Dark chocolate has known health benefits, so it’s a great way to justify your sweet tooth indulgences. Chocolate is made from plants so it has many of the same antioxidant benefits that you can find in dark vegetables. Recent studies have shown that eating dark chocolate can have healthy benefits for your heart – it has been shown to lower bad cholesterol (LDL) by up to 10% and reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension.
You can follow these chocolate rules to get the most out of your sweet treat:
- Eat dark chocolate as it has more antioxidants than milk or white chocolate. Look for dark chocolate that has 65% or higher cocoa content.
- Look for pure dark chocolate or dark chocolate with nuts. Avoid anything with caramel, nougat or other fillings, which add sugar and fat without any health benefits.
- Chocolate is a complex food with over 300 compounds and chemicals in each bite. To really enjoy and appreciate chocolate, take the time to taste it.
- Chocolate is still a high-calorie, high-fat food. Most of the studies with chocolate use no more than 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of dark chocolate a day to get the benefits. One bar of dark chocolate has around 400 calories, so plan to cut out other sweets or snacks and replace them with chocolate to keep your total calories the same.
This dark chocolate brownie recipe is high in fiber (due to the black beans in the recipe) and protein and low in fat and sugar compared with other brownies (see Nutritional Label comparison below).
Dark Chocolate Brownies
| Ingredients |
Directions |
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups black beans, canned
2 cups applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites |
1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Add black beans, applesauce, vanilla extract, and blended egg whites to dry mixture.
3. Add mixture to greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 375 degrees F for approximately 30 minutes. |
Rebecca
