Chocolate, Is It Really Good For You?
26 May 2009 ~ Categories: blog • body • face • wellness
I always crack up a bit when I read an article in a magazine about “recent studies” showing that red wine, chocolate, and excessive sleeping are all secretly good for you.
A part of me thinks that we’re all just looking for a justification for our bad habits. But then again, how can something that makes me so happy be all that bad for me?
How can a tasty little substance known as “the champagne of the Mayans” be wrong? So let’s talk about chocolate.
The facts: chocolate contains a certain amount of sugar, fat and caffeine. But chocolate also contains a powerful antioxidant in the form of flavonoids.
Sure, vegetables also contain flavonoids. They just don’t happen to present the flavonoids with quite as much aplomb, in my opinion.
(Actually, the reason that chocolate contains flavonoids is that it’s made from plants. No mystery there.)
It’s actually the cacao plant, the cacao bean in particular, that contains the healthy goodies.
Antioxidants improve blood flow (especially to the skin, which helps makes us healthy AND beautiful), positively impact heart health, and lower cholesterol.
Other chemicals in cacao are thought to improve memory and reaction time by increasing blood flow to the brain.
Some claim that cacao can balance out certain hormones in the body and provide a rush of euphoria for a matter of hours. I think I’ve felt this one first hand.
Bottom line: chocolate makes me feel good. In moderation, dear ones.
I choose to believe that a well-deserved hot cocoa from Bittersweet on Fillmore Street in San Francisco (my ‘hood and right up the street from IO) makes my day a little sweeter.
It might not add ten years to my life. But then again, who knows? It might.
Chocolate lover,
Amy
