The HEALTH BENEFITS of CHOCOLATE - and how to recognise the real thing

Did you know chocolate is actually pretty good for you? Well, it is! So long as it’s real chocolate – dark, high cocoa, unsweetened chocolate. The sludgy brown dairy confection with high sugar content and a suggestion of cocoa powder in order to legally pass itself off as “chocolate” is not what we are talking about. Real healthy chocolate with high cocoa content is dark and quite bitter, and has significant health benefits when eaten in moderation:
1) Real chocolate is high in antioxidants, and boosts your immune system
2) Real chocolate contains polyphenols which boost insulin sensitivity so your body burns any sugars more efficiently, rather than converting them to body fat
3) Polyphenols also stimulate the production of new mitochondria (your cells’ energy “batteries”) enabling you to produce more energy
4) Stearic Acid in real chocolate is very helpful in the burning of visceral fat (that stubborn belly, bum and thigh fat)
5) Real chocolate is high in Theobromine, a stimulant similar to caffeine that does not have the negative side-effects of increasing your heart rate and keeping you awake. Theobromine is a “vasodilator”, so it lowers blood pressure and makes for improved circulation.

When you buy chocolate, check the content carefully. A typical slab of “milk chocolate” will be anything from 45% to 60% sugar. Eating this is a metabolic disaster, stay away from it! Look for a dark chocolate that has a cocoa content of at least 70% (or more), but then be sure to check the sugar content as many food companies will just dye milk chocolate dark, or add sugar to proper dark chocolate to keep you addicted! A “dark” chocolate with 30% sugar is a trap; don’t eat it!  

The sugar content of real, healthy dark chocolate with, say, 85% cocoa, should be below 5%. Sometimes good dark chocolate with very low sugar (say 1%) will be augmented with polyalcohols, check the contents for this. Polyalcohols are also called “sugar alcohols” and are derived from sugar and have similar chemical properties. As a guide you can halve the polyalcohol content in your head and add that to the sugar (eg if it is 1% sugar and 14% polyalcohol, the real equivalent sugar content is 1+7=8%)  A total of ten or below is not bad and eating a few squares per day will give you some health benefits, and hopefully be enough to control your chocolate craving.

#keto #healthynutrition #chocolatelover #weightlosstips

*LINKS*: To understand how harmful sugars are if you are trying to lose weight and be healthy:  CARBOHYDRATES ARE SUGAR - How they sa...


ANDREW TUNSTALL is a Lifestyle and Nutrition Coach, Biologist, Teacher and International Athlete who avoided Heart Surgery and a Hip Replacement by changing his lifestyle and eating habits and losing weight, before starting SHAPEFIXER to help others harness the power of knowledge to lose weight, improve health, fight disease and slow ageing.

*DISCLAIMER: I am a Coach and an Educator; I am not a medical doctor. All videos are for informational and motivational purposes only and are not to be taken as personalised medical diagnoses or advice. Speak to your own, trusted medical professional about all decisions you take regarding any personal aspects of your health or medical conditions – Andrew Tunstall*.