Will eating chocolate make you fat? 5 major benefits you will definitely receive! Nutritionist: Eat to stay slim and look younger

With Valentine's Day approaching, giving and eating chocolates has become a necessary ritual! However, for couples who are in love, eating chocolate is something they look forward to but are also afraid of getting hurt. They worry that the more they eat, the fatter they get, or that it will aggravate their diabetes. So how should they eat chocolate correctly? What are the health benefits of chocolate?

The legend of giving chocolate on Valentine's Day

Why do people give chocolates on Valentine's Day? There is a saying: Around the 16th century, at the wedding of Louis XIII and Spanish Princess Anne d'Autriche, Anne brought cocoa beans from Spain as an engagement gift to Louis XIII, and thus cocoa beans, the raw material of chocolate, opened a new chapter in love!

Nutritional value of chocolate

Nutritionist Lei Xiaoling said that chocolate is made from cocoa beans through fermentation, drying, and baking. The most important ingredient in cocoa is polyphenols, which contain a large amount of phenolic antioxidants. Chocolate can be divided into dark chocolate, milk chocolate (containing lecithin and cocoa > 20%) and white chocolate (does not contain solid cocoa). The nutrients in dark chocolate include protein, fat, polyphenols (such as catechins, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins), flavonoids, theobromine, caffeine, potassium, phosphorus, copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin A, etc., which are good for health.

The health benefits of chocolate include preventing cardiovascular disease, stroke, coronary artery disease, lowering blood pressure, reducing type 2 diabetes, lowering triglycerides in the blood, and keeping away the risk of metabolic syndrome.

Dark chocolate contains flavanols, which can help lower blood pressure, as well as the risk of thrombosis and stroke, helping you to be a good person; cocoa butter can also lower cholesterol, making you look smoother and younger.

5 Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

How to choose chocolate? How can we eat to give the best health gift to our beloved other half? Nutritionist Lei Xiaoling said that it is recommended to choose dark chocolate with a cocoa content of more than 70%, because dark chocolate has the following five advantages:

1. Beauty and anti-aging

Because cocoa beans contain "polyphenols" and "flavonoids" with super antioxidant capacity, eating one or two pieces (about 30-40 grams) a day can make you younger and younger.

2. Promote metabolism

Dark chocolate also contains rich minerals such as iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, etc., which can help metabolism, prevent weight gain and make you look slim and younger.

3. Lowers blood pressure

Dark chocolate contains flavanols, which can help lower blood pressure, as well as the risk of thrombosis and stroke, helping you to be a good person; cocoa butter can also lower cholesterol, making you look smoother and younger.

4. Improves Memory

Many medical studies have pointed out that cocoa flavanols can increase blood circulation in the brain and strengthen neural connections, thereby improving memory and learning ability, avoiding goldfish brain, and eating to make you look smarter and younger.

5. Happy mood

Dark chocolate contains tryptophan, which helps synthesize the happy hormone serotonin in the body, thus relaxing the body and bringing a sense of pleasure. In addition, cocoa polyphenols can also reduce anxiety and stress, help people relax, and make them feel relaxed and younger.