Valentines Day is a wonderful excuse to indulge in a delicious piece of chocolate. Why? Because there really are fabulous health benefits of dark chocolate, and the truth is, we put way too much pressure on ourselves for indulging in a a little piece of heaven, and we shouldn’t.
Wondering what the health benefits of dark chocolate are and why there’s no guilt in enjoying a piece this Valentine’s Day 2014? When you take a bite into a piece of dark chocolate, you are actually getting some great health benefits! We believe in an 80/20 rule: 80% of the time, you eat really “clean” and 20% of the time you allow yourself to “indulge” and “enjoy”. Read on to find out why we love dark chocolate and approve it for your consumption.
Below, we’ve listed 3 reasons why you can enjoy dark chocolate on Valentine’s Day, guilt-free! We’ve also described 3 ways to choose the healthy brands of dark chocolate.
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Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate: 3 Healthy Reasons Why You Can Enjoy Cacao On Valentine’s Day
- Dark Chocolate Contains Antioxidants – Lucky for us, dark chocolate contains powerful anti-oxidants called bioflavanoids. These anti-oxidants help us to fight off free radicals that are created from stress, smoking, alcohol, toxins, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise. Remember that dark chocolate has more concentrated cocoa, more antiodants, and less sugar than milk chocolate, so choose dark chocolate
- Dark Chocolate Makes You Feel Good – This goes along with the 80/20 rule. If we deprive ourselves of all things delicious, we are more likely to “cheat” and feel really guilty afterwards. However, if we allow ourselves to indulge in small quantities every so often, then we satisfy our sweet tooth and reduce the chances of over-indulging later.
- Dark Chocolate Increases Sex Drive – Cocoa releases your “feel good” neurotransmitter in the brain called dopamine. Additionally, the bioflavanoids in dark chocolate can also help to prevent your estrogen from declining and we need adequate levels of estrogen for a healthy sex drive! It is no wonder that we keep going back for more chocolate!
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3 Ways To Choose Healthy Dark Chocolate Brands
~ while there are plenty of health benefits to eating dark chocolate, some brands are better than others, and it is still important to take into consideration the ingredients and the sugar content of each bar before enjoying ~
- Make sure there is <8 grams of sugar per serving
- Choose >70% dark chocolate
- Look for good quality ingredients, preferably, organic and fair trade
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