I do have high pressure, have a family history of heart disease, and I'm relatively normal weight - 22 BMI, the lower part of "normal" weight. I've been reading some interesting literature on dark chocolate and how consuming relatively large amounts does NOT raise serum cholesterol, blood pressure, or LDL oxidation. One of the "downsides" however is high caloric intake, which leads to obesity if you don't exercise it off. I've been reading that in order to achieve "favorable" results in lowering of blood pressure, you have to theoretically consume at least 100mg of dark chocolate per day. Here is the 2005 study: http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/46/2/398 This puts me in a unique situation since I can gain a few extra pounds (without compromising health.) I can think of 3 considerations before I attempt anything, 1. obviously increase physical activity, 2. lower caloric intake of other foods without sacrificing essential vitamins and mineral requirements, 3. be aware of lead poisoning present in a lot of chocolate bars. The bars will be 85% cocoa. Tell me stranger, what do you think?
Diet & Fitness - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Many weight loss experts are agreeing with this philosophy ? that having a little room in a diet for a treat makes it much easier to eat healthy the rest of the time. If that alone is not?t enough reason to make you feel it's okay to have a little bit of chocolate every day (yes, I?m assuming you like chocolate because I?m a chocoholic and can?t imagine that anyone would not?t like to have some chocolate every day), scientific research is showing that dark chocolate has some health benefits. Dark chocolate has been found to contain flavoring very similar to those that are in green tea. A few of the health benefits those flavoring antioxidants can have are: improving digestion, stimulating the kidneys, and improving circulation. So, indulging in a little dark chocolate every day can not only have health benefits, but could actually help a person stick to their diet the rest of the day because they know they can have a little treat that will satisfy them but not sabotage their efforts to lose weight.
2 :
yes
3 :
yes u can but limit those it can be dangerous as well
4 :
All things in moderation. One day butter is bad for you, the next day margarine is worse for you than butter. One day beef is bad for you, the next day maybe it's not so bad after all. It depends on who is doing the study, and what they have to gain from the results they are showing you. I got an email once that said commercially made women's menstrual products contain asbestos. At the bottom of the email, there was conveniently placed a number to call a company to order all cotton, washable menstrual pads. Commercially made menstrual products contain no such thing, and never have. Asbestos was never known for it's absorbency that I'm aware of, it was used as a fire retardent in construction until the 80's, and *if* it was ever used in production of menstrual pads, which it was not, it would not have been since then either. If either form was ever manufactured in a building old enough to contain Asbestos in the construction, then either form would have an equal chance of being contaminated by the environment it was manufactured in. Why did I bring that up? You should consider the source of your information before worrying that your chocolate or anything else has unsafe levels or whatever, the FDA would shut a plant down or refuse to allow a product into the country if they found it to be unsafe for the use it was made for, or not labeled properly for it's intended use. I take my chocolate seriously, and did some research on that. What I found, when I did a search for "lead in chocolate", was a list of links on google that went to websites that advertise fair trade organic chocolate, who said that commercially made chocolates contain high levels of lead while their products don't, with no studies, lab analysis, or links to back up that claim. I am not saying that chocolate doesn't contain lead, many items in the food line contain small amounts of such things, certain levels are unavoidable in modern society, but what I am saying is consider the source of that information. I have nothing against fair trade or organic products, and find them quite yummy, I just have a thing against some of the things said in advertising, and while they were saying that commercially made chocolate has high levels of lead, with nothing to back that up, they also offered nothing to back up their claims that their products were 100% lead free, no independent lab analysis or anything. After scrolling through the google links, I went to the United States FDA to see what they had to say about it, and found a document dating to 2006, which you can read here: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodContaminantsAdulteration/Metals/Lead/ucm172050.htm There are small levels of lead in chocolate. There is most likely some levels even in certified organic products, polluted air and rain are no respecters of the boundaries of a certified organic farm, and neither are pesticides from the guy next door to the farm. If trace amounts of lead exist naturally in soil, it will be brought up through the roots of any vegetable based product, and if the soil contains stuff from pesticides that are no longer in use, it will contain that also, up to a point. Regardless of who makes a product, the sourcing, production, and manufacturing methods all offer the prospect that trace amounts of "something" could get in there. The main source of contamination of lead in chocolate products in the late 90's was products from Mexico that were wrapped in wrappers containing lead based inks, and the lead from the ink migrated to the chocolate. This may be why some chocolate products emphasize that their wrappers are printed with soy based inks these days. Also Mexican style chocolates that contain chili powder, which by now is making me wonder about chili powder. The standard for such things is different in other countries, but they are tested here. The state of California has the most stringent testing for lead in products, if a product can be sold there, then it is probably the safest possible product available on the market in the US where lead levels are concerned. If I can buy a Hershey bar in California, then I feel reasonably assured that I can buy it here as well. If a product anywhere in the US is regarded as generally safe for it's intended purpose, then I expect it to be so until I hear otherwise, commercially made or not. Today chocolate is considered to have health benefits, tomorrow they might find something they consider to be a detriment, it has thousands of years of use historically not just as a food, but as one of the world's great treasures. Go ahead and enjoy some if you want to, if you want to justify it by it's reported benefits, that's fine too, but question anything a company trying to sell you something has to say about it, regardless of who that company is or who they say they are. I'm more worried about Salmonella and Hepatitis contamination of produce, and ingredients used to doctor imports from some countries
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