Revealed – how chocolate can help you lose weight

Chocolate has almost always been on the ‘Heck no!’ list when it comes to diets, but a new regimen promises eating the sweet treat helps with weight loss. Neuroscientist Dr. Will Clower penned the book ‘Eat Chocolate Lose Weight’ and says consuming chocolate can actually help you eat less each day. Studies on thousands of people have reportedly proved his theory right.

‘What we see in all these people is that the amount that they’re hungry for at the plate will drop by a half to a third,’ the doctor told CBS News Pittsburgh. ‘And the amount that they’re hungry for, the amount of between meal snacks that they have, will drop by about a half.’

However, this doesn’t mean diet followers can chow down on bricks of the stuff each day and expert results. Clower outlines specific guidelines in his book, including going with dark chocolate whenever possible. Already celebrated for its health properties, Clower stresses ‘the darker, the better.’ Dark chocolate protects against sunburn and cancer, provides energy, stabilizes blood sugar and improves mood in addition to aiding weight loss. 

‘So all of the good stuff in chocolate comes from one place and one place only – and that is the cocoa,’ Clower said. Cocoa that’s 70 percent or higher is best.

Clower also recommends eating chocolate 20 minutes before lunch and dinner, as well as five minutes after these meals.

‘With the little piece of wonderful, rich dark chocolate at the end of your meal, it stabilizes the sugar onset into your bloodstream so that you have more of that blood sugar more often throughout the afternoon, so you’re just not hungry,’ he explains.

Additional guidelines include not consuming portions larger than the end joint of your thumb, savoring instead of chewing chocolate, and eating the sweet daily. Read our simple weight loss guide for answers to all your queries on losing weight.

‘If they brain-scan people and have them eat chocolate while they’re doing it, their pleasure centers are like a Christmas tree — everybody’s happy in there,’ Clower said.

The doctor predicts chocolate as ‘the superfood of 2014.’ His book is out as of this month and features recipes among other tips and advice.

Other health benefits of chocolate

Curious to know how chocolate can be healthy for you in other ways too? Well, here are some more of its health benefits.

1. Makes you feel good

Just like coffee, eating chocolate too can provide a ‘feel-good’ effect in the brain. This is because chocolate contains a stimulant called theobromine which is similar to caffeine, except that it doesn’t affect the central nervous system.

2. Acts as an aphrodisiac

Ever wondered why so many chocolate ads revolve around love and romance? The reason is that chocolate acts as an aphrodisiac which boosts your sexual desire or libido. The two nutrients responsible for giving chocolate this property are tryptophan and phenylethylamine. Read more about the many health benefits of dark chocolate. 

With inputs from AFP/RELAXNEWS

Health benefits of other foods

• 10 health benefits of honey
• 7 health benefits of red wine. Cheers!
• Health benefits of drinking tea

Find out more about diet and weight loss

• Weight loss diet by expert dietician
• Fad is bad: Say no to diets which promise speedy weight loss
• 6 diet tips to lose belly fat
• Tasty recipes for weight loss
• Eat and lose weight: 10 food items for weight loss!
• Why drinking is bad for your weight loss regime
• 10 superfoods for weight loss

For more articles on healthy foods, check out our healthy food page. Health.India.com is now TheHealthSite.com. Follow the all-new site on Facebook and Twitter. 

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