Eat Chocolate (for Health Benefits)!

Eat Chocolate Because It Is Healthy?

This article may be a little late, because our traditional excuse for eating chocolate has passed – Valentine’s Day! But as I glance at my calendar, I can see that several other good excuses are coming up. Cadberry Cream Eggs are a personal favorite of mine, and so is matzah with melted chocolate! And now, we can even excuse some moderate chocolate consumption because it has health benefits.

I got inspired by this post on CurePure.com - health benefits of dark chocolate.

Here are Some Good Reasons To Enjoy Chocolate (In Moderation):

Note that most health experts suggest eating dark chocolate.

• Chocolate is, after all, made from plants! It actually does have some of the same health benefits that dark vegetables have. In fact, dark chocolate contains eight times more antioxidants than strawberries. Note that the picture I have for this article demonstrates how well, in fact, strawberries and chocolate work together!
• Chcolate is good for your heart! A small bar of dark chocolate may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol.
• It tastes good. That is, it tastes good to most of us. There are some people who don’t like it, but I don’t get that.
• It may actually help alleviate depression symptoms, be stimulating, and increase the “feel good” chemicals in your body. There is no doubt that a gift of chocolate always makes me feel good.

Isn’t Chocolate Bad For My Diet?

Well, we have all learned by now, that moderation is key. If you eat the whole contents of your chocolate heart in a day, it isn’t likely to do you much good. But most people can enjoy 2 or 3 selected pieces with no guilt. And a small bar of chocolate does not mean the new super sized bars you seem to find everywhere. A good tactic would be to break those up in pieces so you can enjoy a little bit every day if you want to.

I illustrated this article with a strawberry dipped in dark chocolate. That would be one way to make a little bit go a long way. Allow yourself strawberries with a small amount of dip. Adding a spritz of real whipped cream would be delicious, and it probably won’t derail your diet either.

But be aware of what else your chocolate is mixed with. Light chocolate contains a lot of milk, and some research says that having milk with chocolate may actually hinder your body’s ability to absorb the antioxidats. That is why we are told to have dark chocolate, and not light chocolate.

And finally, we admit that chocolate food are usually energy dense, high in fat, and caloric. If that candy bar has 400 calories, that can can make a big dent in your allowance for the day. Again, we suggest breaking that bar in half and enjoying if over the span of a couple of days.

A couple of bites of dark chocolate can give most of us all of the pleasures and health benefits of chocolate without ruining a diet.

Related articles:

1. Low Dose Aspirin Health Benefits
2. Benefits of a Colon Cleanse
3. Free Brand Name Health Samples
4. Medicare Health Insurance Plans Explained
5. Probiotics For Digestive Health in a Candy Bar

Tags: chcolate, health

This entry was posted on February 24, 2010 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Health & Beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.