Chocolate Bunnies
It’s Good Friday today which means that Easter is just a couple of days away. For me, Easter is probably my favorite time of the year as it represents a time of hope and a time of renewal. For my young children, Easter is a time to color eggs, hide them and find them, a time for the Easter Bunny to make his annual trip and leave a basket full of treats that will last until Halloween next fall. The favorite treat that we all look forward to every year in our baskets is the lovely chocolate bunny that seems to never last long enough! Chocolate bunnies come in all shapes, sizes, style and flavors. There are white chocolate bunnies, dark chocolate bunnies and milk chocolate bunnies that come in a hollow form or as a solid bunny that requires a slow and longsuffering nibble at a time. All in all, chocolate seems to be the main attraction as far as sweets go during the Easter holiday and that is just fine as there are many different healthy benefits to the consumption of chocolate.
The history of the chocolate Easter bunny goes back to the middle ages. The rabbit became a symbol of Easter as, where according to a German legend, the Easter Bunny would come out of his winter hiding and lay brightly colored eggs for all the good little children to find. Even though the chocolate confectionary has been around for hundreds of years, the explosion of the popularity of the chocolate Easter bunny came about during the post-WW II economic boom here in the United States as people had the resources to buy the iconic treat. The love of chocolate during the Easter season has become such that the sales of chocolate during this spring holiday have surpassed the sales of Valentine’s Day and even Halloween. Now, I would never recommend that anyone sit down and consume several pounds of chocolate in a sitting as it could make a person very ill, but a little chocolate can provide several health benefits that I feel we could all enjoy.
Not all chocolates are created equal and therefore not all chocolates can provide the maximum health benefits that one might hope for. The healthy part of chocolate is found in the cacao, the pure coco if you will, which is by itself extremely bitter which is why sugar, fats and milk are added to create the different types of chocolate that we buy today. There are three basic types of chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. The healthiest form of chocolate is from the dark chocolate category and the worst form of chocolate for your health is white chocolate. The higher the cacao levels in the dark chocolate, the more beneficial the chocolate is for you. The antioxidants and various nutrients found in the high percentage cacao chocolate (at least 70% cacao) have been found to do more than mend a broken heart. This sweet superfood can:
· Lower blood pressure
· Decrease cardiac disease
· Increase happiness
· Lowers stress
· Help reduce insulin resistance
· Helps with weight loss
· Helps increase blood flow to the brain
· Reduces likelihood of sunburn
· Helps to eliminate diarrhea
All these wonderful and healthy benefits of the very dark chocolate is also dependent on how much you consume. Most of these benefits can be obtained by eating as little as a few squares of the delicious treats every day. I recommend that if there is an outcome you would like to see such as lowering your blood pressure by eating dark chocolate then I would recommend that you do a little more reading on the various studies that have tested for that outcome. Remember, all things in moderation. So, hopefully the Easter Bunny will bring you a dark chocolate bunny to nibble on this year and help you start off on a renewal of better health. I hope everyone has a lovely Easter weekend. Take care of yourself and each other, remember, we’re all in this together.
Wm Reid
Best Home Care Services
325 N Eastern Ave
Connersville, IN 47331
765-827-9833
wmreid@bhcshealth.com