“Judge me by my percentage of Chocolate, do you?” Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
I loved the latest Star Wars! It strengthened my conviction to choose the Light Side over the Dark in all areas...except chocolate. Just in time for Valentine’s Day and all those chocolate hearts!
The healthiness of chocolate is directly related to how much sugar has been added to it. Regular milk chocolate is so full of sugars and unhealthy vegetable oils that the health benefits of the chocolate are a bit questionable.
True dark chocolate (at least 70%), on the other hand, can be good for you and in moderation help your mood. Dark chocolate is exceptionally high in stress reducing magnesium and contains l-theanine, a natural physical and mental relaxant. Scientific studies have found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones.
For the highest levels of l-theanine and magnesium, choose a chocolate very high in cacao. This 90% dark chocolate may take a few tries to get used to but but it is worth it.