Heart and Soul: Reasons to Feel Good About Eating Chocolate
Angela Jenkins
| 2 min read
February is a popular month for the heart, with both Valentine’s Day and American Heart Month. What better way to celebrate our heart than emotionally with lots of love and physically with chocolate.
Yes, that’s right, chocolate can be good for your heart. Do I have your attention yet?
Good For the Body
Chocolate — dark chocolate in particular — has many heart health benefits. Is there a catch? Yes, it’s called moderation: In general, it’s best to eat only one serving (2 ounces) of chocolate a day.
When minimally processed, chocolate has the following benefits:
- High in antioxidants
- Can lower blood pressure if elevated
- Can lower LDL (bad) cholesterol by up to 10 percent
- Cleans the arteries in your heart
- Natural antidepressant
- Great for brain health
If those reasons don’t make you feel good about eating chocolate, how about the fact that it just tastes good?
7 Chocolate Recipes
I love chocolate and desserts and am always looking for recipes that are lower calories and fat. Here are some that I found, so go ahead and treat yourself to some of these great and healthy chocolate dessert recipes:
- Indoor S’Mores (one of my favorite)
As I mentioned before, chocolate is no exception to the credo “Everything in moderation.” Also, remember to watch your portion size, and take note of the serving size in recipes so you are ensuring yourself a treat and not a calorie blowup!
What’s your favorite healthy chocolate dessert?
Resource: Eat This
Photo credit: distopiandreamgirl
