Chocolate, not only a dessert!!

Chocolate isn’t the junk food anymore!
it has recently been discovered to have many health benefits.

Chocolate is made from plant Cacao and hence contain many health benefits of a dark vegetable!
these benefits are from Flavonoids that act as antioxidants and protect the body from free-radicals.

Flavonoids also help to lower the blood pressure by producing nitric oxide and balance certain hormones in the blood.

Dark chocolate is good for heart, a small amount of it every day can keep the heart and cardiovascular system running in a perfect way.

Studies have shown that in people with raised blood pressure a small bar of dark chocolate helps in lowering the blood pressure. And even found out that chocolate helps in lowering LDL (bad cholesterol, HDL being good one).

Researchers have found that Dark chocolate can help weight loss as it offers a feeling of satiety.

Chocolate improves cognitive function as well as verbal fluency, as it increases the blood flow to the brain and the heart.
Chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), which encourages the brain to release endorphins which helps in lowering pain and uplifting the mood!

Dark chocolate even helps preventing Type 2 Diabetes,flavonoids in it helps reducing insulin resistance, and dark chocolate don’t cause huge spikes in blood sugar level.

Chocolate can slow the signs of aging as it’s full of anti-oxidants that helps removing free radicals from the body which cause oxidative damage to the body cells.

Chooclate also contains Theobromine which not only hardens the tooth enamel and protect from cavities but also have ability to act as a cough suppressant!

Despite its lipidic reputation ,some of the fats in chocolate doesn’t impact cholesterol level.

The fats in chocolate are 1/3 oleic acid, 1/3 stearic acid, and 1/3 palmitic acid:

Oleic acid: is a healthy monosaturated fat

Stearic acid: is a saturated fat but research shows that it has neutral effect on cholesterol.

Palmitic acid: saturated fat that can raise cholesterol and heart disease risks

That means only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is bad for health.

Craving for Chocolate?

This information doesn’t mean you should eat a pound of chocolate everyday!
 it’s still a high calorie food, and you shouldn’t eat more than 100 gm of it a day to get the proper benefits.

Look for pure Dark chocolate with nuts or orange peel but avoid chocolates with caramel and nougat fillings as they add extra fats and  sugars and erase many of the benefits of eating chocolate.

Don’t forget :

“Excess of Everything is Bad”

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