Dark Chocolate
Yummm! dark chocolate. With the weather turning to cold nights and blustery grey days I have been craving sweets. (and baked goods, and soup, and more baked goods, and sweets)
Let's talk about how dark chocolate, in moderation, is really good for you. It has stearic acid (a fatty acid that has a neutralizing effect on cholesterol!) There are many essential minerals including magnesium, copper, potassium, manganese and flavnoids. Flavnoids are of significant benefit because they act as a natural antioxidant and neutralizes free radicals that can damage cell and tissue in the body. Dairy interferes with this process so adding milk to chocolate, tea or other lovely free radical fighters makes it all null and void.
The darker the chocolate the lower on the glycemic index it falls, thereby contributing only small fluctuations in blood glucose and insulin levels.
The problem with these articles is no one tells us what "in moderation" means, so here's my take. I get to eat 3 squares of a 12 square bar a day. Drawing out my $3 dollar chocolate bars life to a whole 4 day s of bliss. Someday I skip this indulgence because the sun is out or I'm busy and don't crave sweets. The delight of all this is I go through about one bar every week to 2 weeks. Not bad considering I used to consume a giant Starbucks cookies 3-4 times a week and have worse sugar cravings. So eating dark chocolate has actually made me loose some weight gain due to high' and lows of sugar cravings and blood sugar crashes.
Dark chocolate has helped balance me. What a great thing.
Spiced Hot Dark Chocolate
swap soy milk for regular milk to ensure that the chocolate's antioxidants are absorbed.
1 quart soy milk
6 ounces dark chocolate chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground salt
in a small sauce pan combine all ingredients and whisk over medium-low heat until the chocolate has melted completely and eh mixture is steamy and hot. (about 5 minutes)
here are my favorite dark chocolate companies... all organic, all free trade
www.dagobachocolate.com
www.greenandblacksdirect.com
http://www.chocolatebar.com/index.asp
Enjoy!