The love of my life made itself known when I was a mere child. A little tiny child. Young, vulnerable, happy, and yet missing something. What was it?
Chocolate. That beautiful, silky, gorgeous experience of a food. Chocolate. OMGosh.
Today, I’m talking specifically though, dark chocolate.
Once upon a time, I was wildly in love with milk chocolate. But alas, I wisely gave up the sugar and moved on.
And yes, it took a little while for my taste buds to adjust and get used to the bolder taste of dark chocolate, but I can honestly say now that I have grown to enjoy my delicious, dark chocolate treat.
And the bonus? Beautiful dark chocolate is a superfood! #holler
It’s the cacao in chocolate that gives it its distinct taste and it’s that cacao that’s packed with flavonoids. That little cacao bean is full of disease-fighting power! But the thing about cacao? It’s bitter baby, bitter!
That’s why milk, sugar and butter started getting added to chocolate—to make it palatable (and quite delicious I might add).
But check this out—if you stick to chocolate that’s at least 75% cacao or cocoa (hey, did you know that cocoa is roasted, ground cacao?). That’s where you’re going to get all the amazing health benefits!
And what are those health benefits?
Let’s take a look at a few of them…
Heart health. A small amount of dark chocolate has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack while lowering blood pressure. That’s because of the antioxidant compounds in chocolate’s flavonoids which can increase the flexibility of arteries and veins.
Diabetes prevention. The University of L’Aquila in Italy conducted a study that showed participants eating a bar of dark chocolate every day for 15 days had their potential for insulin resistance cut almost in half!
Weight loss. Dark chocolate can lessen your cravings for other fatty and sugary foods, so eating a small square of dark chocolate (and stopping at that) will help you to stick to your weight loss plan
Stress reduction. A small Swiss study showed that when people with anxiety ate just under two ounces of dark chocolate each day for two weeks, they had reduced levels of stress hormones. Reduced stress can reduce inflammation in the body!
See? It’s perfectly fine to enjoy chocolate as part of a healthy diet, as long as you can stick to an ounce or two per day.
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PS–Looking for a tasty, healthy way to enjoy CHOCOLATE? Look no further than our Perfect Paleo Protein! It will make your smoothie DELICIOUS!
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I donate plasma twice a week and have discovered that coco is a wonderful way too help boost my hematocrit levels. I’ve even made my own paste with raisins, water, and cocoa powder that’s pretty yummy once you get used to the flavor.
I too used to love milk chocolate and frowned upon dark chocolate, but over the last few years, have learned to love it, even before the benefits were discovered! I get the darkest chocolate I can find (I’ve had as high as 92%), and eat only a small amount (less than what they say is a serving on the package). It helps me feel like I am treating myself as well as it being healthy. You might say I have a built-in resistance to indulge in it too much–I get palpitations from caffeine, so that automatically removes the temptation to overdo it! 🙂
I have bought raw cacao powder and mixed it with melted coconut oil and some raw honey. Put in the fridge till it hardens…delicious! You can play with the amount of honey to adjust the sweetness.
I make a paste of 1 tablespoon cocoa, 2-3 packets of stevia, and the minimum about of soft butter (doesn’t take much) to stir into a paste. Then I spread it on banana or apples slices.
I use raw cacoa powder with coconut oil, xylitol and sometimes add avocado. Love the raw powder can add to healthy muffins and into breakfast
Enjoy Life makes the BEST dark chocolate bars and chips, dairy, soy and gluten free.
This is true!
Watch for dark chocolate that uses alkaline as it destroys most of the flavonols.
Ha ha I cheat! I buy 100 g of the darkest I can find – 80 or 90%, and melt it with about 10g of butter and 10g coconut oil, and about 9 tablet sweetners!! Then mix with 40g of crushed peanuts or hazelnuts, and 250g of extra thick cream. Spread it out and mark to create small squares, chill for a few hours and enjoy. I have friends who come round just to eat my chocolate (hmmm :/). The beauty of it is that’s it’s really filling – you can only eat 2 or 3 pieces at a go!!
upgraded self/bulletproof executive makes AMAZING cacao powder, vanilla powder and cacao butter for making the best chocolate bars ever. put some almonds in there for some protein and crunch? oh yea…
bulletproof executive also has an amazing new product….cacao tea. when u put a little coconut sugar in there, a half a teaspoon of coconut oil, a half a teaspoon of unsalted grass-fed butter (yes i said butter) and emulsify in a blender for a few seconds…..o man its like a hot cocoa full of healthy fats! and its DELICIOUS! look up bulletproof coffee regarding butter in coffee.