Holiday Dieting: A Sweet Way To Cheat!

If your diet is making you a humbug this season, there’s some good news. Turns out dark chocolate, that decadent confection, may actually be good for you!

Yes, recently conducted studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have shown that a dose of dark chocolate will heed all sorts of healthy results. And with the holidays just around the corner, this news couldn’t have come at a better time.

So just for fun, I thought I’d conduct a mini-research project of my own and get the “skinny” on our friend dark chocolate. Here’s some of the interesting “factoids” I came up with:

• Cocoa—the precursor to chocolate--has been around a long time. A few thousand years, in fact. It has been thought that cocoa beans were brought to Europe in the 1500’s by Christopher Columbus.
• Cocoa, later made into chocolate, was given to American Soldiers in WWII. A source of high energy, each solider was given a three chocolate bar per day ration, according to historical data.
• Researchers started getting more involved when studies began showing that in addition to being a high energy food, chocolate also seems to stimulate elevated moods. Researchers found truth to this, showing that dark chocolate does, in fact, increase levels of the mood-altering chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins.
• Some researchers have also gone on to conduct major studies to prove the correlation between chocolate and a true physiological craving. Check out “Why Women Need Chocolate,” written by Debra Waterhouse, Registered Dietician in 1999.
• And, the best news yet. Upon further study, it has been found that the “flavonoids” in dark chocolate are scientifically proven to act as antioxidants, preventing “bad” cholesterol LDL in the blood from oxidizing and clogging arteries.

So, if you are looking for a healthy way to “cheat” this holiday season, dark chocolate may not be all together a bad option. Facts aside, however, and before you run out to fill your shopping cart full, keep these guidelines in mind:

• Heed the advice of Aristotle: “Everything in moderation.” Refrain from taking the “chocolate factory tour.” Keep your chocolate fix to a minimum. Enjoy it, but please don’t over do.
• When you are shopping for chocolate, try to find “dark” varieties with at least 70% cocoa.
• Also, make sure “sugar” or “butter fat” are not the first items listed.

If you’d like to skip the treat and not the fun, send a virtual chocolate postcard from this fun chocolate website no calories included : http://www.virtualchocolate.com/index.cfm

To summarize my findings, it appears that dark chocolate is in fact our friend and we will just leave its aphrodisiac qualities to your own private discussion groups, thanks.

As for the cravings….Well, do we really “need” chocolate

Survey says: Dunno. But, with the holidays upon us, a Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate once in a while—now available in the “sugar free” variety, mind you--sounds sweet enough to me.

Research Ref: Eat To Beat Cancer, Hatherill. 1998 St. Martins Press, New York

Recommended Reading:

	Cholesterol Health Center
	Answers to your questions about controlling high cholesterol, cholesterol medications and more! >> View Site
	Low Cholesterol Diet
	Looking for Low Cholesterol Diet? >> View Site
	Blinkx Video Search
	World's largest video search engine. Over 26 million hours of video. >> View Site
	Get Hired
	Earn more money with a better job now >> View Site
	Watch Free Videos At Mevio!
	Tons of Free Videos, Only At Mevio.com >> View Site
	My Best Friend is My Penis: Ep 3
	Jon learns the hard way that sometimes three's a crowd. Watch the third episode on Atom.com >> View Site
	Howie Mandel & The Talking Pine
	Howie Mandel tries to come up with a holiday campaign for Buy.com. Buy.com has millions of items at amazing prices, free shipping, video reviews, over 20 major categories of products. >> View Site
	Ubergizmo: Consumer Electronics News and Reviews
	Ubergizmo is a trendy web magazine about consumer electronics news and reviews >> View Site
	Luxury Reviews and Trends
	Discover incredible luxury travel, shopping, articles, videos and more... >> View Site
	New Rap Music
	Search Emerging Artists & Help Vote Them Into Stardom. Join Today >> View Site