As Forrest Gump had said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Although this was meant to be some life-inspiring quote, how about we see it in a different Let’s take it to the literal and see the box of chocolates as a box of chocolates, and by the time we get one and eat one, we reap the health benefits of it. However, this time let’s limit it to ten, even though we could easily list more than that.
1.) Mood Booster – Time and again has it been proven that chocolates never fail in the attempt to make you the happy person that you’re meant to be. Ignoring all chemical explanation, it boils down to indulging your sweet tooth once in a while and that could be one satisfying treat. Don’t even try to deny it.
2.) Strong Heart – This doesn’t mean that chocolates could prevent you from experiencing love pains. No, it doesn’t work that way. However, chocolates could easily be your comfort during that time, or what’s better is that it can make your heart stronger to withstand that kind of pain. Of course its way of doing this is a little different, like lowering blood pressure, producing antioxidants to increase the flexibility of your veins and arteries.
But still, a strong heart is a healthier heart and a healthier heart means a longer life.
3.) Better Circulation – Chocolates take their job seriously. With cocoa’s undeniable property towards anticlotting and blood thinning, blood flow takes on a new level of meaning. After all, a better blood flow results to good circulation in your body.
4.) Clearer Vision – As a result of the aforementioned benefit from eating chocolates, in turn we get clearer vision. This is probably because the retina also garners better circulation of blood. Does it get any better than that?
5.) Weight Loss – Well, I’m sure this is a big shocker to you all since chocolates is sweet and sweets do have a very notorious reputation for people on a diet. Not to burst your bubble but dark chocolates in particular, as proven of the researchers from the University of Copenhagen, found these to be more fulfilling resulting to a sense of satiety.
6.) Prevents Diabetes – Contrary to popular beliefs, chocolate is not the main reason for having diabetes. In fact, chocolates, in a way, help prevents the disease from occurring. This is because when you indulge chocolates for quite some time, your body increases insulin activity. And for those not medically adept, insulin helps keeps your blood sugar level from getting too high or too low.
Apparently, chocolates have been saving our lives from the very beginning.
7.) Stress Reliever – In line with being a mood booster, chocolates can indeed be a stress reliever. As researched by Swiss scientists, anxious individuals who have been eating dark chocolates for the past days showed a significant decrease on their stress hormone levels.
-So maybe, just maybe, the ice cream that we’re so willing to pull out the fridge in the middle of the night after a stressful day has finally found its competition.
8.) Skin Protection – Chocolates help protect your skin from the radiating sun. Of course not in a way how sunblock works but according to researchers dark chocolates contains antioxidants called flavonoids.
-However, despite this information, don’t replace sunblock. But you could always carry a bag of chocolates with you for safety measures.
9.) Brain Booster – Chocolates contain flavanols. This particular chemical produced by the brain helps make an individual more awake and alert. If you’re still dissatisfied, researchers from both the University of Oxford and Norway found individuals who consumed chocolates in a long term scored higher in designated cognitive tests.
10.) Stifle Coughs – Weird but true enough, chocolates do help silence that pest of a cough. Apparently, chocolates contain theobromine that helps relax bronchi muscles in the lungs, giving you that relief albeit a short one.
Now that we’ve finished picking our ten chocolates, which one was your most favorite? I, for one, definitely like all of the benefits chocolate has been subtly giving us all these years.
Well, care to have some chocolate afterwards?