Chocolate is not a sin so please don't give it up for lent!

Every year we get upset as Lent approaches and Chocolate is banished; treated as a sinful food when actually it really isn't!

What really gets our goat at Cocoa is the bad name chocolate has been given when it's always the cheap mass produced confectionery that is bad, not good chocolate! Next time you pick up a Dairy Milk bar check out the ingredients you will be shocked by how little of them are even chocolate-related . The worst part is the use of palm oil which is labeled 'Vegetable Fat' this is higher in saturated fat & the Palm oil industry is one of the leading causes of deforestation in Indonesia which means taking homes from the Orangutans! Good quality chocolate may be more expensive but it will contain chocolate rather then these cheap substitutes that are not only bad for us but also for the environment.








There is good news ...good quality chocolate (mainly dark) has many amazing health benefits for you! The best chocolate you can eat is dark chocolate that has really simple ingredients for example.... chocolate and not vegetable fat! So the higher the cocoa percentage the less sugar, in theory dark chocolate bars with really high cocoa contents are the best for health benefits.

Dark chocolate is good for your heart. A small bar of it everyday can help keep your heart and cardiovascular system running well. Two heart health benefits of dark chocolate are:

• Lower Blood Pressure: Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday can reduce blood pressure in individuals with high blood pressure.
• Lower Cholesterol: Dark chocolate has also been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) by up to 10 percent.

Although there is fat in Cocoa (the cocoa butter) it is a good fat! It contains Oleic acid which is a healthy monounsaturated fat, also found in Olive oil and Stearic acid which has a neutral effect on cholesterol.

Dark chocolate has far more antioxidants then Milk or White chocolate. These antioxidants are great for diffusing the free radicals that cause premature aging and destruction in the body's cells. Chocolate also contains flavonoids which can reduce heart attack risk and cancer as well as minerals including; Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorous, Copper & Calcium.

Chocolate can make you happy! Chocolate contains Phenylethylamine (PEA), this increases attention & activity, it as also been shown to relieve depression. We get a surge of PEA when we fall in love & it floods to your brain during an orgasm! - Well they do say it's better then sex.

So if something is this good for you Why give it up? Please give chocolate a chance this year and try giving up something else.


For loads of dark chocolate have a look at our selection at:

www.cocoawonderland.co.uk/shop/6-chocolate-bars