Almost everyone who has ever tasted chocolate loves its taste. Some of us (including me) are big fans of chocolate and won’t lose any opportunity to eat a piece of chocolate, or two. Eating chocolate has some benefits, but unfortunately there are some drawbacks as well. Let’s take a look at the most important pros and cons of eating chocolate.
Pros
Chocolate lifts your mood
Have you ever been suggested to eat a piece of chocolate while you’ve been feeling down? I bet you’ve been. Eating chocolate is one of the easiest ways to lift up one’s mood. When we consume chocolate, we almost instantly feel better than a moment ago. Even scientists confirm that consuming chocolate is an efficient way of improving one’s mood. Besides that, chocolate is known to stimulate people. That’s because it contains a small quantity of caffeine. The quantity isn’t as big as in tea or coffee, so it’s not likely that the caffeine in chocolate will affect our health in a bad way.
(Source: John Loo)
Chocolate affects your health in a good way
I hope that you’ve already heard the term ‘antioxidant’. If not, antioxidant is (according to Wikipedia) a ”molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules”. What does it mean? Antioxidants stop or at least inhibit some harmful chemical reactions that occur in our body. Why I’m talking about this? Guess what, chocolate contains a lot of antioxidants. Of course you can’t classify chocolate as a medication or something similar, but it’ll provide your body with a dose of antioxidants that will stop some unwanted reactions from happening.
Cons
Chocolate is loaded with calories and sugar
Is there anyone who wouldn’t like to dip a strawberry in chocolate from a chocolate fountain and eat it? There probably are a few people who wouldn’t do that, but most of us would love to do that! Unfortunately chocolate contains a lot of fat and a lot of sugar. You’ve probably noticed that many obese kids eat a lot of chocolate. You should know that a 100g chocolate bar contains above 500 kcals. 500 kcals might account for a good breakfast. If someone eats an additional 500 kcals a few times a week, that isn’t strange that he’s gaining weight. Sugar contains mostly simple carbohydrates, which end up being stored in the body as fat. That happens when the body doesn’t find a way to utilize the sugar, e.g. to load your muscles with power while doing a physical workout.
As you can see there are some pros and cons of eating chocolate. If you’re a chocolate lover, you should remember to consume it in moderation, so you won’t suffer from any unpleasant repercussions. Besides, chocolate has a pretty long shelf life and chocolate doesn’t go bad that fast so you can keep it for a long time.