Chocolate is a hard one, and a lot of people love chocolate, I like the taste of it too, but is it really good for you?
The big thing with chocolate is what is actually in the chocolate. Is it the chocolate itself or the flavour we really like or the sweetness of all the sugar? On the back of a chocolate bar it states that 21 percent of the chocolate bar is fat. 38 percent is saturated fat, which is not good for us and 31 percent sugar. So that makes 90 percent of the bar with things that are actually not good for us. The other 10 percent is made up of cocoa, and cocoa is full of caffeine. Basically chocolate is just full of fats, saturated fats, sugars and caffeine. So you would have to wonder why we see this particular product as a treat!
If you really look at the truth about chocolate it is not good for you at all. Is it the flavour we crave, are we addicted to the flavour of the chocolate or is it the sugar? There is something inside our palette that reacts to the caffeine and sugar that produces hormones and pheromones in our bodies which make us feel good so we crave the flavour. Now, the Marketing around this product It is very clever because it is not actually the product, it is the flavour, well it’s not even the favour it’s how we feel from the chemical reaction to the chocolate that is marketed to us.
The truth is we are addicted to how chocolate makes us feel, pretty much like most drugs. I have heard people say “yes but it tastes nice”. However the fact is that it is the good feeling we crave. It’s true if you are feeling down and unhappy chocolate certainly makes you feel better. But as for the health of the overall body, well that is another story.
What happens in the body with all that sugar and caffeine? What happens is that it puts pressure on our hearts as it makes the heart beat faster. The caffeine also puts a lot of pressure on our liver as well which can also make the body store carbohydrates as fat in the body, hence the weight gain. Chocolate also feeds the plaque bacteria on our teeth and arteries and it is the plaque that dissolves the teeth enamel. It is said they cocoa is an anti-oxidant, which it is, but I believe its positives are overridden by how caffeine affects our bodies. There are better and cleaner ways to increase anti-oxidants in the body.
I am not saying we have to stop eating chocolate, I am just highlighting awareness of what happens to our bodies when we eat chocolate. Knowing the truth is half the battle in facing any ‘tastes really nice but is bad for your health’ food groups. If you do love and eat a lot of chocolate then maybe just cut down a bit, that will help you to have better health.
Chocolate is a sacred cow to some people and I know a lot of my dear friends eat lots of chocolate. I like how it makes me feel too, but I’m also aware at what cost. At the end of the day it’s about being more aware of how to maintain great health, and I believe that is the most important consideration.
Cheers Pete C
