Author: bliss_me

 

 

 

It’s tempting to believe the hype about the supposed benefits of chocolate, but don’t believe everything you read. The facts dispel some common myths.

1. Chocolate is good for me

The main component of chocolate, cocoa beans, are naturally high in polyphenols. There is some evidence that polyphenols have antioxidant properties and help lower blood pressure.
According to a study that was conducted in Texas in July 2020 by the Baylor College of Medicine, chocolate may help maintain healthy blood vessels in the heart. However, the participants’ other dietary habits or potential risk factors for cardiovascular and circulatory diseases are not taken into account in this study. We could not recommend eating it for health reasons because the results of this and other studies were not sufficiently conclusive.
Chocolate also has a lot of sugar and saturated fat. It is a food with a lot of energy and calories, and eating too much of it can make you gain weight, which can increase your risk of heart disease. Beans, pulses, fruits, and vegetables are all better sources of polyphenols.

2. Chocolate gives me energy

Chocolate may contribute to the idea that it makes us feel energetic because it contains a small amount of caffeine. It is preferable to consume a snack that provides sustained energy release when you are hungry.
Eat a small sandwich, a piece of toast, an apple, or a bowl of unsweetened cereal to get your fiber and less fat and sugar.

3. Dark chocolate is better

Dark chocolate is considered better because it contains more cocoa solids and cocoa butter than milk chocolate. However, the amount of polyphenols in dark chocolate varies depending on how it is processed, so it is not always better.
Polyphenols can be almost entirely removed from dark chocolate by cleaning, fermentation, roasting temperature and time, “dutching,” or alkalizing, and the addition of additional cocoa ingredients like sugar or emulsifier.

4. Chocolate bars are the ideal size for a meal.

Eating too much energy will make you gain weight. 250 kcal are found in a typical chocolate bar. This is usually consumed in a few minutes and is the equivalent of 10% of a man’s and 12% of a woman’s recommended daily intake.
A 50-year-old needs to walk 45–55 minutes to burn off the energy from a chocolate bar.

 

5. Chocolate is addictive

There is no evidence that chocolate causes physical addiction. Instead, because we associate chocolate with celebration, comfort, and reward, our feelings about it tend to dictate our actions.
Because of this connection, we might think we “need” it, making it hard to control how much we eat. Instead, try to find other ways to get happy feelings;call a friend, take a scenic walk, or indulge in your favorite pastimes.

 

6. Hot chocolate does not count as calories

The cocoa powder that is used to make hot chocolate has less fat because it does not contain the cocoa butter and other fats that are found in chocolate bars.
Your hot chocolate drink, on the other hand, may contain as many calories (calories), fat, and sugar as one to two and a half average chocolate bars, depending on what you mix the cocoa powder with.
Hot chocolate that is made with full-fat milk and has high-energy toppings like whipped cream, marshmallows, and cocoa sprinkles should be avoided. However, substituting a drink made with semi-skimmed, 1% or skimmed milk, cocoa powder, and a small amount of sugar or sweetener for a chocolate bar could save you 100 kilocalories and be healthier.

 

7. I can’t eat chocolate because I have diabetes

Most people with diabetes can eat chocolate in moderation and as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Special diabetic chocolate products are unnecessary because they tend to be higher in energy and fat and still have the potential to raise blood glucose levels.

Instead, if you do decide to consume chocolate, limit yourself to a small amount and try to eat it at the end of your meal so that your body can better absorb it.
Learn about your diet and diabetes.

 

8. Chocolate with bubbles is “lighter”

It has the same amount of calories, fat, and sugar per 100 grams as other chocolates. Because added air makes it less dense than solid chocolate, eating bubbled chocolate can feel like eating a smaller bar. As a result, you get less fat, sugar, and saturated fat per serving. But always check the size of the portion.
There are some bubbly chocolates that are sold in bars that are larger than your typical solid chocolate bar, which means that they have no health benefits.

Dark chocolate is heart-healthy when consumed in moderation. When you think of heart-healthy foods, chocolate might not immediately come to mind. However, the health benefits of this delectable treat, particularly dark chocolate, have been touted for a long time. So, is dark chocolate really good for you?

According to research, dark chocolate is indeed a heart-healthy chocolate treat when it is free of sugar and saturated fat.

Antioxidants that fight disease are abundant in dark chocolate. Concentrates on show it can assist with lessening pulse and lower your gamble of coronary illness.
Consuming dark chocolate is beneficial to one’s health. Consuming small amounts of dark chocolate on a regular basis can benefit your health, according to studies. Modesty is essential. Like other types of chocolate, dark chocolate has a lot of calories and can make you gain weight. However, it can fit into a diet that is well-balanced in small amounts. Scripps Clinic cardiologist Dr. Uddin asserts.

How do antioxidants work?
Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds all contain antioxidants, as do the cocoa beans from which chocolate is made. They aid in the fight against inflammation and shield our cells from free radical damage.

Free radicals can originate from an external source like tobacco smoke, toxins, or pollutants, or they can be byproducts of natural biological processes in our bodies like breathing and food breakdown. They have the potential to cause harm to proteins, DNA, cells, and diseases.
Antioxidants reduce or prevent the effects of free radicals in the body. Flavanols can be found in abundance in cocoa solids found in dark chocolate. A type of flavonoid known for its potent antioxidant properties, flavanols are found in plants.

What do studies demonstrate?
Researchers have found evidence that dark chocolate can help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Consuming raw almonds, dark chocolate, and cocoa may help lower the risk of coronary disease, according to a 2017 study. This combination significantly reduced the number of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), also known as “bad cholesterol” for their role in clogging arteries, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

According to additional studies, dark chocolate can assist in:

• Processing nitric oxide, which helps improve blood flow throughout the body, including the brain,
• making platelets in the blood less sticky and able to create clots, which can cause heart attacks or strokes.
• lowering the risk of insulin resistance, which reduces the risk of diabetes, and
• controlling chronic inflammation, which can lead to heart disease,

Darker chocolate is better

Before you buy a lot of chocolate bars, keep in mind that only dark chocolate has been found to be beneficial. Cocoa flavanols are most abundant in dark chocolate.
Milk chocolate has not demonstrated comparable advantages. Flavanols are one of the beneficial compounds that are eliminated during processing. White chocolate is made solely from milk, sugar, cocoa butter, and contains no flavonols. It matters how much cocoa is in it. To get the most flavonols, choose dark chocolate bars with minimal processing and at least 70% cocoa. However, limit your portions, advises Dr. Uddin.
There are approximately 600 calories and 24 grams of sugar in a typical dark chocolate bar. Milk chocolate has twice as much sugar as regular chocolate but about the same number of calories.
Combine your love of dark chocolate with a healthy lifestyle to get the most out of it.

The Maya, Toltec, and Aztec people used the cocoa bean’s fruit to make a beverage, which is how chocolate got its start more than 3,000 years ago. The Maya buried dignitaries with chocolate bowls, considered chocolate to be the food of the gods, and considered the cacao tree to be sacred.

The Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples cultivated the cacao tree more than 3,000 years ago. They made a beverage from its fruit, the cocoa bean, sometimes used it as a drink for a ceremony, and they also used the bean as a currency. The Maya believed that chocolate was the food of the gods, revered the cacao tree, and even buried dignitaries with bowls of the substance (along with other items they thought would be useful in the afterlife). In point of fact, the Maya’s phonetic writing style could only be deciphered by locating the Olmec-derived word ka-ka-w (cacao) on those containers.

 

It is unclear how Spain became the first nation in Europe to incorporate chocolate into its cuisine. After his fourth voyage in 1502, it is known that Christopher Columbus brought cocoa beans to Spain, but little was said about it at the time. There appears to be no evidence to support the widespread belief that the Aztec ruler of Mexico, Montezuma II, introduced a bitter cocoa-bean drink to the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1519. Chocolate may have first made its way to Spain in 1544 when representatives of the Kekch Mayan people from Guatemala brought gifts, including chocolate, to visit Prince Philip’s court. However, the first known shipment of cocoa beans from Veracruz, Mexico, did not arrive in Spain until 1585. Chocolate became quite popular in the Spanish court because it was hot and sweetened with cinnamon and vanilla. Before chocolate was introduced to France, England, and other countries, it took a long time.

A Frenchman opened a shop in London in 1657 where solid chocolate could be purchased for 10 to 15 shillings per pound to make the beverage. At that price, only the wealthy could afford to drink it, so fashionable chocolate houses started popping up in European capitals like London, Amsterdam, and others. Some of these houses later turned into famous private clubs. Cocoa-Tree Chocolate-House (later the Cocoa-Tree Club), which opened in 1698, and White’s, which Francis White opened in 1693 as White’s Chocolate-House, were two examples of the high-stakes gambling establishments that were popular in London. The English added milk to chocolate around 1700 to make it better. The imposition of high import duties on the raw cocoa bean hampered the process of lowering the beverage’s cost in Great Britain. It wasn’t until the middle of the 19th century, when the duty was reduced to a uniform rate of one penny per pound, that chocolate gained popularity.

 

The kernels of fermented and roasted cocoa beans are used to make chocolate. The kernels are ground into a pasty, liquid chocolate liquor. This liquor can be hardened in molds to make bitter (baking) chocolate, pressed to reduce the amount of cocoa butter, and then pulverized to make cocoa powder, or mixed with sugar and more cocoa butter to make sweet (eating) chocolate. Milk chocolate is produced when sweet chocolate is combined with dried or concentrated milk.

White chocolate is technically not a chocolate because of its delicate flavor and rich texture. White chocolate is made with milk products, sugar, flavorings like vanilla, and cocoa butter.

The Four Primary Kinds of Chocolate

There are four primary kinds of chocolate: milk, white, dark, and ruby. The cacao tree’s seeds, or nibs, are the source of chocolate. They are ground and roasted into a paste known as chocolate liquor. Two products are made from the paste: cacao powder and cocoa butter. From there, various ratios of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sweetener, and other added ingredients are used to create various chocolate varieties.

Dark Chocolate

There are two types of dark chocolate: chocolate that is both semi-sweet and bittersweet. Dark chocolate must have less than 12% milk solids and at least 35% cacao by the FDA’s standards. After that, the manufacturer is responsible for identifying whether the chocolate is bittersweet or semi-sweet. Most of the time, bittersweet is less sweet than semi-sweet because it contains more cocoa.

Ideal for: Dark chocolate is ideal for desserts like ganache, mousse, truffles, and puddings where chocolate is the main ingredient.

Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate is naturally gentle, sweet, and rich in flavor. Milk chocolate must meet the FDA’s requirements of having at least 12% milk solids, 3. 39 percent milkfat, and at least 10% chocolate liquor. Milk chocolate is sweeter than semi-sweet chocolate and should not be substituted for in recipes because it contains more sugar and milk solids.
Best for: Sauces for dipping and drizzling, pastry creams, and confections can all benefit from the use of milk chocolate.

White Chocolate

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that white chocolate contain at least 20% cocoa butter, 3. 5 percent milkfat, and 14% milk solids. White chocolate is one of a kind because it lacks the cocoa solids that give milk and dark chocolate their brown hues. White chocolate shines with bitter, tart, or nutty flavors to counteract its high sweetness.
Ideal for: white chocolate is great for making plunging and sprinkling sauces, mousses, cake creams, and confectionaries.

 

Ruby Chocolate

Ruby chocolate is a variety of chocolate made from ruby cacao beans, which can be found in Ecuador, Brazil, and the Ivory Coast. Ruby chocolate is served in a bowl. Despite not having any additional colors or fruit flavorings, it has a reddish-pink color and a sweet, berry flavor with fresh, sour notes.
Ideal for: Ruby chocolate can be used in a lot of different ways, like in ice cream, pastry cream, and confections.

 

Bonus Types of Chocolate

Unsweetened chocolate

Unsweetened chocolate is composed entirely of cocoa and does not contain any sugar. Due to its bitter flavor, it is frequently referred to as “baking chocolate” because it is primarily used in baking and cooking.
Ideal for: For brownies, cakes, and cookies, which already contain a lot of added sugar, unsweetened chocolate is ideal for adding a rich cocoa flavor.

 

Couverture Chocolate

Couverture chocolate has more cocoa butter than baking or eating chocolate, at least 31%. When properly tempered, this high percentage of cocoa butter gives the chocolate a glossy finish and a firm snap. It comes in white, milk, and dark chocolate flavors.
Ideal for: Chocolate couverture is ideal for candy making, dipping, and enrobing. Baking is not a good use for it.

You are not alone if you would describe your relationship with chocolate as “complicated.” In the United States, about 45% of women say they crave chocolate, and a whopping 91% of female college students say they crave it on a regular basis. According to research, unlike men, many women either resist the urge to eat this potentially “forbidden” food or feel guilty about it.

There are numerous ways in which this strained relationship with chocolate can be harmful. Experts in nutrition explain how using chocolate to make up can be good for your health as well as your taste buds.

 

Why Chocolate Shouldn’t Be Your Guilty Pleasure

According to a 2014 study, women who associated eating chocolate cake with celebration were more successful at maintaining their weight, whereas those who associated it with guilt were more likely to run into a number of issues, such as:

• Lower quality of life as a result of lower long-term and short-term weight maintenance success,
• feelings of helplessness and loss of control,
• unhealthy eating behaviors, and
• greater body image dissatisfaction.

 

A key to reversing the negative effects of these chocolate cravings is to stop making it taboo. Feelings of helplessness and loss of control over one’s weight. Unhealthy eating behaviors. Greater body image dissatisfaction. Lower quality of life. Whether you have a chocolate or broccoli craving, you shouldn’t feel bad about it. According to experts, labeling any food as completely forbidden typically results in increased cravings for that food and guilt when you do eat it.

Instead, you might want to negotiate some terms with chocolate. Without feeling guilty, savor it and enjoy it with intention. Don’t sit in front of the television with a bowl of chocolate treats in your hand. Instead, pay attention to when and why you eat it. For instance, if you have plans for the weekend at a restaurant that serves a world-famous chocolate dessert and enjoy a square of dark chocolate every day, you might want to skip your daily treat so you can indulge on the weekend.

Instead of trying to completely avoid chocolate and then overindulging, having a healthy relationship with it allows you to enjoy it in moderation and without feeling guilty.

 

The Advantages of Eating Chocolate in Addition to Other Foods

Maintaining a healthy relationship with all foods is essential for your mind and body. However, starting or establishing a healthy relationship with dark chocolate, in particular, may significantly improve your overall health.

Strong antioxidants can be found in dark chocolate. Epicatechin, a flavonol, is one of the most beneficial. Flavonols are intensifies tracked down in plants that battle irritation and safeguard against cell harm brought about by free radicals.

Among the many ways that dark chocolate has been shown to be beneficial by research are the following:

1. Improves cardiac health: The antioxidants in dark chocolate have been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of clotting and increase blood circulation to the heart, thus lowering the risks of stroke, coronary heart disease and death from heart disease.
2. Rebalances the body’s defenses: Flavonols reduce oxidative stress—an imbalance caused by cells fighting free radicals and a common cause of many diseases—and prevent the immune system from going into overdrive.
3. Wards off diabetes: In the hopes of preventing or combating diabetes, epicatechin strengthens, protects, and supports the processes that the body uses insulin more effectively.
4. Enhances cognitive function: Dark chocolate contains flavonols that improve memory, visual-spatial awareness, and reaction time as well as other brain functions. Although research is ongoing, it is possible that flavonols increase brain blood flow.
5. Boosts performance in sports: Dark chocolate’s epicatechin boosts blood nitric oxide production, which aids circulation and reduces the amount of oxygen required by athletes performing moderately intense exercise. The athlete is able to work out at a higher intensity for longer thanks to this.
6. Reduces anxiety: Researchers confirmed that there were lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol after eating dark chocolate, and those who consumed it reported feeling less stressed. Since stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, this may have something to do with the effects that dark chocolate has on heart health.

 

If you haven’t already, you should think about including dark chocolate in your diet because of the health-enhancing compounds and micronutrients it contains (it’s important to note that dark chocolate contains caffeine, which some people may be sensitive to).

The following are some facts about the health benefits of dark chocolate:

• The chocolate has more beneficial flavonols the more cocoa it contains. Chocolate with a cacao content of at least 70% is linked to the majority of the health benefits found in the research.
• In order to reap these health benefits, researchers have not established a precise serving size for dark chocolate. Experts recommend dark chocolate that has been minimally processed and contains at least 70% cacao, and occasionally indulge in an ounce.
• Always read the label to find out how many calories, fat, and sugar it contains—these factors could have an impact on the overall health benefit.
• Chocolate can cause migraines or acid reflux in some people.

Ultimately, whether you choose antioxidant-rich dark chocolate or white chocolate, which has very little nutritional value, indulgence in chocolate should not be fraught with stress or guilt.Maintaining a positive and balanced outlook is essential, as it is in the majority of healthy relationships.

Dark chocolate can definitely be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet because it has many health benefits. Find the method that works best for you among the many healthy ways to incorporate chocolate into your lifestyle.

 

Consider consulting a registered dietitian, nutritionist, or other qualified health professional for assistance if you need additional assistance or have difficulty controlling your diet.