Thursday, December 27, 2007

The health benefits of dark chocolate

The health benefits of dark chocolate
I know you have heard a lot of hype about chocolate lately.
It's good for you, right? Well, that's the buzz anyway. So
we can eat chocolate candy without guilt now, right? WRONG.
Cacao, the chocolate bean, has the highest antioxidant
value of any food on the planet. (The Healthy Chocolate
Desk Reference, Warren, Steven M.D., D.P.A.) But watch out
for processed chocolate or milk chocolate. Unprocessed
cocoa is full of nutrients but processing chocolate
destroys them. The cocoa bean is teeming with
phytonutreints, antioxidant compounds found in plants, and
science is extolling the virtues of phytonutrients in the
latest scientific research. Antioxidants are the workhorse
of the vitamin and nutrient regimen. When cells use oxygen
to make energy, a byproduct of this process is the
formation of free radicals. These are cells which are
missing an electron from the molecule. Dr. Steven Warren,
M.D., D.P.A., writes in his book, The Healthy Chocolate
Desk Reference, "Most people recognize that cancer is one
disease associated with abnormal cell duplication due to
oxidative damage, but the effect of free radicals has been
linked to more than sixty diseases, including cancer.

The following are some of the primary conditions linked to
free-radical damage: Heart disease Diabetes High
cholesterol Cataracts Arthritis Caner Alzheimer's/dementia
Multiple sclerosis Inflammatory bowel disease Lung disease
Autoimmune dysfunction Fibromyalgia The research linking
free radicals and disease is growing steadily. In fact,
some experts estimate that more than 80 percent of
debilitating disease is related to free radical activity in
the body." . Antioxidants repair this free radical damage.
When you read about the necessity of eating your "fruits
and vegetables" to ward off any number of diseases, you are
being told to eat your "antioxidants". Imagine the effect
of getting three times the average recommended daily
allowance of antioxidants in three small pieces of
chocolate? Now, the catch! Chocolate that has been
processed, dutching as it is called, has been heated above
110 degrees. This process destroys the antioxidant benefit.
Then, sugar and fats and preservatives are added which take
the healthiest food on the planet and turn it into a deadly
snack.

However, find a company that makes delicious, delectable,
irresistible chocolate without adding these ingredients and
without processing the chocolate and destroying the
antioxidant value and you are on the road to health. If you
ingest unprocessed dark chocolate, every morsel is
delivering health and well-being to your body. This is a
delicious and easy way to meet that antioxidant requirement
and start you on the road to health


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I know you have heard a lot of hype about chocolate lately.
It's good for you, right?
http://www.hollandwoodchocolate.com

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