Although the Swiss are hardly likely to be shouting about the harm one of their most successful industries can do to you, the study has been recently championed by US health writer and GP Terry Gaff. It suggests that eating chocolate can actually reduce our chances of suffering from heart problems.

The research investigated the difference in heart-related deaths between those people who ate chocolate and those who didn’t, while also studying the effects of the quantity eaten. It was found that those who consumed chocolate less than once a month suffered 27% fewer heart-related deaths than those who never touched it.

However, more interesting – and even better news for chocolate lovers everywhere – were the findings that the risk was 44% lower for weekly chocolate eaters and 66% less for those who ate chocolate two or more times a week.

Taking this research to the extreme, you could use it as an excuse to eat as much chocolate as you like. However, the fat content, even of dark chocolate, makes drawing such a conclusion rather flawed, unless you seriously want to pile on the pounds.

Here at Ador, we believe in the old adage ‘everything in moderation’. And our 35g bars help you to have a little bit of what you fancy, without being tempted to overdo a good thing. They also contain a natural ingredient that keeps you fuller for longer, so they’re the ideal snack to have between meals – while also making them a pleasure you don’t have to feel guilty about.

Click here for our full article on research into the benefits of chocolate.

Click here for more on chocolate and health.

From healthy eating brands like us, to a brilliant collection of food bloggers and lots of people in search of great things to eat, Twitter is brimming with a marvelous collection of food-related comments, information and tips.

Although pretty new to the social media foodie scene, we hope that our mix of observations, articles, tips and recipes is adding to the debate.

In fact, we think we’ve tapped into a hot topic. One subject close to all foodies’ hearts… and stomachs… is how to control their obsession in order to prevent piling on the pounds or eating unhealthily.

A number of tweeters, led by the Love Food Love Drink e-zine, were recently considering which foods help to keep you full so you can avoid over-snacking between meals. Here’s the fascinating Twitter strand…

Luvfoodluvdrink: Is it just me or do eating apples make you really really hungry?

Beckpaskin: @luvfoodluvdrink – YES! But I’ve found that if you eat some protein with an apple (some nuts, cheese, glass of milk) it fills you up nicely.

JournoBird: @luvfoodluvdrink – I think it’s the acid. Always makes your belly rumble, especially during important meetings!

Luvfoodluvdrink: @BeckyPaskin – …or sandwich. My apple was supposed to be a mid-morning snack, but I ended up eating my lunch by 12. Oh well, two lunches today!

Beckpaskin: @luvfoodluvdrink – Schoolboy error. Still, you could do worse than have two lunches in a day!

Luvfoodluvdrink: @JournoBird @BeckyPaskin – Sandwich didn’t work, so am testing an @AdorFood choc bar. Apparently suppresses hunger. Tastes good too!

So there you have it. A tweeting session about food that keeps you full reaches its logical conclusion – Ador snacks!

We just love tweeting foodies!

Follow JournoBird Jamie Cleary on Twitter, who apparently loves food, loves wine, loves people, loves life.

Becky Paskin writes and blogs for BigHospitality.com

luvfoodluvdrink is the Twitter moniker for top foodie website LoveFoodLoveDrink

Join the food debate on our Facebook discussion page

There’s always a rush to book into your favourite restaurant. However, when you get there you find that not only have the prices been hiked especially for Valentines Day, but also that there are two sittings and you either have to down your meal quickly and get out or eat late. Neither of which is very romantic, as all you really want to do is have a relaxing evening with the one you love. What’s more, often there’s a restrictive set menu, so you lose out on a number of fronts.

Then there’s chocolate. Every brand on earth seems to have come up with something special to give your Valentine – and once again the prices tend to be ‘special’ too. From organic Green & Blacks to Cadbury’s (or should we say Kraft’s), they are all at it.

The problem is that this is the time when many people have started the year with the good intentions of getting fitter and healthier. And this sudden focus on food could seriously derail all your hard work. So here are some tips to take the calories and the expense out of Valentines Day, so you can actually enjoy it in the way you were meant to.

As far as the restaurant rip off goes, if you are keen to eat out to celebrate your love for each other, go on another day – say 13 or 15 February. You’ll find it’s quieter, you have a greater menu choice and the price is right. Then have a romantic dinner in on Valentines Day itself. Also, if you are keen to control your weight, don’t let that keep you indoors. Simply go for healthier menu options and smaller portion sizes. Click here for more tips on eating out healthily.

As for gifts, try to steer your partner away from getting you chocolates. Why? Because they are packed with calories. Scoff a 250g box of Guylian Belgian Seashells, and you’re looking at 1,365 calories! Or the wonderful Hotel Chocolat Love Selection Box (see what they’ve done there) contains 30 chocs and 1,500 calories. Meanwhile, a Cadbury’s Milk Tray 400g box packs in nearly 2,000 calories – eek!

There are plenty more calorie-free presents around that are just as satisfying and won’t pile on the pounds. Rather than eating chocolates, you could be beautifying yourself with the Organic Pharmacy Party Girl gift box, for £65. Or enjoying a three-part massage that you’ve created yourself at the Tripletz website.

Plus you can still enjoy delicious Swiss chocolate on Valentines day guilt-free by getting your partner to slip in an Ador 30g, 175 calorie bar, which also includes natural pine nut oil to keep you fuller for longer.

Click here for more calorie-free Valentine gift ideas…

Click here For for Valentine gift ideas for men

Click here for some great value options

THE VALENTINES DAY CALORIE MASSACRE

Counting the calories of the big sellers…

Hotel Chocolat Love Selection Box
30 chocolates 1,500 calories

Green & Black’s Organic Luxury Assortment
200g 970 calories

Cadbury’s Roses Box
220g 660 calories

Milk Tray Chocolate Box
400g 1,940 calories

Nestle Dairy Box
100g 543 calories

Thornton’s Moments
250g 1,018 calories

Guylian Belgian Seashells
250g 1,365 calories

Black Magic Box
188g 863 calories

Cadbury’s Koko Truffles
200g 1,160 calories

Celebration’s Box
420g 2,184 calories

We can’t find any consistent and convincing evidence to support this view. While it is possible that we may opt for certain foods as a form of self-medication – coffee to pick us up, fast-release carbohydrates to help us relax, for example – the fact is that magnesium is present in other foods like nuts, fish and meat as well. If this is purely a physiologically driven craving, why wouldn’t our bodies crave these foods as well in order to make good any magnesium short-falls?

Chocolate cravings are a complex phenomena. Most of us crave or want it because we love the taste and texture, and enjoy the little buzz we get from eating it. Sadly, lots of people then feel guilty immediately they have swallowed the last mouthful.

This is what makes Ador chocolate so unique. First, it comes in 35g bars, so you can polish off the whole bar and only have added 179 calories to your day’s total. Second, it contains pine nut extract, which will help you to feel full so that one bar is enough until you next main meal.

If you feel your diet may be lacking in magnesium, we suggest having a chat with your GP or taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement that contains 100% of the RDA of all the nutrients it contains. Going out on a limb and taking magnesium on its own is unlikely to stop you wanting chocolate, and taking too much of one mineral can unbalance others. This is something you don’t get with a safe, well-balanced multivitamin like a Centrum, Multibionta, Seven Seas or Boots version.

Click here to find out more on the effects of magnesium overdosing

Of course, magnesium has some great health benefits too. So check out these great blogs on why chocolate and magnesium are good for you http://tinyurl.com/yeeynan
http://tinyurl.com/ycpbqjo

Hot on the heels of uber-store Harvey Nichols stocking our chocolate and mints, a new range of ready meals called Simply Fuller for Longer has hit Marks and Spencer’s shelves.

Not known for going out on a reckless limb, it makes us here at Ador feel as though we are in good company.

While Simply Fuller for Longer relies on having a bit more protein than usual ready meals to help curb your appetite, here at Ador we use natural ingredients like pine nut oil and oat oil to do the trick.

Whatever the mechanisms involved, the end result is the same – they are foods that help you to naturally take control of the quantities, and therefore total calories, you are eating, while still enjoying great-tasting food.

Health experts, dieters and the population at large are discovering just how good these foods are. For example, find out what health and fitness guru Nicki Waterman and a group of Cambridge dieters thought of our products on Ador TV’s Ador and You video.

This is definitely a growing trend, so watch this space.

Click here to for a blog all about the M&S Simply Fuller For Longer range.

Plus click here for a blog review of the new food range.

We can’t do much to help the biscuit and fast-food lovers, but we can help every woman who sees ‘giving in’ to chocolate as being the trigger to falling off the slimming wagon and abandoning the best intended January weight-loss plans.

Our diet First Aid comes in the form of Ador chocolate – cute, stylish 35g bars of the finest Swiss chocolate that you don’t need to hide away in your handbag or furtively bolt down when alone in your car. Why? Because with just 179 calories per bar, Ador chocolate has the added advantage of containing a clever extract of pine nut oil. This triggers signals to your brain telling you that this sensible-sized bar is enough to fill you up while satisfying that craving for a chocolate treat.

Ador chocolate – if you’ve got it, flaunt it!

Click here for the full article on Lighter Life’s research.

Plus here are some great blogs on snacking:
The secret society of snackers
Finding some healthy snack foods

Here at Ador, you know that we love food that looks good and tastes good, but also happens to have added benefits, like our chocolate, which contains pine nut extracts that help to keep you feeling full.

This week we heard about another chocolate available in Spain that contains an algae called spirulina, which its makers also say helps to keep you slim. It sounds great and is said to taste nice.

The slightly green tinge coming from the algae may not appeal to everyone, but naturally, it is horses for courses and we are pleased that other companies are helping to champion the concept that foods normally perceived as being at best ‘naughty’ and at worst ‘bad’ can actually be enjoyed in moderation and without guilt.

The fact is, losing pounds doesn’t mean that you should eat stuff that looks, or tastes weird.