• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Bariatric Cookery

Just another WordPress weblog

TwitterFacebookInstagramUSA
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account
    • Logout
  • Surgery & Faq’s
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Press
  • Contact

At the Heart of Valentine’s Day … Chocolate

February 6, 2017 Leave a Comment

 

 

GUEST POST: Who doesn’t love chocolate – I know I do! The delicious taste, smell and texture of chocolate has had people hooked for almost 2,000 years and it has become a traditional symbol of love on Valentine’s Day. However, many of us worry that it’s bad for us – and who wants to give

their loved one a present that may not be helping their health? The good news is that the cocoa in chocolate can actually have lots of health benefits and doesn’t necessarily need to come with lots of sugar and fat that aren’t so good for us.

 

So, how do we make sure our chocolate is doing us favours?

 

First off, choose chocolate with a high cocoa content

Cocoa powder contains a rich source of flavonol compounds. These are types of antioxidants (prompting the naming of dark chocolate as a ‘superfood’) and may improve our brain power, blood pressure and stress levels whilst reducing our risk of heart disease, diabetes and more.

A bar containing 70% cocoa solids has about twice as much health-giving antioxidants per serving as a bar with 35% cocoa solids.

 

Make sure the cocoa is good quality

The steps involved in processing the cocoa seeds can affect how much of these antioxidants are left by the time we come to eat our chocolate. So it’s important we choose a good manufacturer who ensures the antioxidants aren’t processed out of the cocoa. In its purest unprocessed form, it is often called cacao rather than cocoa – so that’s a good term to look out for.

 

Keep to the lower sugar variety

By choosing higher cocoa content, you are automatically reducing the amount of sugar in the bar – aim for 85% cocoa. However, if your penchant is for white chocolate or poor quality milk chocolate that is mainly fat and sugar, you need to train your taste-buds to enjoy the delights of really good quality dark chocolate.

 

Don’t overdo it

All things in moderation! Even a small bar of dark chocolate can have several teaspoons of sugar that need to be taken into account. Once you get a taste for the darker stuff though, the intense flavours mean that a few squares often satisfy the chocolate cravings quite nicely!

 

So, giving someone some delicious, good quality dark chocolate on Valentine’s Day is a heart-healthy way of showing you really do love them! Or why not use some to make a chocolate dessert or cake with a Valentine heart decorative flourish?

 

Feature courtesy of Dr Sally Norton, NHS weight loss consultant surgeon.  UK health expert.  Founder of www.vavistalife.com 

 

Related Articles:

  • A Hug In A Mug Treat-Time Cake/DessertA Hug In A Mug Treat-Time Cake/Dessert
  • Brownies For Breakfast?Brownies For Breakfast?
  • Healthy Savvy Snacks For An Autumn WalkHealthy Savvy Snacks For An Autumn Walk
  • Chocolate Week ‘Black Magic’ Porridge OatsChocolate Week ‘Black Magic’ Porridge Oats
  • A Chilly Day Breakfast BowlfulA Chilly Day Breakfast Bowlful
  • How Do You Like Your Eggs In The Morning?How Do You Like Your Eggs In The Morning?
  • Easter EntertainingEaster Entertaining
  • Choccy-Chia PuddingChoccy-Chia Pudding
  • Pull Up A Chair …Pull Up A Chair …
  • Cloud ProfiterolesCloud Profiteroles
  • Bariatric Banana Bomb Shake!Bariatric Banana Bomb Shake!
  • Could Your Bad Habits Actually Be Good For You?Could Your Bad Habits Actually Be Good For You?

Tags: chocolate, cocoa, low-sugar Categories: Food and Nutrition Basics

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Categories

  • Bariatric Basics
  • Bariatric Beginnings
  • Bariatric Bento Box Gallery
  • Bariatric Budget Buster Recipe
  • Bariatric Buzz
  • Bariatric Cookery Pantry Plus+ Recipe
  • Bariatric Portion Plate Gallery
  • Carol’s personal goals
  • Coping mechanisms
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Events
  • Exercise
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food and Nutrition Basics
  • Food Roundup
  • Foodies News
  • FREE bariatriccookery.com newsletter
  • Health and Fitness
  • In the news!
  • Kitchen equipment news and tips
  • Letters and messages
  • Menus
  • Metric and US Conversion Chart
  • Plastic surgery
  • Pre-Op Advice
  • Recipes
    • Amber bariatric recipes
    • Green bariatric recipes
    • Red bariatric recipes
  • Research
  • Seasonal Food
  • Super Simple Recipe
  • Support Groups
  • Surgical Options
  • The Bariatric Bee Tips
  • The Bariatric Cookery Solo Dining Club
  • The Bariatric Lunchbox Club Meal Idea
  • Uncategorized
  • Vitamins, minerals and other supplements
  • Weight Regain
Ramsay Health Banner Ad For Website

Ramsay Health Care UK sponsoring Weight Loss Surgery with Bariatric Cookery

How can Baricol support you? Find out more and request a free sample.

Footer

  • Home
  • Shop
  • Surgery & Faq’s
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Press
  • Contact
© Web Design by Brooks Creative

Web Design by Brooks Creative

Bariatric Cookery. All Rights Reserved

7ads6x98y