You’d be hard-pressed to find someone that doesn’t like chocolate. It’s not hard to see why – I mean, have you bitten into a nice, rich chocolate bar lately? Have you felt that explosion of flavor flood your mouth and send your senses into euphoria? Have you gotten a whiff of that royal – okay, you get the picture. Chocolate is magical. In fact, you should eat chocolate.
Thankfully, it’s also good for you. How? Several ways. The most recent – and perhaps most mind-blowing – of those is chocolate’s ability to make you smarter.
I’ll give you a second to let the awesomeness of that sink in before we dive in to the specifics.
How Chocolate Makes You Smarter
Over a 40-year study period, researchers found that people who eat chocolate at least once a week have increased brain function. According to lead researcher Georgina Crichton, regular chocolate eaters are better at everything from remembering phone numbers to multitasking.
What in chocolate is responsible for this effect? Cocoa flavanols.
These are antioxidant compounds that improve blood vessel function in the brain. The European Union recently confirmed that cocoa flavanols maintain the blood vessels’ elasticity, allowing for proper blood flow. Proper blood flow is, of course, crucial to the function of all body parts – especially the brain.
The best part? You don’t even need that much of the flavanols to get the job done; one fifth of a regular-sized chocolate bar will do!
The Catch
Put down that Kit Kat bar. Drop it. Now.
Not just any chocolate will boost your brainpower. You see, the manufacturing process behind milk – or otherwise sweetened – chocolate actually destroys most of the cocoa flavanols. You need dark chocolate that’s as unprocessed as possible. That’s the stuff that’ll make you smarter.
Luckily, there are plenty of healthy dark chocolate bars to choose from. Sacred Chocolate is one of David’s favorite. You can find that here!
Other Reasons to Eat Chocolate
Eating the right kind of chocolate can do a lot more than make you smarter. It can also provide your body with a whole host of nutrients, including magnesium, iron, copper and potassium. Dark chocolate can also lower your blood pressure. Cardiovascular disease? Fight that off with some cocoa flavanols.
Yeah, chocolate really is a magical substance. Check out this post to learn all about these and more benefits of eating chocolate.
Looking for a way to enjoy chocolate besides eating it? Check out this awesome video from David to learn about a chocolate smoothie recipe! How epic does that sound?
https://youtu.be/G0ahIrqnTzA
Sources:
Authority Nutrition
Harvard.edu
Tufts.edu
NHS.uk