Eat Healthy - Eat Chocolates.

While growing up as kids you must have heard a lot of times: Don’t eat chocolates, it will ruin your teeth! Well what if I now tell you that there are actually several advantages of chocolates. More importantly, if eaten properly and in right quantity, chocolates are actually beneficial for your health. That’s right. Read more to learn more…

Studies have shown that chocolates - especially dark chocolate – are very beneficial for health. However, as they excess of anything is bad so just because chocolates are good for health does not mean that you now get the license to go on chocolate spree. No more than 100 grams of dark chocolate (about the size of a small bar) should be consumed in a day. Also note that on an average 100 grams of dark chocolate contain about 400 grams of calories. So in order to balance your diet in proper means, you may want to cut on other source of sugar/sweet on days you consume chocolates.

Having said about the appropriate consumption let me tell you the health benefits that come along the sweet glory of chocolate:

1. Low Blood Pressure
For people with high blood pressure, 100 grams of dark chocolate on a daily basis helps in bringing their blood pressure down and maintains it at consistency rate

2. Lower Cholesterol
Studies have shown that dark chocolates reduces LDL cholesterol, which is the bad one, and helps you stay healthy

3. Chocolates stimulate endorphin production in human body and gives you a feeling of pleasure and happiness

4. Chocolates contain serotonin which works as an anti-depressant and also provide guilty pleasure [Remember feelings of newly being in love … result of high serotonin]

5. Two-thirds of fat in dark chocolate is good for your health: oleic acid and stearic acid
Oleic acid - healthy monounsaturated fat (also found in olive oil)
Stearic acid – although saturated fat but proven to have neutral effect on cholesterol

6. Dark chocolates are powerful antioxidant agents. Just to list a few benefits of antioxidants out of the uncountable ones:

a. improved digestion
b. relief from arthritis
c. prevent cancer
d. natural anti-aging product
e. weight loss
f. many many more…

So now you know better to include a small bar of dark chocolate in your daily diet as opposed to avoid chocolates altogether.