The Cook and The Coach
  • BLOG
  • WHO WE ARE
    • SUCCESS STORIES >
      • HOME
  • BUILD A BUSINESS!
  • New Customer Resources

Let's Talk Chocolate!!!

12/20/2016

0 Comments

 
It's hard to find someone that doesn't like chocolate.  In our online accountability groups that we run we are always talking to people about how and what kinds of chocolate can be a part of a healthy diet. Yeah there is a way and we will get to that.

When the candy industry got their hands on the delicious cocoa bean they figured out a way to take a superfood and turn it into something super dangerous.  They stretch the cocoa powder so far and add so much milk and sugar to their concoctions that chocolate as most people know it becomes a sweet treat.  That is where the danger comes in to play.  Sugar is addictive. (1)   Consuming it leads to consuming more of it and your tastes begin to become altered.  The amount of sugar it takes to sense "sweet" increases. (2)  

This all equates to you needing tremendous amounts of willpower to control the quantity of eating these types of food.  Guess what... that's a losing battle!  

I mentioned above that the cocoa bean is a superfood!  Let's talk about that and how you can choose chocolate that improves your health and doesn't lead to the damaging effects of consuming the candy industry's version of chocolate.  

7 Health Benefits of Consuming Chocolate

1. Nutrient Dense - Chocolate from a micronutrient standpoint is very dense.  It provides a large amount of iron, magnesium, manganese, and copper.  It also provides potassium, zinc and selenium.  The fiber content of dark chocolate is one of the best benefits of consuming it.  Fiber is a missing piece is a lot of people's diets and important for the health of your gut and blood sugar.  

2. Controls Blood Sugar - One of the secret ingredients in chocolate that doesn't show up on a nutrition label is a phytonutrient called flavanol, particularly epicatechin.  This compound has been shown to improve a person's insulin sensitivity.  Therefore making your insulin work more effeciently and regulate blood sugar better.  

3. Lowers Blood Pressure - Staying on the flavanol theme, this amazing little phytonutrient also increases the levels of nitric oxide in the blood which relaxes your blood vessels and therefore lowers blood pressure.  (3)

4. Source of Antioxidants - You've maybe heard of the ORAC rating, it is a way to measure the antioxidant power of different compounds.  Guess where chocolate lands when measured... yup you guessed it is right at the top of the list with some other amazing foods.  Antioxidants are important, especially in whole food form, to regulate the levels of free radicals in our bodies.  The less free radical damage that occurs in our bodies the lower overall inflammation throughout our body and increased health. (4)

5. Improves Cholesterol - Dark chocolate has been shown to increase the amount of "good" HDL cholesterol.  It has also been shown to limit the amount of LDL cholesterol that oxidizes.  This is due to the previous point about it being a powerful antioxidant.  LDL cholesterol isn't inherently bad, our bodies actually need more of it than HDL.  The problems with cholesterol arise when the ratio of HDL/LDL gets out of whack and/or it becomes oxidized and therefore inflamatory. (5) 

6. Improve Brain Function - Better brain??? Yes please!  Dark chocolate can improve brain function from a couple different aspects.  First, blood flow, as mentioned above dark chocolate and it's powerful flavanols help with overall cardiovascular health and therefore better blood flow.  A couple other powerful components in dark chocolate include theobromine and caffiene.  These compounds are stimiulants that have both been shown to improve brain function.  (6)

7. Improved Skin - Those same flavanols that we've talked about also help with protecting your skin from UV rays.  This doesn't mean you should just lather up with melted dark chocolate instead of sunscreen, but it's fun to know that that treat you have can help in this area too.  (7)

Hopefully I've made a case for why and how chocolate can be can considered a health food.  Don't stop here though and go grab the nearest Hershey bar thinking you are improving your health.  Let's talk about how you can select chocolate that actually improves your health and doesn't harm you.  

Selecting the Right Kind of Chocolate

The candy industry has a pretty good hold on chocolate production.  This past summer we made a stop in Hershey, PA to check out Chocolate World!  
Picture
Chocolate World should probably be renamed Sugar World.  By weight I'm guessing a standard Hershey bar contains more sugar than cocoa.  We had to search pretty hard to find some true dark chocolate in the big Hershey store.  Even the dark chocolate we found was less than desirable according to what I consider healthy.  

Here is a simple equation that I created that you can use determine whether or not the chocolate you are eating is health food and will provide all the benefits listed above, somewhere in the middle, or straight up candy and the negative effects outweigh the benefits.  
Picture
In general the higher the percentage of cacao the healthier the chocolate.  In order to get into that moderately healthy category you should be looking for at least 60% cacao but most likely you will need 70%.  Once you start getting over 80% that is typically when your chocolate starts becoming health food.  

One thing to close with is that consuming chocolate can improve your health if you choose the right kind but it is also a calorie dense food since most of it's calories come from fat.  Don't take this information as an opportunity to go hog wild on dark chocolate thinking that because it is healthy it can't affect your weight.  A typical chocolate treat for us is usually 2 squares from a dark chocolate bar or about 1/2 of what a serving size is supposed to be according to the packaging.  This is enough to give us the health benefits along with our chocolate fix without consuming a huge amount of calories.  

We hope this information helps you understand chocolate a bit more and how it can and should be part of a healthy diet.  We encourage you to share it if you think it is something your friends need to hear.  
1. Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake​
2. Reduced dietary intake of simple sugars alters perceived sweet taste intensity but not perceived pleasantness.
3. How do dietary flavanols improve vascular function? A position paper.
4. 
The total antioxidant content of more than 3100 foods, beverages, spices, herbs and supplements used worldwide
5. Plasma LDL and HDL cholesterol and oxidized LDL concentrations are altered in normo- and hypercholesterolemic humans after intake of different levels of cocoa powder.
6. 
The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on the fMRI response to a cognitive task in healthy young people.
7. Long-term ingestion of high flavanol cocoa provides photoprotection against UV-induced erythema and improves skin condition in women.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    The Cook & The Coach

    Healthy is a LIFESTYLE.
    Not a destination. 

    We want to help you build that lifestyle which will then help you 

    **  have CONFIDENCE
    **  become STRONG (mentally          and physically)
    **  lose fat
    **  have more ENERGY

    and finally

    LIVE FULLY!

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    3 Day Refresh
    Accountability
    Asian Flavors
    Avocado
    Baby Food
    Baby Led Weaning
    Bacon
    Beachbody
    Beets
    Black Beans
    Black Beans
    Breakfast
    Brownies
    Brunch
    Busyness
    Chicken
    Christmas
    Coaching
    Coffee
    Curry
    Dairy Free
    Desserts
    Dinner
    Do It Yourself
    Eat Local
    Eggs
    Faith
    Fish
    Fitness
    Fit Pregnancy
    Food
    Food Substitutions
    Fruit
    Gluten Free
    Goals
    Gratitude
    Grilled Vegetables
    Guacamole
    Gumbo
    Health
    Healthy Desserts
    Healthy Desserts
    Healthy Eating
    Healthy Fat
    Holiday Eating
    Ice Cream
    Jesus
    Jicama
    Kale
    Life On The Road
    Low Carb
    Low Carb
    Macros
    MakeANewMealMonday
    Meatball
    Minneapolis
    Motivation
    Muffins
    Network Marketing
    Nutrition
    Opportunities
    Paleo
    Pancakes
    Party Snacks
    Pesto
    Photography
    Pizza
    Pork Tenderloin
    Positive Mindset
    Pregnancy
    Prenatal Vitamins
    Pressure Cooker Meals
    Ravioli
    Restaurants
    Restaurants To Try
    Risotto
    Roasted Vegetables
    Roulade
    RV
    RV Life
    RV Remodel
    Salad
    Salmon
    Seasonal Meals
    Shakeology
    Slaw
    Sleep
    Soup
    Spices
    Squash
    Stress
    Superfood
    Tacos
    Thai Food
    Thanksgiving
    Travel
    Trust
    Turkey Sausage
    Uptown
    Vegan
    Vegetarian
    Walleye
    Water
    Weight Loss
    Weirdvegwednesday
    Willpower
    Workouts

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013

About Us

Picture
Dan and Laura Suedbeck have embraced an entrepreneurial lifestyle.  They are constantly challenging the status quo and challenge others to do so too.  They believe that you don't always have to change your situation, sometimes you just need to change the lens you view the world through.  Their focus is helping people  find purpose and passion with their lives all while getting healthy.   Click here to find out more about them.  

Contact Us

Affiliate Disclosure
​Privacy Policy
​Terms of Service