Fructose Free Chocolate

In my recent tell all interview I was asked whether there was anything I really missed eating now that I follow the Sweet Poison Quit Plan.

Hmmmm. *Thinking*

"No. I really don't crave for anything sweet".

Just hours after the interview the question was still tumbling around in my head.

In bed that night the question was keeping me awake.

Yes OK, I confess. When I first started my sugar detox I really missed chocolate (even more than snakes) and after a month or so I still had fond memories of the way it coats your tongue with its silky, seductive, creamy, chocolate flavour.
(refer to one of my earlier posts Goodbye My Precious)

Mmmmmmm. What's not to love about a chocolatey, sugary chunk of fat? *drool*

GRRRRRRRR!

Now go to sleep and make sure to send an update email to the reporter confessing this important revelation.
We don't want you to lose anymore sleep!

My secret chocolate confession doesn't change the fact that 6 months in I REALLY don't crave sweets (not even chocolate) and the whole exercise led me to ponder that giving up chocolate as part of the Sweet Poison Quit Plan might be a deal breaker for some.

It actually was for my daughter Suzanne.

This got me to thinking.

There must be lots of people out there that don't consider the Quit Plan because they simply cannot imagine that life is worth living without chocolate.

David is often asked the chocolate question and he is consistently dishing out this dirt to his followers when they ecstatically share their "Sugarless" chocolate bar finds in the supermarket or health food shop. His standard response is to give them the bad news that the sugar alcohol in such bars is probably worse than sugar as far as your liver is concerned. He then refers them to this website in Germany.

http://www.frusano.com/Chocolate/chocolate-bars/Filita-Dextrose-chocolate::40.html

Where you can purchase this at a price that might put you off the idea of chocolate once and for all.

Fructose Free Chocolate

I have searched (and searched) the Internet unsuccessfully trying to find more fructose free chocolate and concluded that the only thing left to do was try to make some of my own. Then I would be able to share the idea with everyone and before you know it the whole world would be fructose free and I would be the next recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize........(jointly with David Gillespie of course)

Unfortunately my dream was shattered by the reality of my chocolate making experiment.

I found an online video on how to make chocolate. Too simple I thought. Just substitute the sugar for dextrose and the Nobel prize is mine!

This is the result of my first attempt.

Even I have to admit that it looks pretty good at first glance (especially for those still mourning the loss of chocolate) but I could tell when I was mixing it that it was not going to meet my high standards. The texture was all wrong. The dextrose did not dissolve and it had a grainy appearance and taste.

My husband, on the other hand, thought it was delicious and couldn't stop eating it. I encouraged him to indulge because it didn't appeal to me at all and after all I am the one who could do with losing some more weight.

In case you are still interested or desperate here is the recipe

Melt 125g of Copha in a saucepan over medium heat.

When melted add 3/4 cup dextrose, 6 tblspns cocoa, 4 tblspns full cream milk powder and a pinch of salt

(sift all the dry ingredients together before adding to the melted copha)

Spoon into moulds, a tin or just spread it out on a piece of foil and refrigerate till set.

Not all was lost though because my failure bought out the scientist in me and I started to experiment.

I tried substituting the dextrose for liquid glucose but I ended up with a disgusting glump of chocolate goo swimming in fat. FAIL. In the bin it went.

Next I tried dissolving the dextrose in some water on the stove and then adding the other ingredients. The result looked nothing like chocolate but it tasted so delicious. Here is what  I call my Chocolate Toffee Drops

My Chocolate Toffee Drops... delicious results of an experiment gone wrong

These taste amazing (just like Pascall Chocolate Chews but a bit harder). Suddenly I was feeling so inspired that I thought I might try to make a soft caramel toffee which (if it worked) would really impress both my caramel loving Daughter and Husband. I Googled "soft toffee" and found that it is made with cream rather than water and that it should be heated to 248% (blah blah) to get a soft chewy result. I don't have a candy thermometer but that didn't stop me from trying and I was blown away by my results and my husband is too busy chewing to comment.

I can't believe I made this chewy, buttery, creamy toffee!

Clearly, if I intend to document and reproduce these treats I will need to invest in a candy thermometer because my methods so far are pretty hit and miss. There's no use me telling you stuff like "Just keep cooking it until it looks right!" I also think I need to find something called Soy Lecithin which is an emulsifier found in chocolate. It helps the fat and liquids magically combine and contrary to my initial suspicions it is not a nasty food additive.

In the meantime, I am very proud to share the results of my experiments and vow to keep working toward my Nobel Peace Prize.

Spillin' my Guts (what's left of them) to the Media in a Tell All Interview

I am busting to tell you all that I am now officially Almost Famous and it's NOT because I live next door to the teenage boy that recently caused  worldwide havoc on Twitter.

Meet Pearce the boy that lives next door (on the right) as featured in  The Age

It IS because I have just been interviewed by a reporter from Body and Soul magazine who is doing an article about The Sweet Poison Quit Plan for their glossy edition due out in May.

The interview was like a cross between a chat with a girlfriend (where you are left feeling you might have divulged too much) and a job interview (where you are left thinking you should have said more).

In order to get a better understanding of how addicted I used to be to sugar the reporter started by asking what my weakness was prior to detox. 

That was easy to answer.

Lollies!

 She wanted me to be more specific.

The Snakes and jellies that have no artificial colours or flavours and are 97% fat free. Practically a health food especially when followed by a half a block of dark chocolate!

Then she wanted to know how much of it I used to eat. 

I used to gobble down a whole packet of snakes in one go.

So would that be a 200g packet? 

Yes, but sometimes I got the packets that had 25% extra Free or the family size one if it was on special or the Party Sized packet that I had bought with the intention of making it last the rest of the week. *deep breath*

Here's the part where I really started to feel a bit sweaty and uncomfortable. She wanted me to put a figure on how much (as in grams or kilos) I went through in a week.

Ummm Errrrr OK. Lots. Several packets. Yeah. More than a kilo, probably closer to two. 

AAAArgghhhhhhhhhh! It's any wonder I was addicted to sugar and that reporter cleverly got me to spill the details of my secret addiction to her and she might possibly publish it for all the world (my husband included) to see.

So that's it.

I have done it.

Inspired by Oprah (and her recent secret sister situation) I thought I would get in first and confess to you, my loyal followers, the sordid details of my addiction before it makes 98th page news in a magazine.

People that are sceptical of David's Plan (mostly qualified Nutritionists) will no doubt conclude that I have lost weight simply because I have stopped eating lollies.

Lollies are high in calories and should be consumed in moderation as part of a healthy diet they would say. 

But here's the thing. When I feel like snacking now rather than eating lollies I now eat chips, nuts, popcorn, pretzels instead which are also high in calories and somehow I am able to do this and eat any other food that does not contain regular sugar and lose weight at the same time.

Good thing is that the facts about sugar is starting to get more attention in the press and I was so happy to read that Sarah is now on board.  http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/ 

Something tells me she might have a couple more people reading her blog than I do!

Bad news is that I have noticed that one of the big soft drink retailers is heavily promoting the fact that some of their fizzy drinks now don't contain any artificial colours or flavours.

Six months ago I would have been impressed and stocked up on the "healthy version" of soft drink. Lucky for me. I have seen the light (glaring as it was) and I am never going to fall for the old No Artificial Colours or Flavours trick again! 

I'll let you know about the interview if and when it is published.