Chocolate is perfect for those vegetarians who don't eat meat.
After all, chocolate comes from a plant, and nutritionists are always saying that we need to eat more plant food.
Chocolate comes from the cocoa tree or, Theobroma cacao, as it is scientifically known.
Although these trees can be found in a number of geographic locations, they are thought to have originated in the Amazon forests.
The cocoa that we are used to seeing in the tin cans at the grocery store come from the cocoa seeds.
Manufacturers grind up the cocoa sees to make cocoa powder and chocolate.
Antioxidants bring lots of benefits to the table when it comes to health - and chocolates are full of antioxidants.
Antioxidants help to build up the immune system and protect your body against diseases.
And their main benefit is their ability to fight the oxidation of cells within the body.
When oxidation happens within cells, the process very often damages the cell which can possibly lead to debilitating diseases such as cancer.
Antioxidants can short circuit the oxidation process leaving the cells in good shape.
It's because of this property that antioxidants can slow down the aging process.
Recent studies have shown dark chocolate beneficial in reducing blood pressure, strengthening the heart and vascular system, reducing depression, and lowering cholesterol.
There have even been a few studies linking chocolate with helping to combat cancer, although it's much too early for any company to start developing chocolate cancer prevention pills.
But considering how good it tastes, chocolate does seem to have a lot of beneficial health aspects to it.
Just because chocolate can be good for you doesn't mean that you can eat all that you want.
Chocolate has a high fat content, and even though much of it is good fat, too much of any kind of fat is not good for you.
In addition, just because chocolate is healthy, doesn't mean that candy bars or chocolate cake is healthy.
Candy bars, in addition to chocolate, have caramel, nuts, nougat, and all kinds of other materials which are not particularly healthy.
The same is true for chocolate cake which usually comes with unhealthy frosting - which is essentially butter and sugar.
The Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity or ORAC is a scientific measurement of the antioxidant capabilities of a food.
The higher the ORAC value, the greater its antioxidant properties.
In tests, surprisingly chocolate has a greater ORAC value than many healthy foods which are touted as being high in antioxidants.
For example, blueberries are one of the healthiest fruits around.
Blueberries have an ORAC value of around 8700.
Dark chocolate has an ORAC value of 13,000 units.
And even milk chocolate, which has only a fraction of the antioxidants of dark chocolate, has an ORAC value of 6,700.
After all, chocolate comes from a plant, and nutritionists are always saying that we need to eat more plant food.
Chocolate comes from the cocoa tree or, Theobroma cacao, as it is scientifically known.
Although these trees can be found in a number of geographic locations, they are thought to have originated in the Amazon forests.
The cocoa that we are used to seeing in the tin cans at the grocery store come from the cocoa seeds.
Manufacturers grind up the cocoa sees to make cocoa powder and chocolate.
Antioxidants bring lots of benefits to the table when it comes to health - and chocolates are full of antioxidants.
Antioxidants help to build up the immune system and protect your body against diseases.
And their main benefit is their ability to fight the oxidation of cells within the body.
When oxidation happens within cells, the process very often damages the cell which can possibly lead to debilitating diseases such as cancer.
Antioxidants can short circuit the oxidation process leaving the cells in good shape.
It's because of this property that antioxidants can slow down the aging process.
Recent studies have shown dark chocolate beneficial in reducing blood pressure, strengthening the heart and vascular system, reducing depression, and lowering cholesterol.
There have even been a few studies linking chocolate with helping to combat cancer, although it's much too early for any company to start developing chocolate cancer prevention pills.
But considering how good it tastes, chocolate does seem to have a lot of beneficial health aspects to it.
Just because chocolate can be good for you doesn't mean that you can eat all that you want.
Chocolate has a high fat content, and even though much of it is good fat, too much of any kind of fat is not good for you.
In addition, just because chocolate is healthy, doesn't mean that candy bars or chocolate cake is healthy.
Candy bars, in addition to chocolate, have caramel, nuts, nougat, and all kinds of other materials which are not particularly healthy.
The same is true for chocolate cake which usually comes with unhealthy frosting - which is essentially butter and sugar.
The Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity or ORAC is a scientific measurement of the antioxidant capabilities of a food.
The higher the ORAC value, the greater its antioxidant properties.
In tests, surprisingly chocolate has a greater ORAC value than many healthy foods which are touted as being high in antioxidants.
For example, blueberries are one of the healthiest fruits around.
Blueberries have an ORAC value of around 8700.
Dark chocolate has an ORAC value of 13,000 units.
And even milk chocolate, which has only a fraction of the antioxidants of dark chocolate, has an ORAC value of 6,700.