This article below by Allison Aubrey is excellent, and not just because it justifies my daily indulgence in theobromine, the primary alkaloid in cocoa and chocolate. Personally, I find chocolate to be great for stress and curbing the appetite for unhealthy foods. I used to love chocolate chip cookies, but now I cut out the dough and just enjoy the pure chocolate.
The study didn’t state which type of chocolate is best, but I would recommend picking one that tastes best to you so you will stick with it. Five years ago I would have only the extreme dark chocolate with 88% cocoa, but now I enjoy the smooth milk chocolate from Endangered Species containing 48% cocoa. These are the little squares I keep in my clinics for patients. I love promoting Endangered Species Chocolate because not only is it the best organic chocolate in my opinion, but they also support and invest in the communities and habitats which grow their cocoa.
I would love to hear your experiences with health and chocolate.
A new study finds that people who eat chocolate several times a week are actually leaner than people who don’t eat chocolate regularly.
Really, we asked? Last time we checked chocolate was loaded with fat and sugar. But this new research, along with some prior studies, suggests chocolate may favorably influence metabolism.
To test this theory, Beatrice Golomb, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, asked about 1,000 people, ages 20 to 85, a simple question: “How many times a week do you consume chocolate?” The participants then completed food frequency questionnaires to estimate their caloric intakes of a whole range of foods including chocolate. They also had weight and height measurement taken to calculate their body mass index, or BMI. Read full article