People often end have serious misconceptions about a lot of things. Some people have basic misconceptions like doing extreme workout will only help them get fitter, while a few have very curious ones like how you can’t compare Indian casinos with their western counterparts when it comes to a great gambling experience. These misconceptions can be quite troubling and nothing has suffered worse because of misconceptions as much as chocolate.
Chocolate is one of the most beloved eatables in the world. You can have chocolate cakes, chocolate bars, chocolate shakes, and even chocolate ice creams. The chocolate itself is extremely versatile and can have very different tastes based on how it gets prepared. It even works as a great ingredient in other food items to amplify the taste drastically.
Inspite of being hugely popular and versatile, it has received quite a bad reputation. The reason for this is because chocolate and its products are often accused of causing health problems. These problems that chocolate gets blamed range from simple obesity to life-threatening diseases. Such allegations have resulted in chocolate getting classified as an unhealthy food item.
However, this is just another misconception that has developed due to lack of information, confirmation bias, and general hysteria. Anything taken in an inappropriate amount will inevitably cause problems but other than that, not only is chocolate not unhealthy, it has quite a few health benefits!
So here 4 benefits of eating chocolate that you may have never heard of before that are sure to completely shatter this ridiculous misconception.
High on nutrition
While taste is definitely a major fact that when it comes deciding what you should eat, the nutrition value of that food also plays a significant role. In fact, the amount of nutrition a particular eatable has is used to decide if it’s healthy to eat or just a way to fill your stomach till it’s time for the next meal.
If the nutrition value is the only way one chooses to classify a food item as healthy or not, then chocolate—especially dark chocolate—is going to surprise you. From a good amount of fibre to considerable amounts of Iron, Magnesium, Copper, Manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium, chocolate is a complete package of nutrients.
Along with all these necessary nutrients, it also contains a healthy amount of caffeine to help keep you going on a hectic day. Eating chocolate can also help you relax and give you a break from the stress you might feel while working.
The only question that arises after looking at the nutritious value of chocolate is why it not a part of most fitness diets and regimes and a simple answer might be that the misconceptions surrounding chocolate have prevented this from happening.
High on Antioxidants
One of the most popular books of recent times that had been written by an Indian author had a plot point in which people used a special liquid to remove oxidants from their body, which enabled them to look like 20 years old even when they had lived for over a century.
While no amount of removing oxidants is going to have that effect in real life, it does serve as a good way of showing just how beneficial it can be to remove oxidants for the health of the human body and while we may not have special liquid, we do have food with antioxidants present in them that get the job done quite well. Chocolate is one of these food items and has been discovered to be high on antioxidants.
Organic compounds that are found in good quantities in chocolate act as natural antioxidants that help remove the harmful oxidants in a way that is safe and light on the tongue. Other food items might also do the same function but they would hardly have the taste that chocolate does.
Fighting Heart Disease
Heart diseases are one of the leading causes of death in the world and while most of these diseases are not even communicable, they still end up impacting the lives of millions of people throughout the world. One of the conditions that are said to lead to heart diseases is obesity, and this ends up making foods that cause obesity to be put under a negative light.
While eating food with a high amount of fat can definitely lead to obesity, chocolate is often unfairly thought accused of being such food. Yes, eating an insane amount of chocolate can definitely be a part of causing obesity but what most people don’t know is that if it’s taken in moderation, it can actually help prevent heart diseases!
This information may come as a surprise to a lot of people but studies have shown that in elderly men, moderate consumption of chocolate over a steady duration of time can help decreases of chances of them getting heart disease by up to fifty percent!
While some might doubt that the number in the study had been exaggerated, if the eating chocolate regularly can help reduce the risk of getting a heart disease even slightly, then it might a good habit to develop.
Moreover, chocolate has also been found to help improve the blood flow in people, which makes it especially helpful for become suffering with high blood pressure related problems. High blood pressure can lead to severe health problems that can lead to the person developing heart diseases and the organic compounds present in chocolate can help decrease blood pressure which makes chocolate a natural medicine for people suffering from this problem.
Makes people smarter
Drinks that claim to improve the brain functioning of children and making them smarter often use chocolate in their marketing and advertisements as a way to attract children because chocolate has a taste that is often quite appealing to these children.
What these manufacturing companies often fail to realize and advertise is that chocolate itself has been found to be very impressive when it comes to improving the function of the human brain. Not only does eating chocolate help improve the cognitive functions of the human brain, but it can also help with increasing verbal fluency—especially in senior citizens that might have started to experience some mental health problems.
Chocolate improving brain functions and help with mental health issues might sound far-fetched, it is important to remember that eating chocolate often makes people happy and that is of itself can possibly help people deal with a lot of the issues that might be plaguing their mind.
These 4 points do a good job of illustrating of just how good eating chocolates can be for the physical, emotional and mental health of a person which makes the misconception that eating chocolate can be harmful seem extremely bizarre. Chocolate helps improve the functioning of the brain as well as fighting against heart diseases and you would be hard pressed to found other food items that can do both of these tasks simultaneously while also being delicious to eat.
It is time to stop spreading these misconceptions about chocolate and just let people who like to eat chocolates enjoy themselves and be at peace, while also perhaps adding chocolate to your own diet plan to stay healthy and at the peak of your mental and physical prowess.
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