Chocoholics everywhere will rejoice about the health benefits of dark chocolate. I used to jokingly claim that chocolate was one of the food groups. Little did I know it is so much more.
Recently I mentioned the book *Eat to Beat Disease by Dr. William Li in a previous post. Did you know that the body has 5 health defense systems? Additionally, there are foods you can eat to optimize each one. Turns out, Dark Chocolate is one of the surprising items that appears on the food lists for all 5 systems!
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In addition to being what Dr. Li describes as a jaw-dropping superfood, dark chocolate is good for the heart, reduces stress, and reduces inflammation in the body. Check out his blog post on the topic to see the full list of health benefits. Even better, in his *Eat to Beat Disease book, Dr. Li states the following:
“While it may seem counterintuitive that eating chocolate could lower the risks of having coronary artery disease, chocolate is a stem cell-recruiting food. Cocoa powder contains bioactives called flavanols.”
Actually, whenever I need sharp focus and mental clarity, my favorite go-to is dark chocolate and coffee combined. I was thrilled to find this online article that cites a study which documents these benefits for the brain.
NOTE: Keep in mind, chocolate has caffeine as well, so chocolate and coffee together may not be ideal for everyone. Even for me, I have to be sure not to have my combo treat too late in the day.
As part of my research for this blog post, I have been exploring different dark chocolates with higher levels of cacao. Trader Joe’s has a Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Bar with 85% cacao. I was encouraged to try this by my uncle, but I must admit I was pretty skeptical about it. Surprisingly it’s pretty tasty!
In his blog post, Dr. Li suggests that we aim for at least 70 percent cacao. To that end, I simply had to check out this *Hu Simple Dark Chocolate bar (4 pack) which is vegan, organic, paleo, and contains no soy, gluten or refined/cane sugar. I wasn’t disappointed. Absolutely yum! If you just want to try 1 bar, grab it from your nearest Whole Foods! Tip: In some locations, the individual bar price in the store is actually cheaper than the multi-pack! 😉
So that’s it. I doubt that I’ll need to twist your arm to eat dark chocolate. However, to get these awesome benefits, I challenge you to give dark chocolate with 70 % (or greater) cacao a try. Once you do, please drop a comment with your reactions and/or preferences. Quick tip: In order to truly appreciate the taste, try the chocolate with the highest percentage of cacao first when sampling different chocolates.
Happy dark chocolate hunting!
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