6 Reasons Why Dark Chocolate Can Help You with Your Diet*

Chocoholics need not despair. Even if it’s time to start a diet and get serious about weight loss, there’s one thing they don’t have to give up: the antioxidant- and flavonoid-rich dark chocolate. The closer the chocolate is to how nature produced it—i.e., without the additional milk, sugar, fat, and artificial flavorings that make it junk food—the better it is for your health.

And to a chocoholic’s great surprise, dark chocolate can be more than just a substitute to its unhealthy counterparts. It can also be incorporated into one’s diet and eaten in moderate amounts in order to curb cravings, prevent overeating, increase insulin sensitivity, and stabilize blood sugar—all of which can make the road to weight loss easier on the dieter.

Read on for a tasty treatise on dark chocolate, its health benefits, and its enrichment of healthy food choices like plant-based milk. There’s still a way to enjoy nature’s food for the gods without compromising your weight loss goals!

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1. Eating a few squares of dark chocolate can suppress cravings. One thing people often talk about when they go on diets is how deprived they feel of the foods they enjoy.  That feeling of total deprivation can take both a physical and psychological toll on the dieter, and may manifest in binge-eating sessions of sweet and fatty foods on cheat or break days. To prevent such a feeling from sinking in, uphold moderation as a key. Allow yourself to eat a small amount of dark chocolate, about one to two ounces maximum per day, in accordance with your meal plans. Still eating a little bit of what you enjoy can lessen any fears of missing out just because you’re on a diet.
2. A small serving of dark chocolate can curb the impulse to overeat. Try eating a square of 65% cacao dark chocolate fifteen to twenty minutes before a meal, or when you feel the urge to snack kicking in. Doing this will trigger your hypothalamus, the part of your brain that deals with hunger and fullness. Your body will then receive the signal from your brain that you feel full. This can keep you from digging into heavier foods at mealtime, and help you resist the onset of the munchies.    

3. Dark chocolate is being studied for its positive effect on insulin sensitivity. There are several studies out there that explore how dark chocolate can improve insulin sensitivity, including a recent one titled “Use of Dark Chocolate for Diabetic Patients: A Review of the Literature and Current Evidence” (Shah et al.). This study concentrates on the flavonoids, or plant-derived phytochemicals, that are present in dark chocolate. The evidence from this particular study is optimistic, showing that cocoa can slow down the progression to type-2 diabetes and reduce insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome.  That means that you can be optimistic as well about how far your daily ounce of dark chocolate may be going.

4. Dark chocolate lowers blood pressure and raises good cholesterol. Cacao was once looked to as a medicinal plant, and many of its health benefits live on in dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has been proven to contain limited but still noticeable benefits to blood pressure. More thorough scientific study is in the works to explore how these flavonoids can lower blood pressure and lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease.  In addition, the oleic acid in cocoa butter is a monounsaturated fat akin to those in olive oil. As such, it similarly raises your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or what they call your “good” cholesterol—a health target that you’ll want to meet as you pursue your diet.
5. Eating dark chocolate can improve your mood. There’s a scientific basis behind the happy feeling you get when you eat chocolate. Dark chocolate also contains serotonin, or the neurotransmitter that acts as an anti-depressant. The higher the concentration of pure cocoa in the dark chocolate bar, the higher the concentration of serotonin is as well. This improvement in your mood can make you feel more at peace with your diet, as well as motivate you to exercise more.
6. Dark chocolate is readily available in the form of delicious, healthy products. Lastly, dark chocolate figures quite often in healthy, but delicious diet alternatives like chocolate flavored milked nuts. You can also find it in your favorite trail mixes, power bars, protein shakes, and the like. You can seek these out to vary the tastes and textures you encounter in your diet. This will make you feel like you’re in control and like you have a lot to choose from when you’re dieting, two notions that are often lost along the way.

As Forrest Gump famously said, “life is like a box of chocolates.” But the conscious dieter should still choose which one they get. Choose high-quality and ethically-produced dark chocolate to trigger real health benefits on your weight loss journey.