It's all about chocolate

Chocolate’s amazing stuff!

It’s been around in one form or another since 1900BC, but only evolved into the delightful melt in your mouth treat we’ve known and loved for 200 years by the British. It was then perfected by the Swiss, Dutch and French.

Chocolate is almost a complete food. 100gm of average chocolate contains 8% protein, over 25% fat, and equal amounts of sugar and carbohydrates. It’s one of the few foods you can chew, lick, spread, pour, and occasionally wear (and it tastes great hot or cold).

Chocolate moves from the category of food to that of friend because, lets face it, it comes to the rescue when we’re feeling down, lonely and flat out tired.

When it comes to energy chocolate is power packed. 100gm, about the size of a pack of playing cards, contains 2110kj. That’s a lot of energy to use up. Because chocolate is sooooo soft and processed, it quickly gets converted into body fat. The average person who exercises a couple of times a week is looking at over 6o minutes of exercise to use that 2110kj. That’s where chocolate gets a bad rap as a “fat stacker”. It’s not that chocolate’s a problem; it’s that it’s almost too good as a food.

Chocolate and womens health go hand in hand in an interesting way also. In the book “A Womans Guide to Vitamins, Minerals and Alternative Healing “ it’s mentioned that chocolate cravings indicate a Magnesium deficiency. How can this be when there’s no Magnesium in Chocolate? The reason is that when a womans estrogen levels drop mid cycle to allow progesterone secretion there’s also an associated loss of Magnesium. Low magnesium shows in body symptoms of anxiety, depression and muscle cramping; so it’s needed in our body from muscle to mood.

Which food friend is really good at helping us lift our mood and feel good- chocolate.

The chocolate snack attacks that occur mid cycle and at PMS might be as much a response to your cycles Magnesium loss as your taste buds!

Next weeks article is on Magnesium foods and the ways you can love chocolate and like your body shape.