Yes really! Chocolate and red wine are both healthy for us. The secret is to have not too much of the right type.
Chocolate is good for your health
Chocolate is loaded full of antioxidants if you get the right type. Eating a Mars Bar, a Snickers or Kit Kat simply won’t cut it. You need to look out for the 85% cacao versions, which are now readily available in supermarkets. Cacao contains just one third of a gram of saturated fat per cup compared to 8 grams of fat contained in a 40 gram chocolate bar such as white chocolate bars.
As I tell me patients who complain about the taste – it really is a matter of what your body is used to. If you are frequently eating sugary foods such as sweets, lollies and desserts, then you have trained your body to be used to this taste. You are big boys and girls -so get used to the taste of chocolate that isn’t laden with sugar. After a while, I can promise that you really will enjoy it.
As well as being laden with antioxidants, chocolate also provides a fabulous boost to your serotonin – the feel good brain neurotransmitter. A small amount is especially good in PMT times for the ladies. So fellas, next time you buy your other half a box of chocolates, you can do both of you a favour by buying 75 or 85% chocolate.
In case it has slipped your mind why antioxidants are so good for you, you may recall that free radicals are produced as a byproduct of oxygen utilization. That is why people who exercise a lot frequently produce more free radicals. Free radicals produce oxidation (a bit like rusting of a car). Antioxidants on the other hand prevent this problem.Chocolate has been found to contain nearly twice the amount of antioxidants as red wine and three times more than green tea. It also contains phenolic phytochemicals or flavanoids that help fight cancer, heart disease and other ailments. How do phenolics work ? Basically these plant based compounds protect the plant from parasites and insects and continue to work even after they are processed into foods.
Try drinking unsweetened cacao as a hot drink. Add some xylitol to sweeten. Add cream instead of milk to keep the carbohydrate content low. Suck on a piece of dark chocolate to assist with swallowing difficulties.Red wine will also assist with getting your antioxidant content up. Red wine contains a powerful property known as resveratrol. Resveratrol has powerful anti-ageing affects – but unfortunately you need around 2 litres a day to get a beneficial amount (hence tablets are recommended).
Now some people (including myself) aren’t great fans of green tea. As one of my lecturers once commented “drinking green tea is a bit like licking cement”, so more red wine and chocolate sounds like the perfect combination to me.
