Top 5 Ways Eating Chocolate Can Keep You Healthy

Don’t feel guilty about eating that chocolate. In moderation, it can be very good for you!

  1. Stay slim. Yes. Eating a small amount of chocolate on a DAILY basis can be good for your waistline. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that adults who ate chocolate regularly were thinner than those who ate it less often. The findings were significant, as the researchers accounted for exercise, behaviour and even calories to try and explain the difference.
  1. Lower your blood pressure. A systematic review published in The Cochrane Library found that the flavanols in dark chocolate can help lower your blood pressure. Apparently, it helps relax the blood vessel walls, letting blood flow more freely.

 

  1. Keep stroke at bay. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that eating chocolate can help lower the risk of stroke. In their study, those who ate the most chocolate had a 17 percent lower risk!

 

  1. Protect your heart. Loyola University Health System reports that eating dark chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa content (higher is better) contains the powerful antioxidant resveratrol – it helps reduce “bad” cholesterol and may prevent blood clots.

 

  1. Chill out. Eating just a little bit of dark chocolate every day can help reduce cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body, according to the Nestle Research Centre in Switzerland. The darker, the better. So eat up!