Why It Is OK To Be A Chocoholic

My addiction with chocolate has always been a struggle. My hand always digs into those Hershey Kiss jars when everyone knows they are really just meant for decoration. I developed the disease young, and got in trouble in elementary school for sneaking into my teacher’s room during recess and taking a handful from her stash of M&Ms. My mom would be making cookies and I would eat the bag of chocolate chips before she got a chance to put them in the batter. I have tried to control it, and it works for a little bit, but I always fall back in.

When I was younger and my mom would ask if I ate my vegetables, I would say yes and giggle because chocolate comes from the ground, right? At least that is what I believed. Turns out, I wasn’t too far off in that chocolate can be beneficial for your health.

Antioxidants: The number one health benefit of chocolate consumption. Antioxidants help reduce aging and prevent heart disease by protecting your body against free radicals. Dark chocolate contains eight times the amount of antioxidants in strawberries. The strange thing is that this is only true of dark chocolate, and even drinking milk with the chocolate will prevent the antioxidants from being absorbed.

 
Dark chocolate is shown to lower blood pressure and also lower cholesterol by up to 10 percent.
 
Antidepressant: Chocolate contains serotonin, which acts as an antidepressant. It also stimulates endorphin production that enhances happiness and pleasure, according to HealthDiaries.com.
 
Life longevity:According to multiple studies, including one from Harvard, eating chocolate is closely related to life length.  The oldest person to live was 122 years old and ate 2.5 pounds of chocolate a week.
 
Lifesaver:Whether you are on your period or just got dumped by your long-term boyfriend, chocolate is always there to save the day and somehow makes you feel better. It may be due to the serotonin, or maybe just because it tastes so dang good.

As with everything in life, the key is moderation. Learn to enjoy chocolate as you eat it; savor the flavor and the way it melts in your mouth instead of shoving it down. A little bit everyday will take you a long way.