DARK CHOCOLATE FOR YOUR HEART?

According to an article in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association Journal, a serving of dark chocolate once or twice weekly led to a 32% reduction of heart failure risk for women.  Remember though, a serving is only about 1 ounce.  And that is dark chocolate, not milk chocolate or what is known as white chocolate which both have too much fat and sugar!  So, when you want to indulge in chocolate, be sure it is dark chocolate and keep that indulgence down to an ounce or two a week.

 

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ANOTHER EXCUSE TO EAT CHOCOLATE

How exciting, another excuse to eat chocolate. Scientists actually suggest eating half a square of dark chocolate before getting on the treadmill or tackling anything requiring physical exertion. YEAH! But you did note that is dark chocolate and only 1/2 square, not a chocolate bar! A study conducted at the University of California at San Diego suggests this could give you strength to go 50% longer than you normally would. Scientists say the health-revving flavonoid in dark chocolate binds to receptors in muscles and prevents fatigue. Why not go for it and give it a try?

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CHOCOLATE AS A SUNSCREEN?

Chocoholics rejoice! According to The Journal of Nutrition dark chocolate is an edible sunscreen. They say eating a half-bar of dark chocolate a day can protect the skin from sun damage. Note: That is only dark chocolate so don't take a box of chocolates with you to the beach. That would be hard on your bikini figure anyway!

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LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO EAT CHOCOLATE?

If you are one of the many chocoholics out there, I have good news for you. If you are always looking for any excuse to eat chocolate here is a good one for you. Dark chocolate (always eat dark chocolate) assists in the production of serotonin and can help ease you into sleep. But only a bite of dark chocolate, not a bag or bar! This is not an excuse to gorge on chocolate.

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EXCHANGE TRADITIONAL FUDGE FOR A SQUARE OF DARK CHOCOLATE

Traditional fudge is a huge dose of sugar! If you exchange a piece of fudge for a square of dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa, you can save about 8 grams of carbs per ounce. Cut back on carbs, cut back on sugar and calories!

CHOCOLATE TO CUT YOUR HEART ATTACK RISK?

Good news for chocoholics!  Studies have shown that eating chocolate can cut your risk of heart problems by one-third. However, read on! The chocolate you eat should be high in cacao content - at least 70%. And you should limit your chocolate indulgences to no more than two ounces a day, especially if weight is a problems for you. Remember that excess body weight is a big contributor to heart disease.

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DERMATOLOGIST DAVID COLBERT, M.D. ON FOODS FOR THE SKIN

 

According to Dr. David Colbert,M.D.  skin is a matrix of proteins, water, and fats that needs a non-processed food supply for replenishment.  He suggests the following nibbles for the skin:

• Almonds because they pack skin-plumping fats and vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant that helps offset UV damage.
• Dark chocolate with a cacao content of 72% or more is rich in damage-fighting antioxidants as well.
• Blueberries give a magic combo of antioxidants and collagen-protecting vitamin C.

Look for 72% on the label.

LOVE CHOCOLATE? YOU NEED TO READ THIS!

I love chocolate.  I could probably be considered a chocoholic and I make no apologies for that!  So I was very happy when I saw this information out of the University of California, San Diego!  They have found that those people who regularly enjoy chocolate weigh 5 to 7 pounds less than those who skip chocolate entirely.  They don't know why yet and are planning further studies into that aspect.  But hey, I am just happy with that little tidbit.  So go ahead and have an ounce or so a day of dark chocolate if you wish.  Remember that dark chocolate is rich in heart-healthy antioxidants!

Warning:  Do not overindulge!  You can turn anything good into something bad by overindulging.  And remember to go for the dark chocolate.  So called white chocolate is not chocolate at all and in most cases the lighter chocolate is higher in fat and sugar.  You can read more about types of chocolates by checking out the archives of this blog.

CHOCOLATE TO SUPRESS A COUGH?

 

Would you believe you might be able to suppress an annoying cough with some yummy chocolate? I haven't tried this as I just recently saw this information but it sure sounds like a good idea to me! This information is about coughs caused by that 'tickle in your throat'.

Professor Alyn Morice is a respected authority on coughs and respiratory medicine. He wrote an article awhile back in the Daily Mail about the effects of chocolate on coughs and stated it can be better than codeine cough syrup. He stated that chocolate forms a sticky coating that protects the nerve endings in the throat that cause the cough. He says the melted chocolate coating also allows the cough -suppressing ingredients found in cocoa to come in contact with the nerves in the throat and calm them down.

Sorry, this doesn't work for hot chocolate. 😞 In hot chocolate the cocoa is too diluted to work.

So why not try to suppress your next tickly cough with some yummy chocolate. And remember to make that dark chocolate so you get some antioxidant benefit, too.

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CHOCOLATE WHEN ON CHEMO

You may be surprised to know that those on chemo should eat chocolate.  Chocolate, because of the butter, sugar, etc that is added to make candy, is often thought of something to stay away from.  That is so untrue!  We have heard a lot recently of the benefits of eating small amounts of dark chocolate on a regular basis.  One thing we haven't heard much about is the positive effects for patients taking chemotherapy treatments.  One of the great things about chocolate is that it is an anti-inflammatory, good for us for so many reasons.  Chemically speaking, the human body literally sucks in the nutrients in chocolate.  This is especially true for the flavonoids (the proanthcyanidins) which have chemo-protective effects.  Eat dark chocolate, often mentioned on this blog, because it has 4 times the antioxidants found in tea - a well-known source of antioxidants.

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ACTIVE CALORIES - ENERGIZING FOODS

Today's post continues the posts of the past couple of days regarding active calories.  Today we will talk about Energizing Foods.  Energizing foods are basically foods that boost your metabolism.  Examples are coffee, black tea, green tea, and dark chocolate.

You get metabolism-boosting caffeine in coffee and in black tea.  The key here is to drink these beverages without loading them down with sugar and/or cream!

Green tea doesn't have much caffeine in it but it does have catechins, an antioxidant that raises  resting metabolism by 4% and that amounts to about 80 calories a day. Had you ever realized you could burn calories with a cup of green tea?

Dark chocolate does double duty since it contains both caffeine and catechins.  The downside here is to not overindulge.  You should only eat 1-ounce per day, and it should be dark chocolate!

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WHAT IS PURE CHOCOLATE & WHICH CHOCOLATE ISN'T CHOCOLATE?

Since we just came out of the holiday season where you may have received or been given chocolates, I thought we would talk about what chocolate really is. Chocolate comes from a tropical bean known as the Cacao or Cocoa Bean; the name literally means 'food of the gods' and I know many of you agree!  So do I!  To get to the chocolate that is on our retail shelves, the first process these beans go through is roasting and cracking.  This process separates the shell from the meat of the bean.  We know this meat as nibs.  The nibs are then ground which melts the naturally present cocoa butter to produce a dark brown paste.  This paste is known as chocolate liquor. This means chocolate liquor is the first of the natural products that comes from the nibs or meat of the cocoa beans.  This is pure natural chocolate without any sugar or added ingredients.  When chocolate liquor is molded and allowed to solidify, you get pure, unadulterated chocolate.  This is the unsweetened chocolate which we readily find on our grocers shelves.  It is usually wrapped in thin papers and sold in boxes as baking chocolate.  If you are planning to bake or cook using chocolate, this is a recommended source.  At this point, you have total control over any sugars or additives going into your chocolate.  This chocolate still contains its natural cocoa butter and is approximately 50% cocoa butter.

To get Cocoa Powder, the other pure chocolate recommended for cooking and baking, the chocolate liquor or unsweetened chocolate is pressed to extract most of the cocoa butter leaving the dry cocoa powder.  This is a much more reduced-fat (it is not fat-free) product.

The extracted cocoa butter is used to produce other chocolate products such as semisweet and bittersweet chocolate.  To get these products sugar and some of the extracted cocoa butter is added to the chocolate liquor.  You can see where I am going here!  When you want chocolate, pay attention to which chocolate you are buying.  You can quickly go from a natural healthy product to one with all kinds of sweeteners and additives.

Bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35% cocoa butter while semisweet, the most versatile and often used chocolate, can contain anywhere between 15% and 35%.  Learn to read the labels!Milk chocolate must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor or true chocolate.White chocolate is not true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor.  It consists of sugar, milk solids, and cocoa butter.

Cacao Beans