Love dark chocolate? Now enjoying this bittersweet delicacy can be beneficial for your mind and body. Numerous studies have demonstrated how it aids weight loss and protects your heart health from diseases.
Dark Chocolate Benefits: Dark chocolate is different from other types of chocolate in large part due to the amount of cocoa solids and sugar utilized. Dark chocolate has a stronger flavour since it often has a greater cocoa solids content. Since there is less processing involved, more of the antioxidants and flavours of raw cocoa are retained. A less sweet and more intense flavour is also a result of dark chocolate’s typically lower sugar content when compared to milk or white chocolate.
5 Incredible Health Benefits of Eating Dark Chocolate
If you’re trying to satisfy your sweet cravings with dark chocolate, nutritionist Lovneet Batra shared a list of health benefits of this bittersweet delight:
- Weight Loss: Dark chocolate can aid in weight loss when consumed in moderation. It contains monounsaturated fatty acids, which enhance metabolism and hasten calorie burning. Additionally, eating dark chocolate 20 minutes before a meal reduces cravings.
- Diabetes Management: The flavonoids in dark chocolate can reduce insulin resistance by helping cells function normally and regain their ability to use the body’s insulin efficiently.
- Brain Health: Dark chocolate increases blood flow to the brain and heart, so it can help improve cognitive function. Dark chocolate contains several chemical compounds that work as stimulants and mood boosters, like phenylethylamine/PEA (which encourages the brain to release endorphins and feel alert) and caffeine (which works as a mild stimulant).
- Antioxidant Properties: Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants, which help fight against free radicals, the number one cause of oxidative damage to cells. Free radicals can cause illness, speed up ageing and are even linked to cancer, so eating dark chocolate can work to protect the body.
- Cardiovascular Disease: Dark chocolate contains a fair amount of flavanols and consumption of foods rich in flavanols is associated with improved cardiovascular health. Dark chocolate may also reduce the risk of atherosclerosis (a disease that causes fat deposition on the inner walls of arteries) by restoring the flexibility of the arteries and preventing white blood cells from sticking to the blood vessel walls.
How to Eat Dark Chocolate Mindfully?
Batra recommended reading the ingredients of your chocolate bar and here is what to watch for –
- Preservative-free: Milk solids, sugar, emulsifiers, added flavour, artificial flavouring, and preservatives are not present.
- Less sugar: The less sugar your dark chocolate has, the better. For one 100 g serving, this bar contains 13.2g total sugar. If you eat around 2 cubes/squares of this chocolate, your sugar intake will not exceed 5 g or 1 tsp per day.
There are a number of possible health advantages to dark chocolate. Due to its antioxidant content and other advantageous chemicals, it may prevent anaemia, drop blood pressure, resist cell damage, cure depression, combat diabetes, protect the skin from sun damage, prevent cardiovascular illnesses, and boost the immune system. But as part of a healthy diet, it’s crucial to consume dark chocolate in moderation.