That succulent feeling in your mouth, that tenderness melting away, the silky smooth texture which soothes the tempered soul, there’s absolutely no substitute. It makes the red roses and champagne much brighter, tastier, these the joys and the timeless hallmarks of affection, chocolate.
The roses will eventually wilt, the bubbly fizzles, but the pleasure and the benefits that is chocolate, just thinking of luscious chocolate becomes eternal with love, timeless, a classic. Confess, admit that you’re a chocoholic.
What you crave is finely crafted pure chocolate melting on your tongue, momentarily experiencing what heaven serves. Anything that’s dipped, tipped, wrapped, covered with chocolate turns the trick into divine. Thank you succulent chocolate, yes, it’s better and lasts longer than X.
You crave this more than anything, it’s properties, its aromatic nature blends everywhere, in any situation. The sin of indulging is because of it’s attributes. Well, relax your beating heart as the good news is, chocolate is actually good for you.
The Health Goodness Of Chocolate
There are studies which supports a wide range of health benefits that chocolate provides, and yes, in some cases it can make you thinner. The caveat being not all chocolates are created equal.
The origins of refined chocolate begins with the cacao bean, where the crops are usually heavily treated in chemical sprays for preservation, so it’s best to go as organic as possible.
Other than chocolate giving a boost to the soul, satisfying the sweet tooth while reducing stress, more importantly, it’s touted as being an aphrodisiac while contributing to a healthier heart.
The benefits, the health properties however usually just applies to pure dark chocolate, and not the convenient store bought sugary sweet processed milk chocolate bar. Oh Henry, you let me down.
Reasons To Indulge In Chocolate
• What eating dark chocolate has shown is it helps in correcting imbalances in the body which are related to anxiety, by reducing the stress hormone levels. This being important since there’s a link between a surge in this particular hormone and belly fat, helping you to reduce weight
• Dark chocolate gives you a bit of a caffeine kick. Consuming one ounce of 70% percent dark chocolate contains around 40mg of caffeine, this compared to up to 200mg in an 8 ounce cup of freshly brewed coffee, or 120mg of black tea
• What the nutrients that’s found in the natural cacao bean does is it activates in the walls of the blood vessels, forcing them to relax. Doing so lowers your blood pressure while improving circulation. The results being better delivery of oxygen and antioxidants to every cell of the body
• What good quality dark chocolate contains are the same type of antioxidants which are found in green tea and red wine, which has proven to boost the levels of brain activity
• What dark chocolate contains is magnesium, which is an important mineral that can help alleviate the symptoms of menstrual syndrome, also including cramps, fatigue, water retention, irritability, and mild depression
• Fine chocolate, particularly the raw organic cacao beans contains unique natural substances which activates the “pleasure” areas in the brain, this includes nutrients that can create a true sense of euphoria, this similar to that feeling of being in love!
• When compared to consuming the sugar loaded milk chocolate bar variety, those who consumed dark chocolate felt fuller, actually eating 15% percent fewer calories without realizing it. They also reported fewer cravings for fatty foods which were either sweet or salty
• The natural protective substances which are found in dark chocolate helps in preventing the increase of “bad” cholesterol from forming and sticking to the artery walls. What this does is it reduces the risk of heart disease such as stroke
• A study found that those who survived heart disease and began eating dark chocolate just two times a week over an extended period of time, cut down their risk of having heart disease threefold
• The particular type of saturated fat that’s found in chocolate is different from the artery clogging saturated fats which are found in whole milk or a hamburger. It’s an unique variety which is known as stearic acid, which then gets converted by the body into oleic acid, which is a heart healthy monounsaturated fatty acid, this similar to what’s found in olive oil
The Benefits Of Eating More Chocolate
What consuming chocolate can also give you is a boost in vision, as there’s been an improvement on the test subjects motion sensitivity and visual contrast.
What this implicates is driving better at night, this especially for older adults who has more difficulty seeing contrasts. The test group were asked to consume both milk and dark chocolate, the dark chocolate having better results.
Clinical tests have shown that consuming chocolate can reduce persistent coughing more than certain “over the counter” cough medication. The theory being that chocolate has a positive effect on the vagus nerve, which links important organs to the brain.
So how about inventing a chocolate based cough syrup instead of that nasty tasting stuff currently available. It also won’t make you drowsy while tasting a whole lot better. Just having a hot cup of cocoa is known to sooth the throat as well.
Yet More Excuses To Eat Chocolate
What the cacao bean contains is an extremely powerful ingredient which has the ability to protect the skin from absorbing harmful ultraviolet rays. So it can act as a sunscreen. There is a catch however, and that’s to benefit from it, you’d need to eat a lot of raw cacao beans.
Also, the more sugar that the chocolate happens to contain, such as the cheaper milk candy bar variety, the lower its effectiveness. So the darker, the more bittersweet dark chocolate the better.