{"id":1349,"date":"2014-02-12T23:26:59","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T23:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personalpolishing.wordpress.com\/?p=1349"},"modified":"2015-10-11T21:21:01","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T21:21:01","slug":"the-healthiest-chocolates-of-all-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/the-healthiest-chocolates-of-all-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Healthiest Chocolates of All"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Carole Jackson><\/strong>, Bottom Line Health<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It seemed too good to be true when studies began to tell us, seven or so years ago, that dark chocolate actually is healthy… but since then additional research has made the claims sweeter yet. Cacao beans, the base of chocolate, contain\u00c2\u00a0flavonoids<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0(antioxidant-containing plant pigments) that make the antioxidants in dark chocolate nearly eight times as abundant as those in strawberries, which are themselves considered an excellent source. And then we learned that cacao beans help lower blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol and that they can increase levels of\u00c2\u00a0serotonin<\/em>, a natural antidepressant, as well.<\/p>\n

With all that going for chocolate, it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s not surprising that there\u00e2\u0080\u0099s now a wide array of “healthy” chocolates for sale pretty much everywhere, from bustling national supermarkets to tiny, Zen-like health-food stores. Soon you will even be able to buy camel-milk chocolate, said (of course) to have health benefits unique to its unusual source. But what makes the difference between a healthful piece of chocolate and just a fattening indulgence? I called \u00c3\u00bcber nutritionist and weight-loss expert Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN, regular contributor to the “Today” show and author of several books, including her newest,\u00c2\u00a0Your Inner Skinny<\/em><\/a>, to ask the question.<\/p>\n

Healthy Chocolate<\/p>\n

Bauer says the only way to be sure you are getting a reasonable amount of flavonoids in chocolate is to select those containing at least 70% cacao, noting that the health value escalates the higher that percentage climbs. She said that milk chocolate — including the camel-milk variety — can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t compete in the healthy sweepstakes, since the added milk reduces the body\u00e2\u0080\u0099s ability to absorb the antioxidants in cacao. Bauer gave a thumbs down to the heart-shaped boxes of Valentine\u00e2\u0080\u0099s chocolates that have those creamy or caramel centers — these are very heavy on sugar and should definitely be left in the box, she says. On the other hand, “mix-ins” made of nuts and berries are good. As for white chocolate — it isn\u00e2\u0080\u0099t a true chocolate and, not surprisingly, contains almost no flavonoids.<\/p>\n

If you are looking for a healthy dark chocolate, Bauer says you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t have to pay up for a premium brand. While upscale brands use very high-quality cacao beans and are “incredibly delicious,” she says that the health benefit is about the same no matter the price, noting this is true of mass-produced brands, such as Hershey\u00e2\u0080\u0099s and Dove (which is owned by M&M\/Mars), and mid-priced brands, such as Lindt or Ghirardelli. And it must be said…\u00c2\u00a0all<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0chocolate contains lots of calories along with the flavonoids — averaging 150 calories per ounce, says Bauer — so it is important to enjoy it in moderation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source:\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN<\/a>,\u00c2\u00a0Today<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0show contributor, and author of several books, including her newest,\u00c2\u00a0Your Inner Skinny<\/em><\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(William Morrow Cookbooks).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Carole Jackson>, Bottom Line Health It seemed too good to be true when studies began to tell us, seven or so years ago, that dark chocolate actually is healthy… but since then additional research has made the claims sweeter yet. Cacao beans, the base of chocolate, contain\u00c2\u00a0flavonoids\u00c2\u00a0(antioxidant-containing plant pigments) that make the antioxidants in … Continue reading The Healthiest Chocolates of All<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-your-body","pmpro-has-access"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4MGMb-lL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1349\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadershipshape.com\/wardroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}