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Home » Lose Weight » You Can Now Say Your Chocolate Addiction is Helping You Lose Weight – Organic Authority

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Eating chocolate can lead to weight loss. Ill give you a second to process that.

Ready? Okay, but before you take that on as your new life motto, learn why this is a controversial suggestion.

Im just as ready and desperate to embrace the fat-busting ways of chocolate as you are, but lets not just indulge in wishful thinking unless theres scientific proof to back it up. Luckily, weight loss and chocolate have quite the track record.

In a 2005 study conducted at the University of LAquila in Italy, researchers found that dark chocolate decreases blood pressure and improves insulin sensitivity in healthy persons.

Neuroscientist and author of Eat Chocolate, Lose WeightWill Clower claims that eating chocolate 20 minutes before and five minutes after lunch and dinner can help cut appetite by up to 50 percent. This effect is a result of the brain releasing hormones that fool the body into thinking its full.

In a 2009 study, scientists found that dark chocolate was able to reduce the metabolic effects of stress. High stress levels are associated with weight gain. Meanwhile, University of Copenhagen researchers found that dark chocolate lessens cravings for sweet, salty, and fatty foods, obvious culprits on anyones trek to a slimmer figure.

The research substantiates the claim that eating chocolate may help you to lose weight. And, eating chocolate before a meal, appears to be the best time, as chocolate will give your body the sensation of being full (better before than after a meal) and will weaken cravings for poor food choices (better before than after the fact).

But there are limitations. Most of these studies hinge on the premise that the chocolate is a simple, dark variety no dairy in the ingredients list and that it is consumed moderately. Too much of anything, especially of a food straddling the boundaries of that complex space called guilty conscience, can go sour.

Kimberly Snyder,nutritionist and New York Times best-selling author, also recommends eating chocolate, but not too much. We do not need chocolate in our diet at all for nutritive value, so you do not want to consume chocolate every day it is a treat!

Rather than treating chocolate as the only variable in your weight loss formula, make it part of a healthy, plant-based dietary lifestyle. Instead of fearing it, enjoy it on occasion, but not too much to the point it becomes its own food group.

In sticking to the dark chocolate theme, Snyder recommends organic and dairy-free chocolate with at least a 72% cacao content, of which there are many on the market.

Dark chocolate contains resveratrol, antioxidants, and is a good source of magnesium, she notes. But these nutritional perks are shrouded when excess sugar and dairy are added to the equation.

Another option is raw chocolate. The difference between commercial dark chocolate and raw chocolate is that the cacao beans for raw chocolate are never heated above 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius), thus maintaining the nutritional profile of the cacao. Many raw chocolate brands usually stick to the unrefined (or healthy) theme by omitting refined sugar, dairy, and low-quality oils in the blend. However, just as she warns against dark chocolate, raw chocolate shouldnt be consumed in excess and daily. For a homemade version of raw chocolate, try Snyders Raw Cacao Truffles.

While afew pieces of dark (or raw) chocolate before a meal may help you lose weight, dont abuse the science by overindulging or by, as Snyder recommends not to do, consuming it daily.

Related on Organic Authority You Can Lose Weight on a High-Carb, Low-Fat DietWant to Lose Weight? Pay Attention!Working Out and Getting Fatter? How to Eat to Lose Weight

Aylin is founder of GlowKitchen, a food blog with an emphasis on vegan and gluten-free fare. Aylin has been living in Istanbul, where she is founder and CEO of a cold-pressed juice and healthy foods company JS (www.jusistanbul.com).

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You Can Now Say Your Chocolate Addiction is Helping You Lose Weight - Organic Authority

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Home » Lose Weight » You Can Now Say Your Chocolate Addiction is Helping You Lose Weight – Organic Authority