Chocolate IS Good for You

Chocolate is good for you! I get people telling me this all the time. Unfortunately, most people just don’t know the details. Sometimes I ask those who “inform” me of this bit of health information "why exactly it is good for you"? They usually don't knnow.

Once I tell them the truth about what kind of chocolate they should be consuming and just how much is needed to be good, they often just roll their eyes at me, and go on eating their mini-Hershey’s or Reese’s peanut butter cups in the mistaken belief that they are doing something good for themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a box of Junior Mints or a Mounds Bar myself now and again, but I don’t delude myself into believing that I’m eating a “health” food because there is chocolate on it.

Here is the truth: Chocolate IS good for you, but it is a very specific kind, and in this case, more is not better. There is quite a bit of research out there on the benefits of chocolate. Don’t YOU wish you had been in just ONE of those studies? Dare to dream.

In 2001 I was part of a focus group for one of the major candy companies, however it did not involve actual chocolate, not even a SAMPLE, just pictures. It was asking us how to market a new product to consumers. That product was CocoaVia.

Back to chocolate and how it is good for you. The health benefits are only through DARK chocolate, and this is the important part: the darker the better. Dark chocolate contains flavonols. Flavonols are the compounds found in tea, cranberries, blueberries, and many other fruits and nuts (all plant foods). It is also the compound in chocolate that gives it the bitter taste. That’s why we want darker chocolate; the higher percentage on the label the better.

What exactly are the health benefits? Here are just a few things that research has shown to date:

• It helps keep blood vessels healthy by keeping blood flowing to your eyes, heart, head, fingers and toes, digestive system, muscles, and all the other places that need blood.
• It helps keep the blood from clotting when it shouldn’t as well as keeping inflammation down (chronic inflammation can lead to heart disease and perhaps Alzheimer’s).
• It helps reduce blood pressure when taken daily in small amounts (about 30 calories worth).
• Preliminary research is showing that might help control blood sugar levels (really, chocolate controlling blood sugar!)

Which chocolate to choose? Brand does not matter; it is personal preference. I choose to go to Cost Plus World Market, or the natural foods stores and pick up a few bars of various percentages from several countries. Don’t choose 85%, as that is completely bitter chocolate – unless you want this. I choose something in the 70’s%, but no lower. Remember, the darker the better, so the higher percentage, the better.

How much? You must remember, as with any food, even the ones that are good for you, calories do count. One of the large bars that I get at Cost Plus is 100 grams = 3.5 ounces. That entire bar is 525-575 calories depending on the cocoa percentage. These generally are about 8-10 squares per bar, or 50-75 calories. Make sure you give yourself only one of these squares per day. If you eat the entire bar, you are NOT doing yourself any favors.

The Book pictured above: Chocolate A Healthy Passion by Shara Aaron, MS RD and Monica Bearden, RD is a book about the history and health benefits of chocolate with references. Recipes are included.

This was an item I received free at the ADA FNCE in Chicago in late October. There we DID get lots of free samples of DARK chocolate.

Eat Well, Live Well, Be Well - with a bit of DARK chocolate.