How to eat Chocolate for Health and Weight Loss

Chocolate has a lot of healthy benefits, but saying ‘chocolate is healthy’ is a bit of a misnomer.

In this article, we will learn the true health value of Chocolate, and how to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘unhealthy side effects’.

Is Chocolate good for your health?

I first started thinking of chocolate as a ‘healthy food’ when I went on the FLAT BELLY DIET. This diet suggested putting healthy fats into each meal so that we would feel full and satisfied while still eating low calories.

You can order the diet book by clicking on This Link:

The basic foods to add were: Olives/olive oil, Nuts/Seeds, Avocados, and DARK CHOCOLATE CHIPS!

I shared my success and happiness while following this diet to my mom. She has always been a choco-holic. And was really excited to try the diet too.

…She just didn’t follow the low calorie part of the diet, and just skipped to adding chocolate to all of her meals.

So once when I visited her, she happily told me how she’s following the diet, as she pours a TON of chocolate chips into a bowl with some oatmeal on top.

Sadly, she didn’t really lose weight.

Why? Because Dark Chocolate Chips, still had some bad ingredients- namely

SUGAR. Which we will talk about in a minute.

Cocoa Benefits

Increases Electrolytes and Vitamins
Stabilizes Insulin levels
Encourages Fat loss
Boosts Happiness
Boosts Immune System
Decreases Headaches

Sugar Detriments

Depletes Electrolytes and Vitamins
Causes Insulin Resistance
Inhibits Fat Loss
Linked to Depression
Paralyzes Immune System
Increases Headaches

If you continue reading, I’ll give you more information about the benefits of Cocoa and damage of Sugar, along with the research to back it up. But first, I wanted to talk about how I use Cocoa daily to increase my health.

How to take healthy Cocoa and add it to your daily life.

As you can see from the list of Cocoa/Sugar, it is not a good idea to eat those two things together. Sadly this means not eating most chocolate that you can find at grocery stores or restaurants. . . if you want to get the health benefits that Cocoa offers.

Lucky for us, sugar-free products are popping up all over because people are starting to understand how valuable the food they eat is to their health.

Note: Sugar-free doesn’t always mean “healthy”. There are a lot of different sweeteners that are bad to our bodies.

The sweeteners that are generally considered safe are: Monk Fruit, Stevia, and Erythitol. So all of the products I suggest have only these kind of sweeteners.

There are some ready-made, sugar-free (approved sweeteners), cocoa/chocolate products out there. Here are some of my favorite that you can buy from the comfort of your own home:

Lily’s Chocolates (chips) – I saw this for the first time in a grocery store the other day and I was so happy! Usually though, the best deal is online. I actually keep a bag in the freezer, and if i’m too busy to make hot chocolate, I’ll eat a handful of these chips during the day to get my daily cocoa in. Lily’s also has a wide range of other sugar-free chocolate products, Check it out Here (sweetened with stevia)

Another great company is Lakanto. They specialize in using the sweetener Monk Fruit, and have chocolate bars and a hot chocolate mix.

My favorite Erythitol chocolate, is DOUBLE CHOCOLATE REBEL ICECREAM.

But usually, I just buy the Cacao/Cocoa and the sweeteners, and make my own chocolatey goodness.

Hot Cocoa for the whole family

Did you know that they have HOT CHOCOLATE MAKERS?!

This is what I use in the mornings.

Making Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate:

I don’t really follow a recipe, I just fill it with coconut milk or almond milk (there are some studies that suggest dairy will lessen the health benefits of cocoa) then add a few heaping spoonfuls of cocoa, then a couple of teaspoons of sweetener (I use Erythitol), with a splash of vanilla. Then put the lid on, turn it to heat/froth, and I’m done! Just make sure to taste it to get the right chocolate-sweetness ratio. I like my hot chocolate DARK!

I then whip up some sugar free cream (heavy whipping cream and sweetener) and put it on the hot chocolate. YUM!

I give it to my kids in the morning too. They think it’s a treat, and don’t yet realize that i’m giving them something healthy!

Ok, so let’s get back to facts about cocoa.

image of hersheys chocolate bars, a can of baking cocoa and a bag of lilies healthy sugar free dark chocolate baking chips. with text at the bottom reading why you need to eat chocolate but only if you eat it this way

First, let’s talk about the benefits of chocolate- or more specifically Chocolate in it’s raw state – Cacao or Cocoa.

Quickly, let me explain the difference between Cacao and Cocoa.

It’s about how they are processed. Cacao is processed in low heat (with fermentation) and Cocoa is processed in a high heat and roasted (with fermentation).

So Cacao is considered the more raw and natural state, and cocoa powder, less so.

Cocoa/Cacao’s Vitamins and Electrolytes:

Both still have basically the same nutritional benefits, but the cacao powder has a greater quantity and quality of nutrition; like iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium (cacao), etc,. (nutritional comparison)(2)

Cocoa Stabilizes Insulin Levels:

It looks like the hero for this is the ingredient Polyphenol. (cocoa on vascular health)

Polyphenols in Cocoa act as Anti-Oxidants, which help fight cell damage.

There is also research that polyphenol can (in the form of flavanoids), not only stabilize blood sugars, but also acts in healing and restoring insulin sensitivity (polyphenols)

For weight loss:

Cocoa has a few different ways that it can add to diet and weight loss.

It’s an anti-inflammatory – when your body is inflamed, the process of fat loss can slow down, simply because your body is not working at it’s optimal levels.

So with Cocoa, it can bring the inflammation down, and restore your body to its peak efficiency.

High Fiber: Cocoa has up to 50% of it’s carbs as fiber. Fiber has been associated with weight loss by keeping your digestion system running smoothly.

Cocoa can also add to your healthy gut bacteria which helps with digestion as well. (check out this scientific experiment I thought was cool)

Cocoa Boosts Happiness Levels:

Cocoa contains resveratrol and tryptophan which boosts endorphins and serotonin levels: The natural chemicals in our body that produces happiness. (Here, Here)

Cocoa and a Healthy Immune System:

Along with it’s anti-inflammatory components, Cocoa is also high in Anti-oxidants that boosts the immune system to fight sickness. (anti-oxidants and the immune system) (cocoa and the immune system)

Cocoa decreases Headaches:

Using the same anti-inflammatory components that we’ve already discussed, they found the those components work on our brain as well, and can lessen the stress and inflammation levels that are attributed to headaches (headaches.org)

How much should we take a day? I’ve heard that 19-30 grams a day is ideal

Second, let’s talk about the downsides of commercialized Chocolate – or SUGAR!

Depletes electrolytes and vitamins:

This scientific study, shows that sugar uses up nutrients, like our essential vitamins and minerals, just to be able to be burned as energy.

all foods (sugars/carbs) that are turned into glucose for our body to burn as energy, require certain vitamins and minerals to make that happen. Most foods we eat come with (most) of the nutrients needed to turn that food into energy.

White sugar has had all its nutrients stripped away from it. So it must steal nutrients from other parts of our body in order to be burned into energy.

Sugar increases Insulin Resistance:

In the same study as above, it shows how sugar increases insulin resistance.

With a greater need for insulin, our body raises those insulin numbers, which decreases our capability of creating energy. Which if our cells can’t get energy, they can enter into a starving state.

Even when we have plenty of ‘sugar/fats/fuel’ around, if it can’t be turned into energy, the cells can’t be fed, and all of it is then turned into fat.

Sugar promotes weight gain:

Again, referring to the same study as above, we actually do not get an energy boost when we eat sugar.

It depletes our internal resources, and leaves us tired, so we do lose the desire to move and be active.

But it also signals to our body that we need to eat more food.

So we a driven to both overeating and becoming stationary because of sugar, which can lead to weight gain.

Sugar is connected to Depression

Taking what we just learned. Eating sugar can put us into a starving state at a cellular level, and decrease energy.

This can put a great deal of internal stress on the rest of our body.

Our bodies can handle stress and depression if they have the right vitamins and minerals to produce the right kind of hormones.

But now we are nutritionally starved, and those vitamins are not accessible like they should have been.

If we are eating sugar constantly, it is very easy to see how we can have chronic stress-related issues. (Scary effects of sugar)

Sugar ruins the Immune System:

There have been multiple studies done that just a few teaspoons of white sugar can drop your immune system by 40%. Others have said that it can even paralyze the white blood cells for at least half an hour after eating. (source)

Sugar is connected to Headaches:

With a higher insulin resistance that sugar creates, headaches become more common. just check out this research that connects glucose metabolism and migraines.