Why is Dark Chocolate Healthy?

Chocolate is made from plants, which means it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. These benefits are from flavanoids, which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body.

Heart Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well. Two heart health benefits of dark chocolate are:

• Lower Blood Pleasure:   Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure.
• Lower Cholesterol:  Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent.

Other Benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Chocolate also holds benefits apart from protecting your heart:

• it tastes good
• it stimulates endorphin production, which gives a feeling of pleasure
• it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant
• it contains theobromine, caffeine and other substances which are stimulants

Doesn’t Chocolate Have a lot of Fat?:

Here is some more good news — some of the fats in chocolate do not impact your cholesterol. The fats in chocolate are 1/3 oleic acid, 1/3 stearic acid and 1/3 palmitic acid:

• Oleic Acid is a healthy monounsaturated fat that is also found in olive oil.
• Stearic Acid is a saturated fat but one which research is shows has a neutral effect on cholesterol.
• Palmitic Acid is also a saturated fat, one which raises cholesterol and heart disease risk.

That means only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is bad for you.

Chocolate Tip 1 - Balance the Calories:

This information doesn’t mean that you should eat a pound of chocolate a day. Chocolate is still a high-calorie, high-fat food. Most of the studies done used no more than 100 grams, or about 3.5 ounces, of dark chocolate a day to get the benefits.

One bar of dark chocolate has around 400 calories. If you eat half a bar of chocolate a day, you must balance those 200 calories by eating less of something else. Cut out other sweets or snacks and replace them with chocolate to keep your total calories the same.

Chocolate Tip 2 - Taste the Chocolate:

Chocolate is a complex food with over 300 compounds and chemicals in each bite. To really enjoy and appreciate chocolate, take the time to taste it. Professional chocolate tasters have developed a system for tasting chocolate that include assessing the appearance, smell, feel and taste of each piece.

Chocolate Tip 3 - Go for Dark Chocolate:

Dark chocolate has far more antioxidants than milk or white chocolate. These other two chocolates cannot make any health claims. Dark chocolate has 65 percent or higher cocoa content.

Chocolate Tip 4 - Skip the Nougat:

You should look for pure dark chocolate or dark chocolate with nuts, orange peel or other flavorings. Avoid anything with caramel, nougat or other fillings. These fillings are just adding sugar and fat which erase many of the benefits you get from eating the chocolate.

Chocolate Tip 5 - Avoid Milk:

It may taste good but some research shows that washing your chocolate down with a glass of milk could prevent the antioxidants being absorbed or used by your body.

Swedish Fish

According to Stick, it’s ok to eat all the Halloween candy if he says “Trick or treat” while doing so. I wonder if I should buy a second bag so our real trick-or-treaters can have some.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Swedish Fish

Placenta Previa

Placenta previa is a medical term for pregnancy that a woman’s placenta is low lying to the cervix. If the pregnant woman have this, she is not entitle to have a natural labor but a ceasarian one. Because the placenta blocks the cervix where the baby is supposedly come out. Excessive bleeding when the mother tries to push it out. Better be safe and consult your doctor.

The doctor might advise you to avoid stress or getting tired. Long walk is not advisable. If you need to travel, ask your doctor if they allowed you.

Wash Your Hands

This is a personal story that just inspired me to write about the importance of watching your hand after you blow your nose or cough in your hand. Personally, I think people should cough in their arm sleeve because you are less likely to touch somethink with your arm sleeve. My co-worker blow his nose in a tissue which is fine but the tissue did not hold up quite as one would have hoped. I was grossed out mainly over the fact that he commented on it…because I would have never known…and then didn’t wash his hands. I mean really people - common courtesy especially this time of year!

Wash Your Hands

This is a personal story that just inspired me to write about the importance of watching your hand after you blow your nose or cough in your hand. Personally, I think people should cough in their arm sleeve because you are less likely to touch somethink with your arm sleeve. My co-worker blow his nose in a tissue which is fine but the tissue did not hold up quite as one would have hoped. I was grossed out mainly over the fact that he commented on it…because I would have never known…and then didn’t wash his hands. I mean really people - common courtesy especially this time of year!

Wash Your Hands

This is a personal story that just inspired me to write about the importance of watching your hand after you blow your nose or cough in your hand. Personally, I think people should cough in their arm sleeve because you are less likely to touch somethink with your arm sleeve. My co-worker blow his nose in a tissue which is fine but the tissue did not hold up quite as one would have hoped. I was grossed out mainly over the fact that he commented on it…because I would have never known…and then didn’t wash his hands. I mean really people - common courtesy especially this time of year!

Healthy Southwestern Appetizer

Think of chips and salsa. Is this healthy? If your first inclination is no, then you haven’t thought outside the box. Every food that is seen as unhealthy can be modified to be healthy and nutritious. If you’re having an upcoming party and want to serve a Southwestern appetizer to your guests, but are afraid chips and salsa are bad for your health, this recipe might help. It not only is good for your body, it’s also good for your tastebuds!

Traditional Chips and Salsa: (the unhealthy version)
Yellow corn tortillas
salsa from a jar, filled with preservatives

Healthier version of Chips and Salsa:
Organic blue-corn tortilla chips from Whole Foods or Sunflower Market
Organic tomatoes on the vine
roasted green chiles (from New Mexico is the best)
Limes
cilantro
(onions if you like them, I don’t)

Chop up the tomatoes, chiles and cilantro. Top over blue corn tortilla chips that have just been warmed. Squeeze lime on top.
This recipe has whole grains, vitamin c and antioxidents, and lycopene.

What are you putting in that tea?

People think tea is so healthy. Sure, the tea leaf when brewed is. That’s about it. Get sweetened tea? Then you’ll drinking a 1/3 cup of sugar. Using equal? OK, well that has been shown to cause mental retardation in rats. Sucking on a lemon? Well, then that is removing the enamel from your teeth!

Be careful what you put in your tea. This is what I suggest:

Hot tea: Lemon is ok, just don’t suck on it. You can also add honey or agave nectar.

Iced tea: Same thing about lemon. Use Splenda, it derives from real sugar and does not have sacharin. Do not purchase already sweetened tea.

If you make smart choices you can benefit your health, especially if you use black tea for antioxidents or green tea to speed up your metabolism.

Spicy Food

Hot-hot or spicy hot?

I don’t have any complete phrases, or ancient Chinese sayings, but one Chinese word has made it into our everyday vocabulary. Stick and I both use la de to talk about food, instead of saying spicy-hot-not-hot-hot.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Everyday Expressions

Spicy Food

Hot-hot or spicy hot?

I don’t have any complete phrases, or ancient Chinese sayings, but one Chinese word has made it into our everyday vocabulary. Stick and I both use la de to talk about food, instead of saying spicy-hot-not-hot-hot.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Everyday Expressions

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