Eat Your Vegetabes, Eat Chocolate - The Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

We are told constantly to eat our vegetables and how good vegetables are for our health and wellness. Isn’t it great to know that we can have our vegetables without even knowing it. This is what you get when you eat chocolate because chocolate is a vegetable. Chocolates have the same health benefits like red wine, blueberries, green tea and a host of other flavonoid rich fruits and vegetables.

That being said, not all chocolates are pure vegetables and not all chocolates will give you the same health benefits. So don’t run out quite yet and get your fix from just any chocolate bar. Regular chocolate bars or rather, milk chocolate bars, are so heavily processed that the nutrients are not recognizable. In order to get the nutrients available in chocolate, you will have to develop a taste for dark chocolate and be warned; not all dark chocolates are created equal either.

The health benefit provided by chocolate are based on the flavonoid content in the chocolate. The source of chocolate is the cocoa bean which contains the same flavonoids found in other vegetables and fruits. Dark chocolate has four times the flavonoids in milk chocolate and white chocolate is completely void of flavonoids. A lot of attention has been focused on flavonoids lately as a result of the known and potential health benefits . They have anti-inflammatory, anti tumour anti-allergic, antioxidant and anti platelet benefits; all of which are available to you in the sweet form of dark chocolate.

To get the full benefits of chocolate and the flavonoids it contains, be sure to buy dark chocolate and even when you opt for dark chocolate read the ingredients first. Look for cocoa mass or cocoa solids as the first listed ingredients. There are many brands of chocolates that claim to be “dark” but contains sugar as the main ingredient. Another rule of thumb when buying chocolate is that the less ingredients it contains the more likelihood that you will be getting the maximum flavonoids. Again, the more a chocolate is processed, the less flavonoids it retains and you want to ensure that you are getting the benefits that flavonoids have to offer instead of loads of sugar and bad fats.

Studies have shown that people who eat the most flavonoid rich foods are at lower risk for coronary heart disease and cardiovascular diseases than those who eat lower amounts of flavonoid rich foods like dark chocolate. Eating chocolate has also been shown to create greater happiness and psychological well being in those who consumed it. So there is a reason for that craving you get for chocolate when you are having a tough or stressful day. One bite of chocolate and it seems that you are refreshed and ready to take on your day.

We are also well aware of the devastating results of uncontrolled high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Well would you believe that the answer could be in a sweet treat called chocolate? Studies have been done on subjects who ate a small amount of dark chocolate daily and saw not only a drop in their high blood pressure but also in bad cholesterol.

Yes you can have your cake and eat it too as far as dark chocolate is concerned. However, before you go crazy and star eating whole bars of chocolates at a time, you need to be aware that chocolate is still high in fat and calories. So if you are watching your waistline you would want to avoid going chocolate crazy. Just know that you don’t need a whole chocolate bar a day to get the health benefits and if calories is a concern you can opt for the sugar free versions. It is good to know that you can indulge your urges for chocolate and improve your health and well being at the same time.