What is the health benefits of bitter chocolate and how much of it can you eat?

What is the usefulness of bitter chocolate and how much you can eat it?

The elements in it actually help to reduce the risk of certain diseases.

Bitter chocolate is a natural antidepressant and antioxidant, it is low in sugar and has almost no contraindications. Together with nutritionist Alla Chekanova, we tell you why you should diversify your diet with this type of chocolate.

nutriciologist

The main benefit of bitter chocolate is in cocoa beans and cocoa butter.

What are the health benefits of bitter chocolate?

Bitter chocolate is made from cocoa beans and cocoa butter – these are excellent antioxidants. Thanks to them, the dessert

• reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases: heart attacks, strokes;
• fights free radicals – particles associated with cancer;
• normalizes blood pressure, because it improves the work of the endothelium – the inner layer of the arteries.

In addition, chocolate is a natural antidepressant. It contains several substances that affect mood.

Theobromine. Energizes and helps lower blood pressure.
Anandamide. Causes feelings of joy and euphoria, reduces anxiety.
Phenylethylamine. In the body, it is converted into serotonin, one of the most important mood-regulating chemicals. It’s also called the joy hormone.

Why is bitter chocolate healthier than milk or white chocolate?

All types of chocolate differ in their sugar content. It is he who reduces the “usefulness” of sweetness for the body – in milk and white it is more than in bitter.

Alla Chekanova

nutritionist

We choose bitter chocolate precisely because of the fact that the first place in the composition should be cocoa beans – that for the sake of which we basically eat chocolate. And with milk and white, except for high blood sugar levels, we get nothing else.

Who should not eat chocolate?

Abstain from chocolate should be those who are diagnosed with diabetes. It is also not recommended for children.

Alla Chekanova

nutriciologist

If you want to eat a problem with chocolate, you should know that the hormone of joy (serotonin) is also released during physical activity.

How much and how often should you eat it?

Alla Chekanova

nutritionist

I advise you to eat chocolate no more than 2-3 times a week, about 30-40 grams at a time.

Overeating bitter chocolate (if there are no health contraindications) causes fatigue and drowsiness. This happens because of the so-called “sugar swings”: first the level of glucose and insulin rises to maximum values, and then falls sharply.

Alla Chekanova

nutritionist

There is a myth that all dark chocolate is useful, but this is not true. Be sure to look at the composition, and if the first place there is still sugar, then leave this bar on the shelf in the store. It will do more harm than good.