If you asked your ex-girlfriends, if they had the chance, would they have traded me for some chocolate? Well, I don’t want to know the answer to that question …

Chocolate, and people’s love of chocolate, goes back thousands and thousands of years. The Aztecs about 4-5000 years ago ground cacao beans and combined them with other ingredients to make drinks and porridge. Even the name ‘cacao’ comes from the ancient Nahuatl language which means “bitter water”.

Clearly, the use of chocolate has evolved into the modern era, but a standard hot chocolate drink shares similar traits with those early drinks.

And just like Miley Cyrus, there are good and bad versions of the same …

GOOD AND BAD TYPES OF CHOCOLATE

There is chocolate that we want to avoid and then there is chocolate that can not only be considered a fad, but also contains numerous health benefits.

This good kind of chocolate that we are looking at is the dark chocolate containing at least 70% cocoa solids. ideally 85-90% is the variety you want to target. Chocolate of this type has a distinctive rich / bitter taste that feels far superior to sugary milk chocolate after a while.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS?

So what health benefits are we seeing in regards to this chocolate? First of all, there is the relevant nutrition such as fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, zinc, and selenium.

The following is probably one of the best reasons to eat dark chocolate; His high antioxidant content. The measure of antioxidant activity in food is called Oxygen radical absorbance capacity. Basically, research puts some harmful free radicals against food to see how antioxidants in food can “break down” them.

Some studies have shown that dark chocolate contains higher antioxidant activity, polyphenols, and flavonoids than other fruits being tested, including blueberries and acai berries.

Foods rich in antioxidants help our bodies fight free radicals that can cause DNA damage, premature aging, certain cancers, and inflammation.

Dark chocolate has also been observed to slightly lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. It has also been seen to reduce LDL (bad cholesterol) susceptibility to oxidative damage and increase good cholesterol (HDL) while improving insulin sensitivity.

Along with all these positive benefits, dark chocolate also has the ability to protect your skin from the sun and improve brain function. Much of a little bean.

MODERATION IS ALWAYS KEY

Of course, this does not mean that you can eat chocolate until it comes out of your ears. Dark chocolate still contains sugars and calories that need to be carefully watched if you are on a weight loss program and trying to keep insulin levels low. But the darker the chocolate, the less sugar it contains and some increases in insulin sensitivity, as mentioned above, can come along with its consumption.

And again we are talking about dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids. Most of the chocolate on the market is junk. Milk chocolate falls into that category, I’m afraid. But if you’re going to start eating a few dark chocolate squares here and there, you’ll find that you’ll almost be repelled by the overly sugary and unnatural options posing as chocolate.

ENDING EVERYTHING

I always have a few bars on hand for their great taste, nutritional benefits, and as a peace offering when I accidentally “ignored” a call because I was busy going through my fantasy football league roster.