Chocolate should be consumed in large quantities - it's official!!

It's official (and just as I always suspected!!) Chocolate is in fact good for you. The Polyphenols found in cacao beans have been linked to good heart, brain, and liver health, which has sparked renewed interest in chocolate as a medicinal food.  The journal Diabetic Medicine also suggests that chocolate polyphenols can help to lower bad cholesterol. And a new study adds to the growing list of benefits, showing that chocolate polyphenols also help to lower bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol levels.

Professor Steve Akin, author of the study said "Chocolate with a high cocoa content should be included in the diet of individuals with type-2 diabetes as part of a sensible, balanced approach to diet and lifestyle."

"Hoorah" I hear you exclaim!!

Well, as always, there is just one teeny tiny catch...

As it turns out, this isn't true of all chocolate. The delicious 'processed' chocolate that we enjoy on a Friday night (perhaps with a with a nice bottle of wine and a soppy chick flick) has been stripped of almost all of it's beneficial nutrients - combine this with it's high fat content and refined sugar, we are back to square one with a product that is not good for your health at all. Bad times.

If it was really good for us, let's face it, we probably wouldn't love it quite so much, anyway.

So visit www.TransitionNutrition.com, www.EmpoweredFoods.com or www.saredchocolate.com if you're feeling all smug and saintly. I, however, will stick to Minstrels and hope for the best.