9 BENEFITS OF CHOCOLATE IN ISOLATION (OR ANYTIME)

We’ve learned a lot about ourselves during the past six weeks. How to use our elbows in non-hockey plays. The proper way to make and wear a mask. Zoom is more than the sound an imaginary car makes. And how to lead like Dr. Deena Hinshaw. On the lighter side, here are nine benefits of chocolate I discovered in isolation that can be applied anytime.

The winner of the chocolate of their choice is Paulette Cyr. Congrats!

5 Benefits of Chocolate

1. …decreases stroke risk.

A Swedish study found that eating more than 45 grams of chocolate per week led to a 20 percent decrease in stroke risk among women. Chocolate contains flavonoids, whose antioxidant properties help fight strokes.

2. …reduces the likelihood of a heart attack.

Other studies show that eating chocolate prevents blood clots, which in turn reduces the risk of heart attacks.

3. …protects against blood inflammation.

Eat one Hershey’s dark chocolate bar per week, and your risk of heart disease will decrease, a 2008 study found. About 6.7 grams of dark chocolate per day keeps the blood inflammation-inducing proteins away.

4. …helps with math.

British psychologists found that flavanols (a class of flavonoids, which are found in chocolate) helped people with their mental math.

5. …reduces the risk of diabetes.

4 More

The Italians know a thing or two about good eating. And a small study from the University of L’Aquila, in Italy, found that eating chocolate increases insulin sensitivity which reduces the risk of diabetes.

6. …is good for your skin.

Flavonoids found in dark chocolate protect women’s skin from the sun’s UV rays, according to German scientists.

7. …improves blood flow to your brain.

In 2008 Harvard scientists forced test subjects to undergo “two weeks of enhanced chocolate intake.” A fortnight of chocolate face-stuffing, they found, sped up blood flow through their subject’s middle cerebral arteries.

8. …strengthens your brain.

Researchers at  the Johns Hopkins University found that dark chocolate shields cells in your brain, and accordingly protects it from damage caused by stroke.

9. …makes you live longer.

Jeanne Louise Calment lived to the age of 122—the oldest anyone has ever lived. She ate two and a half pounds of dark chocolate per week. Harvard researchers found that eating chocolate actually adds two years to your life expectancy.

APPLICATION: Are you a milk or dark chocolate lover? Please post your favourite kind of chocolate bar in the comment section below. And then reward yourself with some of the good stuff. Congrats to the winner of the favourite chocolate draw – Paulette Cyr!

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