You don’t have to feel overly guilty when you eat a piece of chocolate. When eaten properly, chocolates are good for your health. However, “properly” is always a hard part, right? To those who desire to have health benefits eating chocolate, here is a guide to consume chocolate healthily.
1. The bitterer, the better
Even though different standard applies for the definition of dark chocolate, dark chocolate is always a healthier choice than milk or white chocolates. With its rich content of flavonoid and polyphenol, dark chocolate acts as antioxidant aid.
2. Choose chocolates with cocoa butter
Cocoa butter is healthy fat contained in chocolate, which is a supplier of stearic acid good for heart health. However, some chocolate manufacturers use cocoa fat and low-quality oil to lower the manufacturing price. Since such ingredients increase risk of heart disease, always look for the nutrition facts and avoid them.
3. Eat slowly
Even if dark chocolate has various health benefits, consuming too much is never a healthy option. Try eat slowly, little by little. Since your brain needs some time until feel full, eat slowly to allow enough time when eating.
4. Consume with nuts and berries
To make health benefits of chocolate affective, it needs to go through fermentation with microorganisms in the stomach. Such fermentation is maximized with nuts and berries, which are ample in fibers.
Original document available from www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?page=2&branch=NEWS&source=&category=lifenleisure.health&art_id=4086757
Translated by Heewon Kim
