Now that the season of feasting and festivity is over, some of us will be looking to repair the damage caused by too much celebration.  So it’s back to the gym and plain eating!!

One piece of good news in this situation is that not everything we enjoy is bad for us.  In particular dark chocolate, which is my personal favourite treat, is getting some really good health reviews at the moment.

Chocolate is essentially a plant extract which contains a large amount of antioxidants and flavonoids.  Antioxidants protect us against free radicals which are involved in the aging process and in heart disease.  Flavonoids in chocolate help to reduce blood pressure which also lowers  the risk of heart disease.  In addition to this chocolate also contains endorphins which give us pleasure, serotonin which is an antidepressant and caffeine which is a stimulant.  It seems also that chocolate does not contain cholesterol and so has a neutral effect on our blood levels of cholesterol.

However before you rush out and buy large quantities of chocolate there are some things to bear in mind.  It is really important to eat only dark chocolate, preferably with 70% cocoa solids.  Despite the health benefits, chocolate is still a high calorie food and it is recommended that daily intake should not exceed 100g.  Anything more and you will just have to exercise to counteract the calorie intake.  The higher the cocoa content the lower the sugar content in chocolate so white chocolate in particular should be avoided.  Another good tip is to avoid chocolate with sweet fillings as these will contain pretty serious levels of sugar.   Keep it plain and simple.

I have been eating dark chocolate for some time now and I find it really does cheer me up.  Unlike red wine, which I also enjoy, I do not find chocolate addictive.  I can easily limit myself to about 50g per day.  I also found that I quickly developed a palate for chocolate and was soon able to discriminate between good and poor quality products.  If you haven’t done so already why not try it out, it really is good fun.

Here’s to a guilt free 2010