Researchers from Israel have launched a two-year, large-scale and prospective study to compare the two dietary patterns for moderate obesity, and the result is very interesting.

And the final result comes to show that in terms of weight loss, both of the two diets have obvious effects on losing weight, while low-carbohydrate diet group has the most significant effect at 24 months. The reason is because carbohydrate will join our human body as a monosaccharide form, while it could be firstly burned when the body needs energy, so when carbohydrate is insufficient, our body will seek help from fat and lastly protein. Under the pattern of low-carbohydrate diet, our body will make use of fat more often. In sum, if you want to lose weight, the best method is to run a low-carbohydrate diet, while if you want to eat desserts, eat low-calorie ones.