No Guilt Chocolate
Last Thursday we celebrated Valentine’s Day. Do you have any idea just HOW MUCH chocolate was eaten?
The answer: 58 million pounds, which is around $345 million worth of chocolate. You no doubt did your part, as we did. But guess what? You don’t have to feel too guilty about it. According to Yahoo News, Women’s Health, California Academy of Sciences, and the Mayo Clinic, here some interesting facts about Valentines Day’s favorite indulgence :
1. Chocolate was once used as a cure-all. Doctors used it to reduce fevers, aid digestion and relieve pain.
2. Dr. Henry Stubbe, a 17th century physician, recommended drinking chocolate twice a day to cure the fatigue associated with hard work. He claimed that chocolate benefited the heart and increased milk production in nursing mothers.
3. Chocolate contains powerful antioxidants shown to lower your LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
4. Chocolate contains flavonoids that offer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cell-protective benefits. Stick to dark chocolate however, for maximum benefits as it contains more flavonoids and may also help to lower blood pressure.
5. Phenylethylamine, a chemical found in chocolate, works with sugar, fat and caffeine to help release serotonin and endorphins or “love chemicals” into the body.
6. Chocolate milk is as effective a post- workout recovery drink as sports drinks and protein shakes. It aids athletes in relieving muscle soreness.
7. Statistics show that men who eat chocolate live one year longer than those who don’t.
To get the most benefit from chocolate you should eat no more than 3 oz. per day of dark chocolate that has at least 65% cocoa content. More than that and you might just gain weight.
To help you insure you get that 3 oz. of chocolate a day, your Two Chums have put together a retrospective list from this past year of some of our favorite “chocolate” posts:
Minny’s Chocolate Pie
(from the movie The Help)
“Surprise” Chocolate Chip Cookie
Perhaps we should have called today’s post Two Chums Do Chocolate 🙂 We do love this! Something else we learned that you should know about is that there aren’t enough current cocoa plants to keep up with production demand. Demand increases by 2.5-3% per year, which means there are roughly 4 million more tons of cocoa needed each year to meet demands! By the year 2020 the demand for chocolate will have increased by 25% as more and more people in developing third world countries are able to afford it. As the demand increases the supply will shrink, meaning there will be less chocolate for all of us to enjoy. So, we say eat up now….have your chocolate and don’t feel guilty. After all it just adds to the richmess of our lives bringing more love, more joy and certainly more abundant living 🙂
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Who can resist chocolate???? And I love that fair trade chocolate is so readily available at grocery stores these days! Fun chocolate info ladies! Who knew just how much chocolate we consume???? Wow!!!