I knew chocolate was good for me...

Back in July, 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association researchers reported that a little bit of dark chocolate may help lower your blood pressure. Subjects were divided into two groups. One group got a bit of dark chocolate every day while the other half received white chocolate. In the end, those eating the dark chocolate saw a drop in their blood pressure and there was no change for group that ate white chocolate.
But before you start cheering and break out the chocolate there is a bit of bad news. They only got 6 grams of chocolate. So that doesn’t mean that if you help the kids with their Halloween haul or bite off the head of the Easter bunny you are get the healthy benefits of chocolate. Commercial chocolate is not made with pure dark chocolate. It is milk chocolate with tons of added sugar. Also Halloween goodies are usually filled with cookie crisps, caramel and all kinds of other stuff.
As part of my research I came across an article in which scientists ruled out some of the myths about chocolate. Firstly chocolate does not cause acne. Cacao does contain caffeine and bromine but not enough to cause nervous excitability. Also there is nothing in chocolate to make it addictive. Despite that chocolate is still the most craved food on the planet. Chocolate does not make you high. Chocolate can however, cause headaches in migraine sufferers.
Chocolate lovers report feelings of happiness, with a stronger sense of well-being. There is some research that women with chocolate cravings while suffering from PMS actually have low magnesium levels. Scientists aren’t sure why this happens other than women crave higher fat, sweeter food possibly to raise serotonin levels. Having said that, if you do have a yen for chocolate, reach for the dark, cold processed chocolate.
It is the flavonoid-rich chocolate that will provide the most effective levels chocolate has to offer. Dark chocolate has four times the flavonoids as milk chocolate. White chocolate does not have any flavonoid properties at all. To ensure you are getting the best healthy chocolate choose chocolate that lists the cocoa solid first not the sugar.
Flavonoids are natural compounds found in cocoa beans and have antioxidant properties the same as berries, red wine and green tea. I mentioned cold processing because the more the chocolate is processed, the fewer flavonoids it keeps. Unprocessed Chocolate has one of the highest antioxidant concentrations of any food including blueberries and Acai.
Anti-oxidants are good for your heart. Anyone put on a diet after heart issues will find dark chocolate on the approved list together red wine, again within limits. Cocoa butter is a monosaturated fat. Dark chocolate also has around three grams of fibre per ounce. It also contains trace elements of calcium, magnesium, copper & iron and 3-4g of protein per ounce.
Women are not the only ones to benefit from having chocolate in their diets, men who eat chocolate may have a lower BMI and waist than men who do not eat chocolate. Levels of lipoprotein (bad) cholesterol drop by 10% with chocolate consumers.
That doesn’t mean that a little more is better. If it did the average North American would have a much smaller waistline. North Americans consume an average of 12 lbs of chocolate every year. A standard bar of dark chocolate has approximately 400 calories. Like everything else we enjoy less is better. Dark chocolate is still a source of calories, fat and sugar especially when it is enjoyed in foods like a really good brownie.
This is where I exercise my self-control, stick to my 1500 calories a day and limit myself to a few small healthy small pieces of 70% dark chocolate a week. At least, that’s the plan.