Think chocolate – and your health – this Valentine’s Day
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If you want to give your special someone a healthy treat for Valentine’s Day consider dark chocolate.
That’s right. Chocolate can be good for you.
Joan Sommers, a registered dietician with Backus Hospital’s Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Center and a certified diabetes educator, said the right kind of chocolate in moderation is loaded with health benefits.
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate are particularly healthy in limited amounts, Sommers said. The secret to chocolate’s benefits is the flavonoids it is loaded with, she said.
Flavonoids are found in plant-based foods. Chocolate comes from the cacao tree. These flavonoids are antioxidants and are believed to help the body resist cell damage. Dark chocolate contains eight times the polyphenol — an antioxidant — of strawberries, Sommers said. A lack of antioxidants, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is believed to cause increases in plaque formation on arterial walls, which leads to heart disease. The news however is not all good. “It’s still a treat no matter how you look at it,” Sommers said. “There is still a lot of fat in chocolate.” The healthiest way to get these antioxidants is through fruits and vegetables, Sommers said.
If you plan to buy a loved one chocolate, consider dark chocolate without additives, Sommers said. It is milk chocolate and the “extras” often added to candy bars and other chocolate concoctions that add significantly to the fat.
The Cleveland Clinic reports the fat in chocolate comes from cocoa butter, which is made up of equal amounts of oleic acid, stearic and palmitic acids. Oleic acid is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat also found in olive oil, the clinic reports. Stearic and palmitic acids are forms of saturated fat, which is linked to increases in LDL-cholesterol and risk for heart disease
Moderation is the key to enjoy chocolate in a positive way, Sommers said. A square can satisfy the craving.
If that box of chocolate keeps calling your name, Sommers suggests an exercise that is good for tackling any craving. Cravings are mostly mental, Sommers said. The first bite is always the best with the most intense and pleasurable taste. She said really think about how the food tastes and you will notice that the second bite is not as intense as the first. The third bite will be even less intense, she said.
“By the fourth or fifth bite you’re eating just to eat,” Sommers said.