Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, preferably Dutch-process
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup fruit-based fat replacement, such as Lighter Bake, or unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 cups grated zucchini, (1 medium)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Spread walnuts in a pie pan and bake until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Whisk eggs, sugar, fruit-based fat replacement (or applesauce), oil, vanilla and melted chocolate in another large bowl until blended. Add to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in zucchini and the reserved walnuts. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops.
5. Bake the loaves 55 to 60 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto rack and cool completely.

Chocolate!

You are seriously talking to one of the biggest chocoholics in the world right now. When I was younger I would have made every meal out of chocolate if I could, even nowadays it is rare for a day to go by where I don’t eat chocolate. There’s something about that piece of chocolate that always makes your day a bit better. So you can only imagine how excited I was to find out that chocolate actually does have quite a few benefits for you.

Often times when we are stressed or nervous we like to indulge in a bit of chocolate. It happens to most of us, you get stressed and a comforting bit of chocolate always seems to help. It ends up that those couple bites of chocolate while stressing or nervous could actually help lower your stress level and calm you down. Even J.K. Rowling knew that when she was writing Harry Potter, Harry was handed chocolate all the time throughout the series whenever something stressful, or emotionally draining came up (e.x. Dementors)!

On those stressful days where you’ve spent your whole time working on the computer or studying for a big test, chocolate could actually be one of the best things for you to eat! Chocolate is a brainfood!! Professor Ian Macdonald conducted a study at the University of Nottingham in which he found that eating a piece of dark chocolate rich with flavanols boosts the blood flow to your brain. This new boost gives your brain a refreshed sense of energy that can help with concentration, attentiveness, and alertness for two to three hours after. Next time you feel tired, out of power or out of ideas just eat a couple pieces of chocolate, and notice the boost you’ll get!

Dark chocolate can even help you lose weight! Weird, right? Chocolate can help you lose weight? Chocolate (especially dark chocolate) is filling, which means that after eating a few pieces you will no longer be hungry or crave other foods that you don’t need. It can help stop the unnecessary eating.

Plus, Cocoa Beans (what coffee is made from) is full of an organic compound known as flavanols, which are known to help lower blood pressure while also increasing your vascular functions. By lowering your blood pressure and increasing your vascular function you will also be reducing your risk of heart attacks and stroke.

Now this doesn’t go for all chocolate though. While all chocolates definitely have some health benefits, the chocolates that contain more flavanols have been known to provide you with the most benefits. For example, dark chocolate is known be richer in flavanols than milk chocolate, and let’s face it something like a Milky Way bar is pretty much going to be all sugar. The darker the chocolate, the more flavanols it has, and the more it can help you out throughout your day! So never feel guilty about eating about eating your chocolate, you are actually doing something good for you body by eating it!
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Chrisi Keating

Santa Clara University

Communications Major

Egg-cellent

One of my roommates started this diet where all he ate was eggs. Well, that isn’t quite true, I caught him with a pint of froyo, but most of his meals consisted of eggs, whether they were hard-boiled or scrambled, he always ate eggs. It was weird. Or so I thought. Ends up eggs are in fact very good for you. I wouldn’t go as far to say that you should switch all you meals to consist of eggs, but they definitely are good. 

Eggs have been completely misunderstood in recent. Eggs have gotten a bad reputation in the past and they were believed to have possible negative effects on people. However that isn’t quite right. It ends up that eggs are a food that holds more nutrients than most other foods. As J.R.R Tolkien once riddled in The Hobbit  what is “A box without hinges, key, or lid; yet golden treasure inside is hid.” The answer of course is an egg! Eggs are like little treasure chests full of nutrients. 

Many people have spoken about how the consumption of eggs would raise your cholesterol. Though that is somewhat true, it is doubtful that eggs are the main thing making your cholesterol bad, chances are it’s barely playing a role. Eggs are stuffed full of different nutrients, not only are they a fantastic source of protein, but they also provide you with vitamin A, D, and E, potassium, folic acid, choline, carotenoids, amino acids, and plenty of antioxidant powers. 

And then this whole egg white craze began. Yes, egg whites are healthy. Egg whites only contain protein, which is good! Protein is important. However all the rest of the nutrients that the eggs hold are found in the yolk. Tolkien was right, the yolk of an egg is a treasure in its own way. The yolk of an egg provides your body with leucine. Leucine is an amino acid, that is a huge help in building your muscles. 

Eggs are can even be a superfood when it comes to weight loss. Egg’s are super low in calories, and filling making them a great food to eat while trying to lose weight. A hard-boiled egg is a mere 78 calories. Now they aren’t some magic food that will cause you to lose weight, but they can definitely be a great addition to any low- calorie meal or snack. Plus they can be just as satisfying when cooked right, as carbs, AND they keep you feeling full for longer. It’s a great substitute if you are used to a carb breakfast like breads or rolls. 

Eggs have so much to offer, it’s not fair to believe the negative ideas people began believing. Eggs are a treasure; a small little food, that is easy to cook, full of nutrients, and very few calories. How can you say no to a food like that? They’re egg-cellent! (Cheesy I know, but it’s true)!!

Healthy Recipes: Pineapple & Ham Bread Soufflé

INGREDIENTS

1 pound soft whole-wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed

6 large eggs, separated

3/4 cup low-fat milk

3 8-ounce cans crushed pineapple, very well drained

1 1/2 cups finely diced ham steak

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

PREPARATION

1.       Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 2 1/2-quart soufflé or casserole dish with cooking spray.

2.       Process bread in a food processor in three batches, until coarse crumbs form (about 5 cups).

3.       Whisk 2 egg yolks (discard the remaining yolks or reserve for another use), milk, pineapple and ham in a large bowl. Stir in the breadcrumbs and butter.

4.       Beat 6 egg whites, sugar and salt in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whites into the bread mixture in two batches. Transfer to the prepared dish.

5.       Bake the soufflé until puffed, golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers at least 160°F, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

NUTRITION

Per serving: 475 calories; 16 g fat ( 7 g sat , 5 g mono ); 117 mg cholesterol; 59 g carbohydrates; 24 gprotein; 6 g fiber; 493 mg sodium; 320 mg potassium.

The Problem With Weightloss

There are many things that could be standing between you and your weight loss goal. But could you be your own worst enemy? There are many common problems in weight loss, and often it’s something that we are doing (or something we are not doing) that is causing the difficulty.

            Thinking a workout means you can pig out afterwards is one of those downfalls. Just because you complete a really good strong work out, doesn’t mean you can go pig out at some delicious burger bar -- you still need to watch what you eat if you want to lose weight. By working out, and then scarfing down all the food you have in the house, you just end up undoing the workout you just sweated through. If fat or weight loss is your goal, you are still going to need to watch what you eat after working out. But if your goal is to maintain your weight, having some delicious fatty fries would be fine.

            Short term solutions to lose weight may allow you to shed a few pounds quickly, but you won’t necessarily be able to keep them off. Yes, most of the diets work well, and you may drop a few pounds, but what happens when you’re done with the diet, or have reached your desired weight? You go back to normal habits, you don’t continue with the diet anymore, so you start to gain the weight that you worked hard to lose back again.

            Skipping breakfast is one of the worst things you can do while trying to lose weight. I know it sounds like if you skip breakfast it seems like you have cut a meal out of your day; however, cutting breakfast is more likely to cause weight gain than loss. When your body doesn’t get food in the morning, it holds on to the next meal for as long as it can and slows down your metabolism. Plus it’s the most important meal of the day. Don’t skip breakfast!!

            Making drastic changes can also ruin the weight loss. If you all of sudden go from not working out to trying to run 6 miles, or spend hours doing some sort of cardio or strength training, you will find it difficult to continue. It is best to ease yourself into an an exercise routine that you will actually be able to keep up. That goes for what you eat too--making a huge change to your diet will make it difficult to keep up. Cutting out all sweets at once, for instance, is just cruel and difficult to do. Try limiting yourself to a small portion instead.

            It’s amazing what water can do for you, but while trying to lose weight just making sure you drink enough water throughout the day could be one of your biggest helps in shedding those pounds!

            Also doing something unpleasant can be a hinderance. It doesn’t matter how much you want to lose weight, if you don’t feel comfortable with your diet or exercise routine, it’s not going to work.

            A negative attitude could be your biggest downfalls while trying to lose weight. If you think it’s not possible, or there’s no way you can lose the weight, you will not lose the weight. A defeatist attitude never helps achieve your goals (and that applies to more than just weight loss).