Dark Chocolate - Overview : SuperFoodsRx

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Dark Chocolate - Overview

Table of Contents

1.	Overview
2.	What Makes Dark Chocolate a SuperFood?
3.	Chocolate and Blood Pressure
4.	Chocolate and Atherosclerosis
5.	What About the Fat?
6.	Chocolate: Some Buyer’s Tips
7.	Using Chocolate

We’ve saved the best news for when you need it the most. As you slog through the winter doldrums, here’s the health update that could carry you through until spring: Dark chocolate is a SuperFood. For many of us, this is a dream come true. The interesting thing is that many people have told me that once they think of chocolate as a food that’s beneficial to health, even though they still love and enjoy it, because it’s no longer “forbidden,” they’re somehow less tempted to gorge on it.

This news doesn’t mean that you should toss out the oatmeal and fill your cabinets with chocolate. Pause for a moment and let the chocolate watchwords sink in:

• Keep your daily dark chocolate intake to about 100 calories per day.
• Eat only dark chocolate.

First, and most important, is the amount of chocolate: You can’t eat as much as you want. It’s high in calories and if you eat too much of it you can gain weight. Depending on your weight and activity level, chocolate should be a small treat, a little healthy indulgence that will have to be accounted for in your overall calorie intake/activity equation.

When you do indulge in chocolate and you’re looking for a health benefit, choose dark chocolate. Milk chocolate or white chocolate (the latter isn’t even real chocolate) won’t do. While both contain some of the beneficial polyphenols (though in lower amounts than dark chocolate), preliminary data suggest that the presence of milk in the chocolate somehow mitigates the effectiveness of the polyphenols.

Here, in a nutshell, is the good news: Dark chocolate seems to contribute to lowering blood pressure, increasing blood flow, and ultimately contributing to a healthy heart.

It’s a myth that chocolate is loaded with caffeine. While there is some caffeine in chocolate, it’s not much. In a typical chocolate bar, the caffeine content ranges from 1 to 11 mg. An 8-ounce cup of coffee has about 137 mg of caffeine.

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What is a “Super Food”?

Well, the most important thing for everyone to know is that superfoods are easy to find in every local supermarket. They’re worth looking for!

These nutritional powerhouse foods are loaded with nutrients crucial to a healthy, long life.

If you can include a variety of them in your diet, everyday, we promise they will change your life!

These foods were chosen because they contain high concentrations of crucial nutrients, as well as the fact that many of them are low in calories. Foods containing these nutrients have been proven to help prevent and, in some cases, reverse the well-known effects of aging, including cardiovascular disease, Type II Diabetes, hypertension and certain cancers.

When you click on each superfood you’ll find information including a list of the primary nutrients that elevated them to superfood status.

This is not meant to be a complete list of every single nutrient that food contains, but rather, a list of the high-profile nutrients that have shown health benefits and that are present in that food in sufficient quantity to make a difference. Many of the superfoods have “Sidekicks”. These are foods that are generally in the same category as the flagship superfood and offer a similar nutrient profile.

So click around and find recipes and tips on how to incorporate these foods in your daily diet.

SUPERFOODSRX PRINCIPLES:

Principle 1: SuperFoodsRx- the best diet in the world

Principle 2: Super Foods are whole foods

Principle 3: SuperFoods Rx equals synergy

Principle 4: SuperFoods Rx are simple and positive