The Health Benefits of Chocolate

It’s the run up to Christmas and if (like me!) you’ll be spending the vast majority of the next month or so eating your way through the Christmas chocolate selection, then (like me!) you’ll probably be feeling slightly podgy, slightly sick, and slightly GUILTY about all the chocolate you’ve managed to cram in! This element of guilt about eating chocolate is something that’s probably familiar to most of us – everything in the media today tells us that eating chocolate is nothing but BAD! That it raises cholesterol, contributes to the obesity epidemic, and is an unhealthy choice as a ‘treat’ food. What isn’t made more clear is that it isn’t the base content of chocolate, cocoa solids, that are unhealthy, but the saturated fats, sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oils contained within some of the chocolates available to buy out there that are the truly unhealthy parts.

Good quality, high cocoa solid chocolate actually has health benefits (huzzah!!)! Want to know what they are? Read on

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHOCOLATE

Chocolate that is high in cocoa solids (70% or more) is now recognised as having many qualities that are beneficial to health:

Chocolate contains essential trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A, B1, C, D, and E.
Cocoa is also the highest natural source for Magnesium. Magnesium deficiency is linked with hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, joint problems and pre-menstrual tension (PMT or PMS).

There are benefits in Chocolate for both men and women:

The high Magnesium content of Chocolate is beneficial for the Cardiovascular System and hypertension.
It’s a pre-menstrual drop in progesterone levels which is responsible for the violent mood swings familiar to so many women (and their families), adding magnesium to a sufferers diet has been proved to increase pre-menstrual progesterone levels, thus helping alleviate the symptoms.
The trace elements and vitamins contained within chocolate assist in providing the body with the essential nutrition that it needs to function healthily and effectively.

WHAT IS THE HEALTHIEST CHOCOLATE?

In essence, the higher the cocoa solids (and the lower the additives, such as sugar, oils and additional fats), the better for you it is. With this in mind, dark chocolate products containing a minimum of 70% or more cocoa solids are the healthiest way to satisfy a craving for chocolate, without consuming too much sugar or saturated fat. Not mad keen on plain dark chocolate?

At Aphrodite Chocolates we make our chocolates using 70% cocoa solid couverture, mixed with natural ingredients, such as fruit purees and juices or nuts, meaning that you can get your sweeter chocolate hit with little or no added sugars, oils or fats. If you’re more of a milk chocolate lover, our milk selections are made with 55% cocoa solids, so it’s still fairly good news for the health conscious out there! For all you white chocolate lovers out there, the bad news is that this is by the unhealthiest chocolate! Our white chocolates are made from 35% cocoa solids, so whilst it’s not the best chocolate to go for it still has some of those all important health benefits!

Chocolate lovers go wrong by choosing cheap (& not so cheap!) chocolates, low in chocolate solids and high in additional sugars and fats. It is these that are disastrous for health and teeth – NOT chocolate!

If you love chocolates and want to continue enjoying them without feeling guilty for doing so then follow these simple steps:

DO try to ensure that the chocolate you buy contains the highest % of cocoa solids.
DO try to ensure that the filled chocolates you buy are made using natural ingredients and NO added sugars!

Lastly, and most importantly – remember to ENJOY every mouthful!!

Lia x

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