Chocolate

On some calendars today 7 July is World Chocolate Day. A good enough reason for me to talk about the health benefits of chocolate!

One of the highest magnesium levels is in chocolate! Which can often mean that “chocoholics” have a magnesium poor diet and can crave chocolate to improve their calcium status. Magnesium relaxes muscles and nerves amongst its other varied functions in the body.

By itself chocolate is more bitter than sweet, but most of the chocolate the western world knows as chocolate is full of milk and sugar and its more like a lolly than true chocolate. So chocolate is made from the cocoa bean, which contains caffeine and is a mild stimulant. Some people can be sensitive or even allergic to chocolate and it can be a contributing factor for headaches/migraines.

Now back to more positive reasons to eat good quality raw dark chocolate – it can have antidepressant effects and elevate mood. The neurotransmitter responsible for this is beta-phenethylamine which is similar in structure to a hormone secreted by women when they are sexually aroused and quite possibly why some women get so much enjoyment from a block of chocolate.

So there is cocoa and cacao out on the market and more focus on raw cacao as a superfood. See my earlier post on the difference. http://www.balancingnutrition.com/?p=210

I have also mentioned chocolate before in this post too: http://www.balancingnutrition.com/?p=843

A recent study shows that if you have type 2 diabetes having cocoa or cacao as a hot drink with a natural sweetener every day can help reduce mircovascular complications!

So chocolate does have some health benefits in relaxing and lifting the mood, as long as you are seeking out the darkest ones 70% plus, or raw cacao based chocolate with no milk products and sugar alternatives then you can benefit greatly from eating chocolate regularly.

So now I’m off to warm up and have a hot cacao drink – warmed rice milk, 2 teaspoons raw cacao powder and a dash of maple syrup = YUM!