The holiday season has officially arrived, which means it’s almost time to start putting together your annual list of New Year’s resolutions. If staying healthy or losing weight have been on your mind, “Making fewer visits to the candy store near me” may very well be one of your intended goals for the year ahead.
But believe it or not, you might actually be on the wrong track with that resolution—at least as far as your health is concerned.
Indeed, numerous studies looking at the health benefits of chocolate have been conducted over the past few years, and many of them have shown that a moderate diet of chocolate—dark chocolate in particular—can actually be good for us in a number of different ways. And thankfully, higher-end chocolate isn’t necessarily hard to find.
There’s a candy store near me—a couple of them, actually—that sells the good stuff, and at reasonable prices, too. Of course, shopping online at Stutz Candy or visiting one of their stores is a no-brainer, if only because their selection is so enormous and all-encompassing that you will literally never fail to find what you’re looking for.
Look for Chocolate with High Cocoa Content
If you want the honest-to-goodness truth about the world’s greatest treat, here it is: The cheap chocolate found in the popular candy bars we all grew up with will never be especially good for you. High-quality chocolate made with a high cocoa content, however, is another story altogether.
Dark chocolate, for instance, is a powerful source of antioxidants. A study published in the Chemistry Central Journal in 2011 showed that “cocoa and dark chocolate had more antioxidant activity, polyphenols and flavanols than any other fruits tested, which included blueberries and acai berries.” That’s partially due to the fact that “dark chocolate is loaded with organic compounds that are biologically active and function as antioxidants,” the study said.
Chocolate Can Reduce Stress
Incredibly, chocolate can even come to your aid if the other items on your resolution list are leading to a bit of anxiety. That’s because, according to a study undertaken by the Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center in 2018, eating chocolate with high concentrations of cacao “has positive effects on stress levels, inflammation, mood, memory and immunity.” This study represented the very first time this particular effect was studied in humans.
For Body and Mind Health, Chocolate is a Miracle Treat
If you read our Stutz blog regularly, you’ll probably know that this isn’t the first time we’ve extolled the health virtues of dark chocolate. Just this past summer, for example, we filled you in on the ability of chocolate to do everything from boosting your brain power to protecting your skin from the harmful UV effects of the sun. In late 2015, we brought you the news that moms who eat chocolate have happier babies, and that a moderate dark chocolate habit can help you lose weight.
Regardless of what science tells us, however, we all know the most important reason for keeping chocolate in our life: It’s just too delicious to live without. And yet like so many of the other daily habits that make our lives more pleasant, moderation is the key to enjoying chocolate while also taking advantage of its many benefits.
When you’re ready to go shopping for the chocolate that will make your New Year a bit sweeter—and healthier, too!—visit Stutz online or stop by one of their Stutz Candy shops, where you’ll be spoiled for choice no matter what time of year. It sure is nice knowing that Stutz is a habit you truly can feel good about!