What is it about chocolate that make it so irresistible? We eat for any reason; as a treat to reward ourselves, to lift us when we are down or in our favourite desserts. It ticks all the boxes, but we also know that we shouldn't eat the amount that we do, unless it was healthy chocolate of course.
And the good new is that there is a healthy chocolate out there. There are many good things in chocolate such as vitamins and minerals, so what is it that makes it generally so unhealthy?
It's all the stuff that we put into chocolate that makes it fattening and unhealthy. These are things such as milk solids, sugar and cocoa butter. These help to make milk chocolate taste so good, but are really bad for us. A dark chocolate and especially a low sugar bitter variety doesn't have all these additives.
Chocolate isn't actually food as far as our bodies are concerned, they will merely store away all the bad stuff and ignore the good bits. This makes our guilty treat even worse for us than we thought!
The trick is to eat chocolate with other foods as well, nuts and fruits are perfect. Eating them together ensures that your body treats the chocolate as food and you get all the goodness from it.
The ideal accompaniment to chocolate is fruit rich in vitamin C, as it works to form a nutritional balance to make sure that the iron from the chocolate gets absorbed and not dispelled. What you end up with is probably the tastiest multi-vitamin supplement you'll ever have!
I used to work as a chocolatier, so you can imagine how much chocolate I used to eat! As I ate dark chocolate complimented with strawberries, blueberries, nuts etc I never put any weight on. A blood test also proved that I had the optimum level of minerals and vitamins in my system.
There is now no excuse for filling up on cheap and nasty milk chocolate which will just add pounds. A healthier bar of dark chocolate which has fruit and nuts in it will do the same job but without any weight gain.
Like everything else, if you eat too much chocolate it becomes unhealthy, so watch your consumption.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Framball
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Combine Dark Chocolate With Fruit and Nuts For a Healthier Treat
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate
So why are the antioxidants in dark chocolate so good for you? Firstly they have a good quantity of antioxidants on the same level as blueberries or red wine which are often being promoted as being good for us. In fact two tablespoons of natural cocoa contain the same amount of antioxidants as four cups of green tea, 1 cup of blueberries and one and a half glasses of red wine.
The antioxidants have been found to have many health benefits which is why they are something that is often talked about at the moment. Many people are consuming foods with high levels of antioxidants in order to improve their health and many of the talked about super foods have high concentrations of them. The health benefits of antioxidants are vast including helping to reduce the risk of many diseases and illnesses such as heart disease and cancer. They have also been found to help heart health by enhancing blood flow, improving cholesterol levels and sometimes reducing blood pressure.
Antioxidants protect the cells in the body from free radicals which are unstable oxygen molecules that can change the structure in cells. Our body does produce its own antioxidants to help to neutralise these free radicals before they do any damage. This damage is thought to cause diseases such as cancer and heart disease. These free radicals do occur naturally in the body but as we get older our body produces less antioxidants itself to fight them off and so getting extra from the diet can be very beneficial especially as we age.
As chocolate contains higher concentrations of antioxidants than other foods then it is recognised as a good source and that is why there is so much encouragement to eat antioxidants in dark chocolate rather than from other sources.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Pedersen
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Dark Chocolate Health Benefits Are Many
When people started saying the chocolate was healthy I did not think that it was true. I merely thought that it was people using it as an excuse to eat something which tasted good that was thought of as being unhealthy and had no idea about the dark chocolate health benefits. People often are looking for a good excuse to eat something that they like but have been told is not good for them. However, it seems that there are some health benefits to eating dark chocolate. It contains similar health benefits as dark vegetables because it contains flavonoids which act as antioxidants in the body. The flavonoids also help to decrease blood pressure because they produce nitric oxide which helps to balance some of the hormones in the body responsible for blood pressure.
There has also been evidence to show that it can reduce bad cholesterol levels due to it containing one third oleic acid which is a healthy fat found in olive oil. There are also benefits to mental health with the endorphins and serotonin that is produced when it is eaten. These both give feelings of happiness which is great for anyone that tends to get depressed or just for overall well being.
They could reduce stress which can be the cause of some nasty illnesses and lowers the immune system. Although chocolate should not be used as a replacement for advice from a doctor or any sort of medication, there is evidence to show that it does have some health benefits.
It is important to make sure that it is dark chocolate that is consumed as not in massive amounts as it is still calorifically high and will therefore increase weight if eaten in excess. Also make sure that it is eaten as part of a healthy balanced diet in order to see the maximum dark chocolate health benefits.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Pedersen
