Chocolate – Good for you?

Everyone likes chocolate, ok well the vast majority I am sure as soon as you say everyone someone will not agree.  Anyway my guess is that you have heard the recent studies that say chocolate is good for you, right?  And if you are like me that is when you stopped listening to the report. All I need to know is that it is good for me. J

Ok well that really isn’t all you should know.  According to an article on about.com written by Mark Stibich, Ph.D, dark chocolate is where the health benefits flourish.  He states that chocolate is made from plants and contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables.  By now you probably know that the darker the vegetable the better.  The benefits come from flavonoids which act as antioxidants.  Dark chocolate contains nearly 8 times the number of antioxidants found in strawberries!  Are you thinking what I am thinking…. strawberries dipped in dark chocolate, win win!

Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure and lower LDL cholesterol by up to 10%.  Other benefits of dark chocolate include: it tastes good, it gives a feeling of pleasure, it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant, and it contains caffeine, which is a stimulant.

Now you may also be aware that chocolate contains a lot of fat.  Here is some more good news.  Mark Stibich states that the fats in chocolate are 1/3 of each, oleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic acid.  Palmitic is the only one, which raises cholesterol and the risk of heart disease.  Oleic acid is also found in olive oil (healthy fat) and stearic acid is saturated but seems to have a neutral effect on cholesterol.

This is the part where we tend to stop listening.  Although dark chocolate is good for you it still contains calories.  One bar of dark chocolate contains about 400 calories. If you would eat half of that for 200 calories you need to be sure that you exchange something else so that you still remain in check for total daily calorie count.  While dark chocolate has claim to health benefits milk or white chocolate do not.  To be dark chocolate it must have 65% or higher cocoa content.

So just remember these few tips and enjoy dark chocolate everyday!

1.      Go for the dark chocolate

2.      Skip the caramel and nougat they just add sugar and fat and defeat your purpose.

3.      Avoid washing it down with milk.  It is said that a glass of milk could prevent your body from absorbing the antioxidants.

4.      And probably the most important to avoid hampering your journey…balance your calories.  Be sure to make the exchange not add to you daily balance.

So grab some dark chocolate and forget the guilt!