Chocolate: Unhealthy Or Not?

Chocolate not only has disadvantages, but it is also not really healthy.

When we eat chocolate, we often feel bad conscience. Because everyone knows that chocolate is basically unhealthy and unnecessary.

We have a few arguments for you to calm your conscience – but this only applies if you have eaten dark chocolate. Different “rules of the game” apply to milk chocolate or white chocolate …

Little chocolate customer

Chocolate is made from the kernels of the cocoa pods. The kernels are ground into a cocoa mass, which is then mixed with dairy products, sugar and cocoa butter to make different types of chocolate.

In many countries, other fats are added to the chocolate mass instead of the expensive cocoa butter. This is not forbidden in the EU either!

This mixture is then painstakingly ground and rolled very finely between rollers in order to obtain a delicate enamel without a gritty feeling in the mouth.

Chocolate: only dark, please!

Dark chocolate is also called “dark chocolate” or “men’s chocolate”. All three terms describe a chocolate with at least 50-60 cocoa content. A share of up to 99% is possible.

Dark chocolate is usually made without milk. The darker the chocolate, the more cocoa it contains. Cocoa itself contains up to 54% fat, but also many healthy ingredients, which we would like to explain here for the sake of your conscience.

Theobromine in cocoa

Theobromine is found in cocoa. Similar to caffeine, theobromine has a stimulating and invigorating effect.

Theobromine is not only found in cocoa pods, but also in tea leaves, mate tea and cola trees. So you don’t necessarily have to eat chocolate to get the stimulating substance, other sources of theobromine are also calorie-free!

But, the tip for your conscience: Cocoa contains up to 30 times more of it than tea! However, this also means that you shouldn’t overdo it with the chocolate and cocoa.

100g of pure cocoa powder contains so much theobromine that you have to reckon with flickering eyes, palpitations and headaches.

But don’t worry: a bar of dark chocolate doesn’t contain enough to cause you problems. As a precaution, only pregnant women should avoid dark chocolate.

Warning: Due to the high theobromine content in dark chocolate, it must never be fed to cats or dogs! Half a bar of chocolate can kill a small dog!

Serotonin, the happiness hormone

Cocoa also contains the body’s own happiness hormone serotonin. That is the reason why we also call chocolate “nerve food”.

Serotonin has a mood-enhancing effect. As a precursor to serotonin, cocoa also contains tryptophan, from which serotonin can be formed.

However, the body can produce serotonin itself and does not need chocolate to get serotonin: with the complex carbohydrates from grain products, the body can produce serotonin itself and much more of it than is in chocolate.

But it has a calming effect on your conscience that you also eat a little bit of happiness hormone with a piece of dark chocolate.

Dopamine has a motivating effect

Cocoa also contains small amounts of dopamine. A hormone that also has a mood-enhancing, stimulating and motivating effect. One more reason to call chocolate “food for the nerves”!

Healthy antioxidants

Among the healthy antioxidants in cocoa, the polyphenols are among the most abundant.

Antioxidants are our most important allies in the fight against highly reactive oxygen compounds, so-called free radicals, which are created in the body by influences such as UV radiation, exhaust gases, drugs and environmental toxins.

What follows from this is called oxidative stress. Too much of it can cause cell damage, accelerate our aging process and is also blamed for a whole range of diseases.

Antioxidants are natural ingredients that can protect our body cells from these harmful influences.

Dark chocolate is lactose-free

Because dark chocolate (mostly) does not contain any dairy products, it is lactose-free. This makes this dark chocolate interesting for everyone who suffers from lactose intolerance.

Lactose is the milk sugar in dairy products that some people are allergic to. Milk protein can also lead to allergies and intolerance. Dark chocolate is ideal without dairy products.

Dark chocolate is (mostly) vegan

Since dark chocolate (mostly) does not contain any dairy products, it is also suitable for all people who are vegan and do without animal products.

Dark chocolate (mostly) contains nothing other than cocoa, cocoa butter and sugar. All three ingredients are of vegetable origin and therefore vegan.

But there are already vegan types of chocolate that are sweetened with rice milk and taste like milk chocolate without containing dairy products.

Chocolate in Cosmetics?

In the meantime, applications related to chocolate are also offered in cosmetics. Massage, face masks and more are supposed to be good for the skin.

But they only do this if such products contain cocoa butter and not brown cocoa. Cocoa butter is extremely nourishing and rich, but you have to combine it with oils because it is solid at room temperature.

It works well in combination against cracked heels or elbows. Cocoa in cosmetic products only provides the good scent and relaxation that the scent triggers. And that’s not so bad either!