Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A chocolate bar a day may help keep the doctor away!



Hi lovely ladies,
I just finished reading an article by CBS news about the benefits of chocolate.  I've written about it before and we know that the darker the chocolate the more beneficial it is.  Dark chocolate contains over 50% cocoa content.  Dark chocolate also contains more cocoa flavanoids, which have been proven beneficial for treating diabetes, strokes and vascular disease.  Last summer, a study of more than 100,000 people found those who ate the most chocolate (in the study) were 39 percent less likely to get heart disease and 29 percent less likely to have a stroke. (reported by HealthPop)  Dark chocolate is associated with lower rates of all causes of mortality!
Now added to the list of health benefits of chocolate is losing weight.  (yay!)  Chocolate is high in calories but is also full of antioxidants and other ingredients that may promote weight loss.  A study was published in the March 26 issue of "Archives of Internal Medicine."  More than 1,000 healthy men and women who were an average age of 57 - ate chocolate an average of twice a week and exercised 3.5 times per week.  The more frequent chocolate-eaters had smaller BMIs , a ratio of height and weight that's used to measure obesity.   That doesn't mean to go out and buy bags of chocolate (which I would love to do since I am a chocoholic).  And granted there are chocolates that contain lots of sugar and calories.  So you have to pick your chocolate wisely.  Dr. David Katz , director of the Yale Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Conn., said:  "I would not want people reading this to think that all they need to do to lose weight is eat more chocolate."  "That would be a huge mistake."  Katz suggests dark chocolate, because of its bitter flavor, may suppress appetite whereas sweet chocolate may stimulate it.  I've always heard to eat an ounce of dark chocolate a day.  More studies will be done and who knows maybe more than an ounce of chocolate a day will be recommended.
There really is something so good about chocolate.  Maybe more than we know.  So tonight I went to Trader Joe's and bought dark chocolate.  I am really going to try to keep away from milk chocolate although it does have some benefit but not at all like dark chocolate.  I also think that if you satisfy your sweet tooth and eat the dark chocolate you will crave less of other sweets.   As Dr. Katz said it could be an appetite suppressant.
  You must exercise too.  Chocolate alone won't do it.  And in my opinion any kind of weight bearing  exercises are the best.  They will build long, lean muscles which will burn more fat!
So, a little dark chocolate every day!

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