Month: August 2015

Categories
Wellbeing

Can Being Kinder To Yourself Really Improve Your Well-Being?

There’s a crusade happening, but if you’ve spent the last five years beating yourself up for every mistake, failure, or imperfection, then you probably don’t know about it.

Self-compassion is the newest form of healing to come out of the modern new-age self-help movement. Being kind to yourself and treating yourself like you would a good friend has become the recommended prescription for many mental health ailments and for improving relationships with others. There are self-compassion workshops, workbooks, and even institutes popping up all around the world dedicated to helping people learn how to stop self-flagellating and start self-soothing.

Self-compassion, according to the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, is responding to difficult thoughts and feelings with kindness, sympathy, and understanding so that you soothe and comfort yourself when you’re hurting. Research done by Kristin Neff, PhD has shown that self-compassion greatly enhances emotional well-being, boosts happiness, reduces anxiety and depression, and can even help maintain healthy lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise.

Compassion–the human quality that motivates people to go out of their way to help heal the physical, spiritual, or emotional hurts or pains of another–is by no means a new concept. The practice of compassion has lived in the texts of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity for centuries, and spiritual leaders such as Gandhi and the Dalai Lama have delivered the message of its healing powers.

Compassion is also not new to the field of psychology. Noted psychologist Carl Rogers talked about “unconditional positive regard.” Another American psychologist, Albert Ellis, introduced the notion of “unconditional self-acceptance”–both of which are intended to ease the suffering caused by a masochistic self. Self-compassion, or self-kindness, is an extension of compassion directed toward the self. It’s not the same as self-pity, and it has different effects from self-esteem.

We all know that it’s generally pretty easy to show compassion to other people. A friend goes through a breakup and you tell her to do something nice for herself. Your child gets bullied at school so you take him out for ice cream and tell him he deserves better. When it comes to self-application, however, the practice of compassion becomes much harder.

I don’t know about you, but I find it crazy that I have to learn how to be nice to myself, but at the same time there are days where I certainly wouldn’t want to be the jury if I were the judge.

Pros And Cons

In a culture where we’re driven to go beyond our limits and aspire to unrealistic goals, a moment of self-kindness can go a long way. We also live in a world where perfectionism has become an epidemic and where doing more has become a disease. Self-compassion can ease the pain and suffering that comes with trying to live up to unachievable standards, and it offers a brief reprieve from daily stress.

Do know, however, that it is possible to misuse self-compassion.

Sometimes our most painful emotions are the greatest teachers, and the lessons can only come through suffering. For example, when it comes to an emotion like healthy guilt, applying too much self-compassion may block an opportunity for the learning and understanding that can come from this powerful emotion. Guilt is a challenging emotion to tolerate, so trying to make it “go away” is common. When you read about how self-compassion can mitigate painful feelings you may tell yourself that it’s okay to not feel guilty, when in fact your guilt is the driving force behind the important act of making amends. Letting yourself “off the hook” or making excuses is not the same as practicing self-compassion.

If you’ve hurt someone (even unintentionally) it’s important to heal that rupture for both you and the victim. If you let the guilt go too quickly you could miss an opportunity for this repair and leave the other person feeling unresolved or unable to forgive. Self-compassion shouldn’t be used to erase or replace feelings; it’s a balm that should be applied liberally to ease the pain and the unnecessary suffering that comes from being critical or judgmental of the self.

Fit Or Flop

Self-compassion is a definite fit. Being kind to yourself is not only a commonsense practice, but it’s been shown in research to help with several issues and ailments. Learning to be less self-critical and become more self-forgiving offers both immediate effects and long-lasting benefits.

Don’t expect self-compassion to be a fix-all however, and it shouldn’t be used as a replacement for professional support. This is particularly true with more serious symptoms of depression or anxiety.

Also be mindful of not letting your self-compassion backfire by allowing it to become the source of more suffering. It’s important to remember that even though you can take a workshop or “learn” self-compassion, there are no hard and fast rules for a right way to do it. Like all practices, the more you do it the easier it gets. Not unlike the practice of gratitude and positive thinking, self-compassion should be used as an adjunct to deeper work. Although it offers relief it doesn’t access underlying issues that will continue to surface without the proper treatment.

Categories
Wellbeing

Science Says, "Go Ahead, Turn in Early Tonight"

It’s no big deal to stay up a little later at night than normal, we figure we won’t miss the sleep or that we can just go to bed a little earlier the next night and “make it up” but the truth of the matter is that it’s a pretty big deal to our bodies. Adults need at least seven hours of sleep per night, and many need nine or more. Whether it’s a night out partying or you just couldn’t make yourself shut down Facebook that lack of sleep is costing you.

Let’s take a look at a few reasons why keeping that regular bedtime is a good idea.

1. Sleep improves memory and learning.

REM sleep is especially important for learning and memory consolidation; without it you’ll find that your memory becomes impaired and learning suffers. Babies get the highest amount of REM sleep and the amount decreases as we age, but no matter our age, REM sleep is important and necessary. You typically get most of your REM sleep early in the morning, which means that the less sleep you get, the less REM sleep you get and the more likely you are to see decreased memory and ability to learn. If this isn’t a good reason to get to bed early, I don’t know what is.

2. Sleep decreases your risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the body about two hours before bedtime, and studies have indicated that this hormone may decrease estrogen levels which may not only decrease the risk of certain cancers (including breast cancer) but may also help prevent or reduce endometriosis. Regular secretion of melatonin relies on a regular bedtime making it important to stick to a regular sleep schedule. And, guys don’t think this is just about women. Not getting enough sleep also decreases the number of natural killer cells (the cells that fight off cancer) in your body, which increases your risk for all types of cancer.

Lack of sleep has also recently been linked to Alzheimer’s disease as at best an early warning sign. Because deep sleep is important for memory consolidation and learning it’s possible that a lack of sleep over time may actually cause Alzheimer’s disease.

3. Sleep improves your immune system.

Your immune system needs sleep. It’s no coincidence that when you are sick you sleep more it’s because sleep is your body’s way of healing. Slow wave sleep is necessary for healing and tissue repair, so it makes sense that not getting enough sleep would decrease your immune system and your body’s ability to heal itself. In an interview with Mother Jones, sleep psychologist Matt Walker pointed out that getting just four hours of sleep for one night, impairs your immune system function by about 70 percent. Get some rest!

4. Sleep aids in healing. I’ve already addressed that sleep improves your immune system but that’s not the only way that it helps with healing. Slow wave sleep is important for helping the body rejuvenate and heal. This is delta wave sleep which is most evident early in the evening, but it does continue throughout the night. As we age we get less and less slow wave deep sleep, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important and the fact that we are getting less of it as we age is a good reason why it’s more important to ensure we get a full night’s sleep every night.

5. Sleep keeps you young and keeps the weight off.

A sleep-debt study of 11 men found that getting four hours of sleep for just six nights impairs the ability to metabolize carbohydrates and messes up endocrine function. The researchers said that these findings were not much different than what you see in general aging, however what it indicates is that not getting enough sleep speeds up the problems you typically see with age.

This impaired ability to metabolize carbs (if you haven’t guessed) doesn’t help your waistline. So, getting a good night’s sleep could definitely help you keep the weight off, or lose it, if that’s your goal.

While one late night probably isn’t too big of a deal, continually staying up too late, or not maintaining a regular bedtime schedule can wreak havoc on your body, leading to everything from anxiety, depression, irritability, impaired concentration to weight gain, and even increased risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Given the trade-off I think sticking to a regular sleep schedule of seven or more hours a night is probably the better choice, don’t you?

References: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8621064 http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/inquiring-minds-matt-walker

Categories
Nosh

The Art of Deception: Do These 'Health' Foods Have You Fooled?

Before I start this exposé of sorts, I have to tell you, I am not usually one for alarmism. I am about to share with you some very popular “diet” and “health” foods that, in reality, lack serious nutrition, but that does not make them “evil” or “forbidden.” Everyone eats unhealthy food sometimes! What irks me about these products is not that they aren’t particularly nutritious; it’s that advertisers have convinced us that they are, leading us to believe that eating them regularly will help us to achieve our health goals.

YOGURT

Would you eat a candy bar or drink a small can of soda for breakfast? Ok, maybe you would (the dietitian in me will pretend I didn’t hear that), but I doubt even if you did, that you would consider it healthy. Yet that is exactly what we do with yogurt. Now, let me back up, because yogurt does have some very important nutrients in it that candy bars and soda lack: namely, calcium, but also a little bit of protein, particularly if you opt for a Greek yogurt. However, the sugar content of most yogurts is identical to, if not greater than, some of our favorite “junk” foods! I tell my clients to stick to plain yogurt, flavored themselves with fruit and spices (the trick is to start with a ton of fruit and gradually decrease over time so your taste buds adjust), and to think of flavored varieties as liquid ice cream. Oh, and while we’re on the subject? Frozen yogurt is just low-fat ice cream, too. Sorry.

AGAVE

“Natural” sweeteners have really gained momentum over the past few years; none, arguably, more-so than agave. However, did you know that agave is almost exclusively made of fructose and that it is actually a pretty refined, processed ingredient? Even Dr. Oz said, “Just kidding!” after being called out on the reality of agave’s nutritional properties. Stick with 100% pure maple syrup, sucanat, or coconut sugar for something more natural, and remember: all sweeteners, even “natural” ones, are best consumed at a minimum.

PROTEIN BARS

Who here can honestly say they don’t wish they had a few more hours in the day? We are all busy, and when time gets tight, healthy habits are often the first to be compromised. In place of full, balanced meals, more and more we are turning to portable bars to tide us over while we work. Unfortunately, these are usually little more than candy bars with protein powder mixed in. You are better off with a handful of nuts, some hardboiled eggs and a piece of fruit, or carrot sticks and hummus.

CEREALS THAT ADVERTISE AS BEING HEART HEALTHY OR GOOD FOR WEIGHT LOSS

We won’t name names here, but there are certain cereal brands that have marketed themselves successfully as staples in a healthy diet. However, if you turn over the package, the nutrition facts panel and ingredients list tell quite a different story. Before falling for marketing hype, check your cereal for the following criteria: it should have at least five grams of fiber and less than 8 grams of sugar per serving (in fact, the best cereal options don’t contain any sugar!). The fiber should not be coming from ingredients like “cellulose” or “inulin” either, which studies have yet to show have any true health benefits. Flavor cereal naturally with cinnamon, berries, or a dash of vanilla extract.

VEGGIE PASTAS

Vegetables can be a tough sell. They are often the last part of the healthy eating equation that individuals tackle, and they look for any shortcut they can. Here is the bad news: there is no way around eating your vegetables. Pastas that promise to deliver a full serving of vegetables in every serving are nothing more than regular white pasta with some spinach or tomato puree added in. They are low in fiber and not so great in the vitamin and mineral department, either. 100% whole grain pasta is your best bet, but honestly, even if you go with a good quality white pasta and replace a third or half of the serving with non-starchy vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach are particularly great for this), you’d be better off than with a full serving of the veggie pasta. Plus, it’s way cheaper.

Did you find any of your “healthy” favorites on this list? Don’t despair! Remember, eating these foods sometimes because you enjoy them is perfectly ok. A good rule of thumb is to make 80-90% of your food choices solid nutritionally, giving you 10-20% wiggle room for treats. Ultimately, nothing beats good, old fashioned healthy, whole foods.

Categories
Lifestyle

Food Companies Are Dropping Artificial Ingredients – But What Does It Mean For You?

Nearly one quarter of consumers today report reading nutritional labels to avoid artificial additives, so in an effort to appease a more modern, health conscious customer, food companies are dropping artificial ingredients. It’s a widespread movement that includes some of the biggest names in the food industry. General Mills is removing artificial flavors and colors from all of its cereals and Kraft ditched the artificial colors and preservatives from its iconic mac and cheese.
But what does this really mean for the consumer? Is it a true menu facelift or a marketing ploy?

Food Companies Are Taking Baby Steps

Food companies are making positive moves in the right direction but many are still taking baby steps. It’s important to read between the lines. How many of their products are actually changing considering how huge these companies really are in the first place? How far reaching are these changes in terms of products?
For example, General Mills said that 90 percent of its cereals will be free of artificial flavors and colors by the end of 2016. This is great news, but General Mills is way more than just cereal, it’s baked goods, pizza rolls, and prepared meals. The company owns a host of other processed food brands including Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Pillsbury, Hamburger Helper, and Totino’s. What is it doing to make these brands healthier? How many products still contain artificial ingredients?
While Kraft Foods removed artificial colors and preservatives from its Original Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, what about its numerous other products like JELL-O, Cool Whip, and Stove Top Stuffing? Does Kraft plan to change up these products as well?

What’s Being Added To the Ingredient List?

As these companies begin to remove artificial ingredients, what are they replacing them with to keep the flavor consistent? Are natural flavors that much better than artificial flavors? It helps to understand what exactly artificial flavors are in the first place.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines artificial flavors as substances that impart flavor and are not “derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof.”
Natural flavors, on the other hand, are sourced from “a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root” and so on. And while that may seem innately healthy, a number of not-so-healthy substances can be derived from nature. Natural flavors can still contain dangerous ingredients. For example, natural wood smoke flavor is made from liquid smoke. Liquid smoke is captured, condensed, and filtered smoke that’s mixed with water after burning wood at a high temperature. But liquid smoke contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are known carcinogens. Then there’s castoreum, a mixture of the anal secretions and the urine of beavers, which is used to make natural vanilla and raspberry flavorings.
These flavors, whether natural or artificial, are created by professional flavorists and do not have to be fully disclosed on food labels. If the label reads natural flavors, you could be eating a supposedly natural ingredient made of beaver urine.
That’s pretty gross.
What’s more, the Environmental Working Group, which rates the health of food based on a number of criteria including genetic modification, pesticide residue, processing, and ingredients, gives foods with natural and artificial flavors the same rating because it says that one is no better than the other.
So when a food company claims it’s replacing artificial flavors with natural flavors, be wary. Read the ingredients label carefully and look for ingredients that you recognize. If you can’t find the ingredient in your pantry, you may want to put the product back on the shelf.
The good news is that food companies are responding to consumers and removing unhealthy ingredients. Panera, for example, changed its entire menu by removing over 80 additives and clearly defining the changes on its website. Food companies are taking steps to make real food from real ingredients, but we as consumers still have to be vigilant about reading labels. If the ingredient panel resembles a novel rather than a sentence, think twice about purchasing the product.
You have the power to help create change in our food system by using your American dollar to purchase only clean and real food products at your local markets.

Categories
Wellbeing

Stop the Makeup Shaming Once and For All

I love wearing makeup myself and couldn’t believe others would actually bully people just for wearing it. Makeup shaming is a cruel trend and many consider it the new body shaming. Honestly, can’t we all just get along?

What’s Makeup Shaming?

Have you ever been judged by someone else because you covered a blemish or wore eye shadow? Even though we might wear makeup because we enjoy it, some people just don’t understand it, or perhaps don’t wear it themselves.

I used to wear hardly any makeup to work, and I’ve had people tell me I really needed to wear it, or hint that I look better when I’m wearing it. Some people say everyone should be comfortable in their own skin and quit covering up. It’s a no win.

I’m so happy to discover a major campaign against this new form of bullying against women who just enjoy how makeup makes them feel.

YouTube and Instagram to the Rescue

Women aren’t backing down. Instead, they’re standing up for the right to do what they want with their own faces. It all started with a video on YouTube from Nikkie Tutorials. “The Power of Makeup” video shows 21 year old Nikkie De Jager talking about why women wear makeup.

She also shows herself with only half her face made up. This single video has taken the Internet by storm and now women and even men all over the world are posting half and half photos of themselves on Instagram.

Thousands have taken up the #ThePowerOfMakeup challenge. Women and men are sharing their reasons for wearing makeup and proving they’re happy either way.

Nikkie’s View On Makeup

I fully agree with Nikkie’s views on makeup. She says she doesn’t wear it for guys or because she’s insecure. She wears it as a form of self-expression.

Other women are letting go of their shame and telling the world how much they love makeup. The entire point of the now-viral video was to bring the issue of makeup shaming to light and give others the confidence to express themselves without judgment.

I highly recommend watching the video. It’s empowering and makes you feel even better in your own skin whether you’re wearing makeup or not.

Celebrities On Board Too

I decided to check out the photos and wasn’t surprised to see numerous celebrities are on board. Many have even posted selfies showing how beautiful they are without makeup such as Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks.

Get Involved

You can’t get on Instagram right now without seeing #ThePowerOfMakeup or #NoMakeup hashtags. I lost a few hours just scrolling through many of the posts. It’s hard not to respect the women posting selfies that show themselves either partially made up or completely free of makeup.

Overall, the movement is staying positive. Of course, you’ll see some negative comments, but the general response to the photos is positive. I think this is one of the best ways to silence the bullies and put an end to the shaming.

You don’t have to just sit back and do nothing. It’s easy to get involved. Upload your own half and half makeup post to Instagram. Tell the world why you love makeup and be an inspiration for other women.

Putting an End to Shaming

Instagram is a powerful tool in the fight to end both body shaming and makeup shaming. It seems like no matter what women do, it’s not good enough. Young women and teens are confused and go to extreme lengths to be perfect.

I’m so tired of hearing about women being shamed for being too skinny, too fat, too made up and not made up enough. No one should criticize your body or your face! If you’re happy with who you are and how you look, that’s all that matters.

It’s only when women band together that body and makeup shaming will end. Go ahead and stand up for the right to be yourself.

Categories
Sweat

Go Above And Beyond Your 10,000 Steps a Day

So you’re religiously using your FitBit, Jawbone, or your fitness tracking device of choice and think you’re all set because the fitness gods are looking out for you by doing extensive studies on how 10K steps a day will keep you uber-healthy for life?

Not so fast, My Pretty!

The reality is that the rule of 10K steps a day (equivalent to about 5 miles) wasn’t established because of extensive experiments done on distance walking and health. It was actually adopted because of an invention by a Japanese man. In 1965, Dr. Yoshiro Hatano developed an early version of a pedometer called the “manpo-kei,” which means “10,000 steps meter.” Somehow because of its name and translation, 10,000 steps became the gold standard in health and wellness and was adopted by the most popular of fitness tracking devices. Pretty wild, huh?

It’s important to keep in mind that any amount of fitness is awesome and gets you into better shape. And studies have found that the more you track your activity, the more you’ll work to reach your goal…and continue working. The making and tracking of goals and a system of accountability has been the recipe for success in so many areas of business, wellness, and in life. So it’s great to track yourself and move more. However…you can’t just count on 10,000 steps a day to keep yourself healthy and pardon yourself from any more or other forms of exercise. In other words, don’t think “Oh I did my 10,000 steps, now I’m done and can sit on the couch for the rest of the day/night.”

To be completely healthy, your body needs a mix of the essential components of exercise: Strength, cardiovascular, balance, agility, and flexibility are some of the most important. Your body is at its strongest when you include activities that incorporate all of these things in them daily or weekly. Activities like weight training for strength, hiking for cardiovascular health, core training for balance, functional training for agility, and yoga for flexibility.

A great workout schedule for the week would look something like this

Monday Cardiovascular

Tuesday Strength

Wednesday Balance/Agility

Thursday Cardiovascular

Friday Flexibility

Saturday Strength

Of course there are workouts that can include multiple components of exercise in one session. Boxing, interval training, and rebounding can accomplish that.

You overachievers can also opt to do split sessions, where you do two types of exercise in one day–a hike in the morning and strength training in the afternoon, for instance.

It’s also important to try to mix up the types of activities you do that incorporate these components. For example, choose hiking one week for your cardiovascular workout and try spinning the next week. Or do weight training for your strength training the first week and switch to Pilates the next. Studies show that changing your activity often not only keeps your body the healthiest but also ensures program adherence.

In other words, you won’t get bored off your butt and ditch your workout.

10,000 steps a day is great…but it’s only a start. Look past your personal fitness horizon and trample over it by walking more and doing lots of other things…more.

Categories
Nosh

Don't Be Fooled…These Foods Actually Make You Hungrier

You’re hungry, so you eat. You eat so you won’t be hungry anymore. Or at least you’re not supposed to be hungry anymore (unless you’re eating Chinese food). Have you ever eaten a full meal, only to be perplexed when you find yourself starving an hour later? The problem is that Chinese food isn’t the only problem. Equally problematic is that most of the time you don’t even realize you’re hungry and eating more.

Proper digestion and optimal health is a complex process affected by the ingredients in food. What you eat–or don’t eat–can affect the rate of absorption of food into your bloodstream or the satiety hormone known as leptin, making you hungrier quicker. This sabotages not only your health and your weight, but also your pocketbook, causing you to eat more than you actually want to.

Here is a list of 10 foods you need to avoid to help protect your body, your belly, and your budget.

1. Alcohol

With no fiber, protein, or fat to buffer the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, your favorite cocktail can make your blood sugar soar then quickly plummet, leaving you grabbing the nearest snack, no matter how unhealthy. Not only that, new studies find that three servings of alcohol can lower your body’s levels of leptin, making you forget that you shouldn’t be hungry.

2. White bread

Studies have shown that the effect of white bread on your blood sugar mimics that of white sugar. In other words, when you’re filling up on white bread, you might as well be eating tablespoons of sugar. What’s the problem? White bread has been stripped of all of the fiber, the main ingredient that slows sugar in the blood and makes you feel full. Furthermore, most white bread contains high fructose corn syrup, a cheap sugar substitute that enters your blood system quicker and spikes your insulin, causing you to be hungry pretty quickly afterward.

3. Chinese food

Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer commonly found in Chinese food, has been used for years to fatten up laboratory animals. Studies show that people who eat MSG are three times more likely to be obese than those who don’t. Scientists believe that it may dull the effects of leptin, making you eat more.

4. Juice

It’s not just the calories in juice that fatten you up. No pulp and no fiber, combined with high fructose corn syrup, can make your favorite drink a fattening one by sending your blood sugar skyrocketing (and you to the fridge).

5. Artificial sweeteners

They have no calories yet still taste sweet and yummy. Sound too good to be true? Indeed they are. Artificial sweeteners mimic sugar in the body and cause your blood sugar to rise and fall rapidly. The problem gets worse when you drink beverages that contain artificial sweeteners without eating, because there is nothing to combat your falling blood sugar, so you quickly get voracious. Kind of negates the whole reason to drink diet soda, right?

6. Cereal

White flour, no fiber, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup are a seriously problematic combination for your blood sugar that will leave you hungry in the morning and craving sugar all day.

7. Coffee

Caffeine, in moderation, can help you lose weight…but drink too much and you’ll be doing more harm than good. Excessive caffeine raises your blood sugar, and unless you’re pairing your morning java with a snack or meal, your blood sugar (and willpower) will plummet fast.

8. Fast food

The trans fats contained in most fast food can potentially be pretty bad for your appetite by inflaming your stomach and hurting your body’s ability to produce appetite-controlling hormones. Not good. Additionally, most fast food contains ridiculous amounts of sodium, which can dehydrate you. Oftentimes it’s hard to tell the difference between being thirsty and hungry, and many people eat when all they need is water.

9. Sushi rolls

They’re fat free so they should be good for you, right? Not so fast. Each sushi roll is made with a cup of rice, which amounts to three servings of carbs. The typical person eats three sushi rolls at a meal–the equivalent of nine whopping, blood-sugar-soaring servings of carbs. And unless you’re choosing brown rice, it gets worse. White rice is stripped of its fiber, which raises your blood sugar even faster.

10. Flavored potato chips

Flavored potato chips can contain ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and MSG, making these a healthy snack no-no. Make sure to check food labels. You need to watch out because before you know it, you’ll finish the bag and go looking for even more.

Categories
Nosh

The Rich, Chocolaty Taste of Good Health

I don’t know why but there is just something about dark chocolate that is so satisfying. The rich, full and robust flavors combined with just enough sweetness are the qualities that differentiate it from the rest of the pack.

It easily quenches my sweet tooth and it doesn’t make me crave more sugar like the milk chocolate candy bars do. Since this newfound love for dark chocolate, I have found myself becoming a connoisseur, picking up a new brand or variation whenever I come across one.

With this daily intake of dark chocolate, fitting perfectly into my diet might I add, I still get strange looks from people because there are some out there that think you cannot be healthy and eat chocolate every day.

With these naysayers in the forefront of my mind I delved deep to find the health benefits of dark chocolate so I could refute any of those that thought I was doing damage to my body. Also by doing so, I gave myself a little piece of mind I am actually doing my body a favor by eating dark chocolate.

1. Dark chocolate acts as an antioxidant. Dark chocolate is high in flavanols which are also found in red wine, green tea, strawberries and lychee. Antioxidants are classified as polyphenols and Flavonoids (flavanols is a subtype of flavonoids).

2. Decreases blood clotting by inhibiting platelet activation and aggregation. It keeps our cells smooth and disc shaped, instead of an irregular shape which can stick together and build up to form a clot.

3. Dark chocolate reduces blood pressure by increasing the release of Nitric Oxide (NO), which acts as a vasodilator to relax the blood vessels to let blood flow more easily.

4. A study showed those with higher dark chocolate consumption had a lower relative risk for having a stroke. Impaired release of NO can cause the blood vessels to constrict and impede blood flow. This can cause endothelial dysfunction which can then lead to inflammation, stenosis, blood clot formation and an occlusion and then eventually a heart attack or stroke. So by consuming dark chocolate, it increases NO production, which can help lower your risk of having a stroke.

5. Decreases insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is characterized by decreased endothelial NO bioavailability with impaired endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation and increased oxidative stress. Insulin resistance was decreased by improvement in endothelial function.

6. Dark Chocolate improves insulin sensitivity by improving β-cell function. β-cells are cells in the pancreas which store and release insulin.

Now that you know some of the health benefits of eating dark chocolate, we need to get down to the questions that everyone wants to know the answer to. How much dark chocolate do I need to eat and what percentage of cacao does it need to be?

The higher the percentage of cacao, the more flavanols and antioxidant powers the chocolate contains. The threshold seems to sit around 49g of at least 71% cacao. Now you wonder, how much is 49g. Not everyone has a food scale that they can whip out on a whim so I’ll give you an example.

Most of the fancy, dark chocolate bars come in a bar a little larger than your average Hershey’s chocolate bar. On average those bars weigh around 100g (or 3.5oz). So to get the health benefits of dark chocolate you would need to eat roughly half of the big bar of chocolate.

Now you have another dilemma on hand, do I have enough calories saved up to eat half of this dark chocolate bar every day (~300-350 calories per 50g) that I do not gain weight and still reap the health benefits of dark chocolate.

If you fail to take into account the new calories from the chocolate into your daily intake, you could inadvertently set yourself up to be gaining 1/2 pound of weight per week, that’s 26 pounds in a year. The composition of that weigh (fat/muscle) is entirely dependent upon the other aspects of your daily intake and exercise regimen (or lack thereof).

The moral of the story is, yes you can reap great benefits from eating dark chocolate daily, but you must eat the right kind of dark chocolate and in the right doses for you to receive above said benefits, all while fitting it into a balanced and controlled diet to negate unwanted weight gain.

AM J Clin Nutr 2008;88:58-63

European Heart Journal; 2010; doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq068

The Journal of Nutrition; 2008; 138(9):1671-1676

Am J Clin Nutr 2008;88:58-63

Food Chem 2010;120:109-112