Some of us begin to materialize into the Grinch if not fed chocolate on a daily basis. The human race's love of chocolate goes way back in time. The actual word "chocolate" came from the Spanish. It is less clear how the word came into the Spanish language. The premordial roots of chocolate can be traced back to the Classic Period Maya (250-900 CE). What is very clear is that, despite a rough economic landscape, our love of comfort foods, namely chocolate, has been virtually unscathed. For instance, while candy sales as a category in general have an annual growth of about 2 percent whereas, dark and gourmet chocolate sales have been up by 25 percent the past two years.
Although there are better foods to consume, nutritionally speaking, than dark chocolate. Dark is the kind of chocolate in fact to consume, should you decide to do so. Why Dark, you ask? Due to its very high antioxidant/polyphenol content. Some of you may recall the word "polyphenol" from my wine blog the other day. Anyways, both antioxidants and polyphenols can prevent free radical damage to the body. I liken free radical damage in the human body, to rust on a car. Both are caused from oxygen exposure/consumption and both lead to the demise of the body and car (respectively). Besides eating Dark Chocolate, only consume chocolate if you are healthy and only in moderation. Also, please consider purchasing chocolate from a Cooperative or a Whole Foods and look for the Fair Trade symbol. A great chocolate to buy which fulfills these demands is Divine chocolate. Here is their link: http://www.divinechocolate.com/. One last tidbit regarding Dark chocolate consumption to ponder, the higher the percentage number, for instance, if the label says 85 percent, the better. It means more antioxidant properties and less sugar. Enjoy!
Yum! Sam loves dark chocolate.
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