Health Benefits Of Chocolate
By lfleenor
If you are a chocolate lover, you are going to love hearing about this. It is a little known fact that chocolate can be beneficial to your health. This article will help give some insight on why chocolate is beneficial to your health. Eating chocolate can actually be heart healthy.

Chocolate contains flavonoids, that are great for your heart. What are flavonoids you ask? Flavonoids are found in many foods and beverages. Flavonoids are found in cranberries, apples, peanuts, red wine, tea, onions, and most importantly, chocolate just to name a few. Flavonoids act as antioxidants to our bodies. The definition that American Heritage Dictionary gives for flavonoid is any of a large group of water-soluble plant pigments, including the anthocyanins, that are beneficial to health.

Flavonoids repair damage and protect from environmental toxins. Antioxidants help our bodies resist damage by “free radicals”, formed by such things as breathing, or environmental things such as cigarette smoke. If our bodies do not have enough antioxidants, those “free radicals” can damage our bodies causing a rise in LDL cholesterol oxidation and the forming of plaque on the walls
of your arteries. Flavanoids also help to reduce platelet activation and may affect the relaxation of blood vessels.

When you are ready for some chocolate, here are some more things to consider. Dark chocolate is much higher in flavonoids than that of milk chocolate. Milk chocolate tends to be processed much more than dark chocolates, and in this process, flavonoids are lost. So if you are going to eat chocolate for the health benefits, it would be wise to eat the dark chocolates.

So now that you have this information, you are probably thinking “What about all the fat contained in chocolate?”. Chocolate is not nearly as bad as people once thought, when you are talking about its fat. Keep in mind we are not talking about a chocolate bar that contains caramel, nuts, etc inside them, because these are not healthy. Most of the calories found in a bar, come from all the other things that are added to them, not the actual chocolate.

My suggestions on chocolate eating is to get some Dove brand dark chocolates (the small snack size chocolates), and eat about 3 to 4 of them a day. The best part about this is that there is no need for you to feel bad about it.

Laura Fleenor is webmaster of Articles 4 Me And U.com, and Particle Articles.com. Laura is a married mother of 4.

Muslims Take To Minn. State Fair To Repair Image
At Minnesota State Fair, Muslims Hand Out Information In Effort To Repair Tattered Image
Toll From Attack On Pakistani Shiites Jumps To 65
Death Toll From Taliban Attack On Pakistani Shiites Jumps To 65 Overnight
Sea Lion Mauls 11-year-old Boy At Australian Zoo
11-year-old Boy Mauled By Sea Lion In Front Of Horrified Visitors At Popular Australian Zoo
Mexico Arrests 6 In Deadly Cancun Bar Blaze
Mexican Police Arrest 6 Suspected Of Torching Bar In Cancun, Killing 8
Plane Wreckage Removed From SF Bay Area Lagoon
Crews Remove Wreckage Of Small Plane That Crashed Into Shallow Lagoon Off San Francisco Bay
2 Abortion Drs. Ordered To Stop After Md. Injury
Md. Health Officials Order 2 Abortion Doctors To Stop Procedures After Woman Injured
Bristol Palin Tells Leno 'Dancing' Choice Was Easy
Prom-less Young Mom Bristol Palin Tells Leno 'Dancing With The Stars' Was An Easy Choice
Blackwater Created Shell Companies, NYT Reports
Security Company Formed Network of 30 Shell Companies, Subsidiaries to Get Millions in Gov't Business, Newspaper Reports
Outgoing Obama Adviser: Stimulus was Right to Do
Christina Romer, Chair of Economic Advisers, Stepping Down This Weekend, Doesn't Think Gov't Spent Too Much for Economy
Body Of Son Of Boxing Promoter Found In Cascades
Park Spokeswoman Says Body Of Son Of Boxing Promoter Bob Arum Found In North Cascades
9 Killed In New Zealand Skydiving Plane Crash
9 Killed After Skydiving Plane Bursts Into Flames, Crashes On New Zealand's South Island
SKorean Foreign Minister In Scandal Offers To Quit
Official Says South Korea's Foreign Minister Offers To Resign Over Nepotism Scandal
The Week in Space
New Teases about Life on Mars to Stunning Images of Distant Nebula
Earl Weakens to Tropical Storm near New England
Storm Dumps Wind-Driven Rain on Cape Cod
Weakened Earl Hits Mass. With Wind, Rain, Surf
After Sideswiping NC's Outer Banks, Weakened Earl Hits Outer Reaches Of Mass. With Rain, Wind
Report: Blackwater Created Shell Companies
Report: Blackwater Created 30 Shell Companies To Get Gov't Work After Iraq Shootings
Taylor Lautner Settles Suit Over RV For Movie Set
'Twilight' Actor Taylor Lautner Settles Suit With Calif. Dealership Over Late Delivery Of RV
Appeals Court Rules For Eminem In Royalty Lawsuit
Eminem's Former Producers Entitled To More Money For Downloads And Ringtones, Court Rules
Calif. Wildfire Sparked By Migrants' Signal Blaze
Officials Say Calif. Wildfire Sparked By Signal Blaze Set By Illegal Immigrants
Mesa Woman Burned After Acid Thrown In Face
Mesa Woman Burned After Woman Throws Acid Into Her Face
SEC Reaches Settlement With Ex-Qwest CEO Nacchio
SEC Reaches Settlement With Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio In Civil Case
Longtime Book Editor Larry Ashmead Dies At 78
Larry Ashmead, Editor Of Asimov, Hillerman And Other Writers, Dies At Age 78 In NY
La. Officials Suspend Abortion Clinic's License
Louisiana Health Officials Suspend Abortion Clinic's License, Citing Health And Safety Risks
Kara DioGuardi Exits "American Idol" as Judge
DioGuardi Following Ellen DeGeneres, Simon Cowell Out
Head Of Alleged Trafficking Scheme Arrested
FBI Arrests Head Of Calif. Company Accused Of Trafficking Thai Workers To US Farms