Chocolate is GOOD for you!! : )

With Easter coming and going and all the candy floating around, we are definitely in"candy overload" mode.  I'm not sure at this point if I should ration it and let them have a piece or two every day.  Or should I let them eat it all up now and be done with it?  Either way we are about to go on a candy "purge".

I guess you can tell, I'm really not fond of my children eating all this candy.  But chocolate is just different.  So, I have decided it's ok for them to have a little chocolate every day.  After all, I can't eat it in front of them and tell them "no", can I??  : )   And I think you will be pleasantly surprised and agree to let your kids eat some too, after you hear what I found out about CHOCOLATE!!! 

This is so exciting!  Did you know that chocolate is actually good for you??  I'd heard that DARK chocolate was good in the past, but that was before I liked it.  I was a milk-chocolate kind of girl then.  I was pretty sure, at that point, that if I ate enough milk chocolate in a day it would eventually add up to dark chocolate.  At least that's what I told myself.   Since then I've become a dark chocolate kind of girl and it's a good thing!  Here's why:

Chocolate is made from plants, and contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables.  (that gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "eat your vegetables"!)  Chocolate has flavonoids which act as antioxidants.  Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals.  Dark chocolate contains nearly 8 times the number of antioxidants found in strawberries.  Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure and balance some of the hormones in the body. Which is why you may feel better and more relaxed after getting your chocolate "fix".

Dark Chocolate is good for your heart!  Did you know that a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system healthy?? ~ I'm thinking I'm going to have a VERY healthy heart!!

Two benefits of  eating DARK chocolate are:

•  A small bar of Dark Chocolate every day can reduce blood pressure
• Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce bad cholesterol by up to 10 percent.

Other benefits of eating Dark Chocolate are:

• it stimulates endorphin production, which makes us feel happy and relaxed
• it contains caffeine and other substances which are stimulants
• it acts as an anti-depressant

Dark chocolate has far more antioxidants than milk or white chocolate. Milk and white chocolate, while they taste wonderful and are fun to eat, have no nutritional value and may only help you gain weight and/or develop cavities.

When choosing Dark chocolate, be sure it has 65 percent or higher cocoa content.  The more cocoa content it has the better it is for you.  Look for pure dark chocolate or dark chocolate with nuts, real fruit, orange peel or other natural flavorings. Avoid anything with caramel or other fillings. These fillings are nothing but sugar and fat which undo the benefits you get from eating the chocolate.

Beside the fact that chocolate is high in calories and fat content, the only bad thing I learned from this "study" is that drinking milk with dark chocolate (which is one of my favorite things!) is not recommended.  Sadly, some studies have shown that this could prevent the body from absorbing many of the antioxidants.   I guess I'll have to give up my milk.  At least while I'm eating my chocolate.  But at least I don't have to give up MY CHOCOLATE!!!

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