Happy Valentine’s 2020! Valentine’s Day is here. And it’s time to learn and re-learn about Chocolate. I mean, it’s not just about binging and gaining weight, right? There has to be some kind of payoff better than that!
Dr. Andrew Weil has this to say about the benefits:
Chocolate’s Health Benefits:
Blood pressure:
Drinking hot chocolate is associated with reduced blood pressure, improved blood vessel health and lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and elevating HDL (“good”) cholesterol, according to Harvard Medical School researchers who analyzed findings from 21 studies that involved more than 2,500 participants.
Heart disease:
Drinking cocoa may be responsible for the very low incidence of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer among the Kuna Islanders of Panama. The cocoa they drink is made from gently processed home-grown cacao beans. Otherwise their native diet is low in protein, very low in fat, rich in fruit and, surprisingly, high in salt. Epicatechin, a flavanol (a natural flavonoid compound) in cocoa, has been identified as the active ingredient responsible for Kuna good health.
Memory:
Some evidence from Columbia University suggests that cocoa flavanols seem to lessen a particular type of age-related memory loss. The researchers explained that as we age, we’re a bit less likely to remember such things as the names of new acquaintances or where you parked your car. These memories are believed to be stored in the dentate gyrus, an area of the brain’s hippocampus. (This type of memory loss is different from that associated with Alzheimer’s disease.) The study showed that drinking cocoa containing 900 milligrams of flavanols daily for three months resulted in significant improvements in memory. To get that amount you would have to consume at least 10.58 ounces of chocolate daily, which would add up to nearly 1,000 calories.
Aah Haaa! New reasons to accept that box of chocolate on Valentine’s Day! But really, I think what we have come to understand is it’s the kinds of chocolate, the amount and the frequency.
What I find is that it is the sugar that goes into your gut biome and creates that ‘feed me, feed me’ calling, that is what we really need to watch out for. Again, some isn’t going to overly populate your gut. But more than a couple of pieces, may. So just keep that in mind. If you eat lots of chocolate, follow it with a salad to turn your inside flow from acidic back to alkaline. At least that’s something you can do, when the chocolate takes you! lol
Healthy Happy Eating,
