Can chocolate be good for you?

Just as the diamond is a girl’s best friend, chocolate is the child’s best friend. And when the child grows into an adult, chocolates still remain his best friend (of course, it’s a secret he can’t share with his girlfriend, lest she gobbles up all of his hidden treasures).

No matter what age you are, chocolates can never fail to light up your face with a million dollar smile. Just writing about it is enough to make me go weak in my belly. Ah! Chocolates… Yummy,Luscious, Scrumptious, Ambrosial, oh, I can just go on. It is the ultimate comfort food and Maggie stands no chance against it.

Chocolates are so yummy we could eat them daily and I am sure you second that thought. But just how good is chocolate for us? Since a young age, we are told by our parents about refraining or cutting down on our intake of chocolates. As girls grow up, they completely discard off chocolates because that’s what their tinsel town idols profess. I have never been truly able to understand why people do away with that bar that is the door to heaven for so many of us.

Here are a few reasons why chocolates can be good for you:

1. Keep it pure

To enjoy health benefits of chocolate, eat just that – chocolate. In its purest form. Do not have a chocolate cake or chocolate walnut if you are craving chocolate. That adds to your calorie intake.

2. It’s good for the heart

As if you didn’t know that the smile that it brings on your face, it’s obvious. But it does benefit your heart in many ways if consumed in right quantities. Consumption of chocolates reduces the risk of a stroke. According to researchers in Finland, there’s a 17% lower risk in the average men tested for this. Dark chocolate reduces the risk of high cholesterol in the long run and reduced the risk of a stroke and other cardiovascular diseases by nearly 30% if consumed regularly.

3. Chocolates lower blood pressure

Oh, that’s another health benefit and we should definitely buy our parents and grandma and grandpa oodles of dark chocolate. The bioactive compounds in cocoa improve blood flow in the arteries, causing a decrease in the blood pressure levels in our body.

4. Protection against skin

We all know how careful women are of their skin and now, even men are becoming equally careful, with all our handsome hunks endorsing Fair and Lovely. Well, an easy way out here is to start eating chocolates. Flavonols from dark cocoa help improve the flow of blood to the skin and protect it against damage caused by the sun. So, next time you consider going for a beach vacation or a day trip, make sure you stuff yourself with oodles of dark chocolate.

5. It helps improve brain function

After reading this, I am sure all elders will think twice before hiding that bar of chocolate from their children. Flavonols present in dark cocoa help improve memory in children and reduce memory loss in the elderly. Consumption of dark cocoa helps improve the blood flow to the brain. It also helps in improving verbal fluency and several risk factors for brain-related diseases. It is also helpful in treating brain injuries such as concussion.

6. Chocolate is nutritious

After all, those benefits listed above, should anything be said to further on this? Maybe a bit. Yes, dark chocolate is nutritious and contains a good amount of soluble fibers and is rich in minerals. A 100 gram – bar of dark chocolate that is rich in cocoa contains:

11 grams of fiber.

67% of the RDA for Iron.

58% of the RDA for Magnesium.

89% of the RDA for Copper.

98% of the RDA for Manganese.

It also has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.

7. It lifts up your mood

Chocolate contains phenyl ethylamine (PEA), which helps your brain release feel-good endorphins. It is as good as going for a run in the open when feeling low. It helps lift up your spirits and help you feel better a PEA is a same chemical which your brain releases when you are falling in love.

8. Good for overall health

Dark chocolate is good for almost all parts of our body. It is believed to delay the onset of diabetes as cocoa is shown to improve insulin sensitivity. Hence, if eaten in moderation, dark chocolate can help control your diabetes. It is also known to reduce stress in expectant mothers and the babies of mothers who eat chocolate smile more often than the babies of those who don’t eat chocolate. (Who wouldn’t eat chocolates!!!????)

Now that you know how good chocolate is for you, go buy a bar every day and make sure you not to share it with anyone. You don’t want to reduce the health benefits it can bring you by sharing it. Right?