How to Cook Healthy Food for Kids : Make Chocolate Avocado Pudding Recipe

In the weight management classes I teach, there are certain foods that inevitably come up: ice cream and chocolate.  In a previous post, I discussed how you can use the good fats from avocado to substitute for the bad saturated fats in heavy cream to make a healthier mint ice cream:
http://doctorchrisko.blogspot.com/2013/07/cooking-for-your-kids-does-milk-do-body.html

Chocolate is not only a favorite food for self-professed chocolate lovers, but for most kids and everybody alike.  The problem with chocolate is that it contains bad saturated fat from cocoa butter as well as refined sugar.  When you give your kids a piece of chocolate, you are letting the chocolate companies decide how much sugar and saturated fat your kids should be eating. 

Instead of chocolate, try using cocoa powder.  Cocoa may actually be good for you!  Cocoa intake has been associated with lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol.  By using cocoa powder instead of chocolate in your desserts, you can get your chocolate fix while avoiding the addition of bad fat and toxic levels of sugar.  Just make sure to check the ingredient list for pure cocoa powder with no added sugars!

In the following clip, I demonstrate a very easy recipe for a creamy chocolate pudding which uses cocoa powder and the good unsaturated fats from avocado.  Your kids will eat this up!  (Do not give to infants less than one year of age due to the inclusion of raw honey).

Here is the link to the recipe I used in the above video:
http://www.wholeliving.com/133485/chocolate-pudding




References


D. Taubert, N. Jung, and R. Roesen. Cocoa intake and blood pressure reply. JAMA, 298(16):1863, 2007. S. 

Baba, M. Natsume, A. Yasuda, Y. Nakamura, T. Tamura, N. Osakabe, M. Kanegae, and K. Kondo. Plasma ldl and hdl cholesterol and oxidized ldl concentrations are altered in normo-and hypercholesterolemic humans after intake of different levels of cocoa powder. Journal of Nutrition, 137(6) 1436, 2007. 

S. Baba, N. Osakabe, Y. Kato, M. Natsume, A. Yasuda, T. Kido, K. Fukuda, Y. Muto, and K. Kondo. Continuous intake of polyphenolic compounds containing cocoa powder reduces ldl oxidative susceptibility and has beneficial effects on plasma hdl-cholesterol concentrations in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85(3):709, 2007.