Easy Health Tip #15: Eat Some Dark Chocolate
August 15, 2006 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Easy Health Tips, Food and Drink, Misc., Prevention, Your Body
Here’s a health tip I’ll bet everyone can (and would want) to follow. Eat some dark chocolate every day. The, uh, sweet spot is a 1.6 ounce serving per day.
Not that milk-chocolate stuff, though. The darker the better. Dark chocolate bars have a high cocoa content. Which means a high Epicatechin content. This stuff is a super-active plant flavonoid. It keeps cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels, reduces the risk of blood clots, and it slows the immune response that can lead to clogged arteries.
Dark chocolate contains more flavanoids than blueberries, more than red wine and more than green or black tea. It’s seriously THE most potent source of these heart healthy nutrients.
Not to mention it’s a subtle aphrodisiac, has been proven to extend life expectancy and it tastes so good that the scientific name for the tropical plant, Theobroma Cacao, literally means “food of the gods”.
So go get some chocolate, the darker the better.
1.6 oz. a day will keep the cardiologist away.
Link to WebMD article containing data form a study on dark chocolate (pops)
Link to Chocolate.org article about the benefits of dark chocolate in preventing stroke and heart attacks. (pops)
[tags] choclate, dark, heart, disease, attacks, stroke, flavanoids [/tags]
I HATE dark chocolate. I wish I didn’t now. I think my body just naturally works against me, trying to sabotage itself.
Dude, it’s still waaaay better than eating cauliflower or something. 1.6 ounces a day? You could take it like a pill if it’s really that bad.
I guess the plus side would be that ONLY 1.6 ounces a day would be pretty easy. If milk chocolate had the same benefits, I start with 1.6 and end with 16.
Unfortunately, milk chocolate has lots of sugar and butter-fat added (compared to dark) and the way it is processed deestroys about 60% of the flavanoids that are so good for you.
This is the best news of the day – Chocolate in any forms is healthy. Oh sweet mother of cocoa -
Nice pic by the way – I’m sure I’ll be looking a lot like it come Saturday.
Too bad Ben and Jerry’s doesn’t come in dark chocolate form.