Dark Chocolate: Eat and Enjoy the HEART Healthy Way and Still Promote Weight Loss
Dark Chocolate Weight Loss. Written by: Sandra Gultry, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Weight Loss and Health Coach who resides in Orlando, Florida.
Every year, Americans spend $22 billion on chocolate!
Valentine’s Day accounts for a decent percentage of that total.
While a heart-shaped box of chocolates may seem like the opposite of healthy, experts say it’s less about the occasional small indulgence and more about making good everyday food choices.
A bite of dark chocolate a day could not only be good for your HEART, but may also improve brain function, alleviate stress, and lower the risk of diabetes.
Calling all chocolate lovers! I’m dishing out 3 benefits of Dark Chocolate for both your HEART and overall health.
My Valentine’s gift to you, I’m also sharing tips on how to find the best dark chocolate!
What Is Dark Chocolate?
The simple answer is Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to pure cocoa. Most chocolate falls into one of three categories:
- milk chocolate,
- dark chocolate or
- white chocolate.
Milk chocolate, most popular in America, is around 10 percent cocoa liquor (Pure cocoa mass in solid or semi-solid form). Whereas with dark chocolate has a minimum of 35 percent of cocoa liquor.
Chocolate’s darkness is determined by the proportion of cocoa solids made from cocoa beans, mixed with cocoa butter and sugar.
White chocolate, however, contains only cocoa butter – no cocoa solids/Cocoa Liquor – combined with sugar and other ingredients. (And for many people, it’s not really considered a chocolate at all.)
Now let’s jump into a few HEART another other health benefits:
Dark Chocolate Benefit #1: Heart Health (Weight Loss)
Dark chocolate contains phytonutrients(a substance found in certain plants which is believed to benefit human health and help prevent various diseases.) found in plants that called flavonoids, which are plant chemicals that act as antioxidants and may play a role in cancer prevention, heart health, and weight loss,
May Improve Blood Flow and Lower Blood Pressure
- The flavanols in dark chocolate can stimulate the endothelium, the lining of arteries, to produce nitric oxide.
- NO signals to the arteries to relax, which lowers the resistance to blood flow and therefore reduces blood pressure.
- Varies from person to person
Raises HDL and Protects LDL From Oxidation
- Increases good cholesterol, which carries the bad cholesterol away from the heart
- Protect bad cholesterol from damaging other tissues (oxidation), such as the lining of the arteries in your heart.
May Reduce Heart Disease Risk
- Studies show that the compounds in dark chocolate appear to be highly protective against the oxidation of LDL
- In the long term, this should cause much less cholesterol to lodge in the arteries, resulting in a lower risk of heart disease
Chocolate Benefit#2: Brain Function (Dark Chocolate and Weight Loss)
Dark Chocolate May Improve Cognition, Prevent Memory Loss, and Boost Your Mood
- Research has shown chocolate stimulates neural activity in areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward, which in turn decreases stress and improves your mood.
- Additionally, cocoa contains stimulant substances like caffeine and theobromine, which may be a key reason why it can improve brain function in the short term
- The amount of caffeine is very small compared to coffee and unlikely to keep you up at night
Cocoa may also significantly improve cognitive function in elderly people with mental impairment
- It also contains stimulants like caffeine and theobromine, but is unlikely to keep you awake at night as the amount of caffeine is very small compared to coffee.
Dark Chocolate Benefit#3: Blood Sugar Levels (Weight Loss)
Dark Chocolate Could Improve Blood Sugar Levels, and Reduce the Risk of Developing Diabetes
- Eating chocolate every day doesn’t sound like the best way to prevent diabetes, but studies have shown healthy amounts of dark chocolate rich in cacao could actually improve how the body metabolizes glucose
- Dark chocolate can also reduce insulin resistance (improving insulin sensitivity.) which is another common risk factor for many diseases like heart disease and diabetes
Most dark chocolate is high in flavonoids (remember to good plant stuff), particularly a subtype called flavanols that is associated with a lower risk of heart disease (remember relaxes arteries and lowers resistance of blood flow) Some studies suggest dark chocolate or cocoa consumption is associated with a lower risk of insulin resistance and high blood pressure in adults.
Take Away Message
Common question – Is there a difference between Cocao (Kuh-Cow) and Cocoa?
As a shopper, you can tell how much cocoa liquor (remember pure cocoa mass) is in a dark chocolate bar by looking for the “percent cacao” (Kuh-Cow) figure on the label.
YES. Cacao (Kuh-Cow) is the raw form of chocolate, while cocoa is the heated version of cacao (Kuh-Cow).
Difference: Cacao is higher in protein, fibre, magnesium and iron. Cocoa, without the added sugar, is still nutritious and cheaper
- Your best bet is choosing a bar with 70 percent cacao (Kuh – Cow) or higher.
- Bars with lower percentages of cacao (Kuh – Cow) have more added sugar and unhealthy fats.
- To train your pallet, I recommend starting at 60% and working your way up to 70%, especially if you are a milk chocolate lover
- Remember sugar, salt, and caffeine are all additive. The body is able to easily adapt.
- The mind is a different story!
- Even though quality dark chocolate is a better choice than milk chocolate, it is still chocolate, meaning it’s high in calories and saturated fat.
- Recommend limiting to 1 to 1.5 oz of dark chocolate per day.
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