Tuesday

How to make healthy hot cocoa (boosts metabolism too!)

You might have heard the news about my newest co-authored fat loss manual called Do This, Burn Fat: 101 Sneaky (Yet Simple) Tricks to Lose Fat Fast and today's healthy metabolism-boosting hot cocoa idea is Trick #2 out of the 101 sneaky fat-burning tricks inside this new manual.

Here's how to do it:

TRICK #2:  Drink hot cocoa, but ONLY this homemade recipe.

If you have a chocolate weakness, this will not only help you survive…but burn more fat in the process.  Plus, this concoction is LOADED with super powerful antioxidants in the cocoa which can fight the aging process, control blood sugar, and help maintain healthy blood pressure.  Not only that, but it contains healthy fats called MCTs that can even have a slight metabolism-boosting effect as well as immune-boosting benefits.

Here goes…

Buy some unsweetened organic cocoa powder (NOT the pre-packaged hot chocolate garbage that is usually loaded with sugar, corn syrup solids, and hydrogenated oils) and mix a heaping Tbsp of organic cocoa with 10-12 oz of unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, or non-homogenized pasture-raised milk  (or if you prefer, you can use coffee or a brewed unsweetened chocolate tea as the base liquid) in a small saucepan over very LOW heat.

Using a whisk can help blend the cocoa evenly.  I then add about 2-3 tbsp of coconut cream from a can to add more healthy fats (a source of MCTs) to this delicious healthy hot cocoa. You can find canned organic coconut milk in the Asian section of almost any grocery store.  If you prefer, instead of coconut cream, or in addition, you can also use grass-fed heavy cream, which has it's own set of health benefits -- Organic Valley and Kalona are 2 great brands of pasture-raised cream we've found in stores near us.

Add some stevia (for added sweetness without any added grams of sugar) and a touch of vanilla extract while stirring over the low heat, and in a few minutes, you’ll have a delicious, creamy, frothy mug of healthy hot cocoa -- WITHOUT all of the sugar and trans fats that are loaded into a typical pre-packaged hot cocoa mix.

You can also add a half scoop of your favorite vanilla or chocolate protein powder (this is my favorite high quality grass-fed protein I've found) while stirring this mix together on the stove if you want a little protein boost from this hot cocoa too!  In the final drink concoction, you’ll get the satisfying shot of chocolate along with muscle-feeding, fat-burning protein, a nice dose of fiber from the cocoa, healthy fats from the coconut cream (including powerful medium chain triglycerides), and a mega-shot of healthy antioxidants overall too! 

You end up with a super healthy hot cocoa that has virtually no sugar, so you can avoid the wild blood sugar spike you get with normal hot cocoa.

Bonus healthy hot cocoa tip:  If you like coffee, feel free to use an organic coffee as the liquid base for making this hot cocoa, or use a shot of espresso to the final hot cocoa to make a mocha flavor.  The antioxidants in the coffee are different than some of the antioxidants in the cocoa and work synergistically together to give you even more of a potent antioxidant 1-2 punch!

Choose organic cocoa and organic coffee as much as you can because always remember that pesticide and herbicide residues that can be in the conventional versions of these can cause estrogenic effects in both men and women, which only makes fat loss harder.  Pesticides are a form of what’s called “xenoestrogens” and have many negative consequences in your body besides causing more difficult fat loss.  The more that consumers demand organic products, prices will continually keep coming down, and it’s a shift in our society that’s long overdue.

If you liked this metabolism-boosting healthy hot cocoa idea, you're going to LOVE the fat-burning tricks on the next page.

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/101-sneaky-tricks.html

Enjoy!

PS -- if you liked today's healthy hot cocoa idea, please fwd this email on to any of your friends, family, or co-workers that would enjoy this delicious drink too!

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist