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Chocolate!! The guilty pleasure…. that could be good for us?

How would you feel if you could remove the guilt of your Easter egg indulgence and actually know that certain types of chocolate are good for us. Sounds too good to be true!

Pigging out on a truck load of milk or white chocolate this Easter may not do your body the biggest favor, but certain types of chocolate can give you health benefits that might just make it even more attractive than ever before. As a nation we are completely addicted to chocolate consuming on average per person 10kg a year, which is, more than any other European country. Don’t get me wrong, the ordinary dark chocolate that you buy in our shops is still high in calories and fat. Its important to remember that we only need 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate per day for any benefits, but the point I am trying to make is that there are benefits!! Yahoo!!

Milk or white chocolate cannot claim any health benefits (sorry!) especially those with caramel or nougat fillings as it's just added sugar and fat and highly processed junk. However, make the switch to organic, fair trade and high cocoa varieties and you will reduce the foods impact on the world as well as our waistlines!!

The secret goodness within dark chocolate is that it contains flavonoids, which act as an antioxidant protecting the body from free radicals, toxins and harmful substances. It also relaxes blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide and can help balance certain hormones in the body. It tastes great, stimulates endorphin production because of the feeling of pleasure and indulgence, and contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant by giving you a bit of a lift. Can you believe it!

Moving on to something even more beneficial and boosting to your health is Raw chocolate. Using the real bean in its natural state means its not cooked, over processed or mixed with cheap filling harmful ingredients. This type of chocolate is known as Cacao and is usually fused with coconut butter, berries and/or nuts. It contains no vegetable fat, milk or sugar so you know when you are eating it that it's all good for you. Cacao is a powerful healing ingredient that has over 300 chemically identifiable compounds rich in anti-oxidants, proteins, good fats, calcium, iron, carotene, thiamine and riboflavin. Wow, it sounds like a green vegetable smoothie it's so good!!

It doesn’t come cheap and normally retails at around £3.00 per bar, but you really don’t need much of it, as it is a very rich texture and taste, and because of its potency it satisfies you much quicker than a normal bar of high fat, high sugar chocolate. You can buy Raw chocolate in very good health stores or you could be really adventurous and buy the ingredients to make it yourself!  It’s far more cost effective and makes a wonderful thoughtful gift. I spent a lot of time making my own last year and it is very simple and easy. The basic ingredients are normally ground cacao, ground nuts, dried berries or dates and some coconut nectar, vanilla essence or cinnamon to sweeten!! There are lots of amazing recipes on the Internet for raw chocolate so enjoy experimenting with the flavours you love the most.

It’s totally delicious and has benefits too!!

Denise Kelly is a BANT (British Association of Nutritional Therpaists) registered Naturopahic Nutritional Therapist.

She writes Nutrition Programmes for a variety of organisations and has a private practice in Chichester, West Sussex. Denise is founder of K4 Fit Kidz.

If you would like to learn more about Denise and her services please visit www.denisekelly.co.uk or phone +44(0)1243 528040.

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