Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and, in many cases, this deadly disease can be avoided by making simple changes to the way you live. Stroke, heart attack and other cardiovascular problems are often a result of the types of foods you eat as well as lifestyle choices.

You’ve probably already heard that changing your diet is one thing you should consider if you want to have a healthy heart. What many envision when they hear this is a boring, bland diet that would deprive them of anything that stimulates their taste buds. The truth is that there are plenty of delicious foods that can be included in a heart healthy diet and one of the healthiest things you can do involves eating dessert.

But not just any dessert. I’m talking about eating dark chocolate. That’s because dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants as well as compounds that increase blood flow, reduce blood stickiness and help lower blood pressure – all of which help improve cardiovascular health.

It’s no secret that antioxidants play a key role in cardiovascular health but many people are surprised to discover that dark chocolate is loaded with them. It is one of the most antioxidant abundant foods known to date. In fact, it even has more antioxidants than blueberries. This really shouldn’t come as a surprise though because, after all, dark chocolate does come from a plant and plants are a great source of antioxidants. Real dark chocolate is made from cacao beans which are the seed of the cacao tree. Like many plant based foods, these seeds are are loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. In the case of dark chocolate it is the flavanols found in these beans that give it the ability to improve cardiovascular health.

How Does Dark Chocolate Improve Cardiovascular Health?

One of the most important cardiovascular benefits to eating dark chocolate is that it helps your arteries relax and widen which, in turn, helps to lower your blood pressure. In fact, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted that people who ate dark chocolate every day saw their blood pressure drop after just a week and this drop was maintained as long as they continued to eat the dark chocolate.

It is also thought that dark chocolate may help prevent the buildup of plaque which can clog your arteries and cause a stroke or heart attack. This is due to the high level of antioxidants contained in the cacao beans. These antioxidants slow down the oxidization of cholesterol which is what eventually forms the clump that clogs your arteries.

A third key benefit of dark chocolate is that it may make your blood less “sticky” and, therefore, prevent blood clots that could contribute to arterial blockages. You’ve probably heard the recommendation of taking an aspirin a day to prevent this but aspirin can be risky for some. Since 8 clinical trials have shown that dark chocolate can have a similar effect as baby aspirin, it might be not be a bad idea to eat a little bit each day.

Why Dark Chocolate?

Are you convinced that adding chocolate to your daily eating regimen can help with heart health? Great! But before you rush out to stock up, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t run out and load up on candy bars at your grocery store because most of the milk chocolate bars don’t have a high concentration of the heart healthy compounds that are present in dark chocolate.

It is the cacao bean solids that actually have the healing benefits so you want to be sure to eat chocolate that has a high percentage of cocoa. You’ll notice most milk chocolate candy bars have a very low percentage (some even have none), but if you look at the dark chocolate bars in the health food section of your grocery store you will notice that bars that contain up to 80% or more cocoa solids and this is what I would recommend if you want to reap the greatest health benefits.

The higher percentage of cocoa in the bar, the healthier it is. Of course, the higher percentage of cocoa, the less sugar and fat it has also and this contributes to the bar being healthier for you and gives it a rich darker taste.

The Best Way To Eat Dark Chocolate

Just because dark chocolate can improve cardiovascular health doesn’t mean that you should go hog wild and eat a ton of it. You still have to take things like calories and fat into consideration because even too much of a good thing can be bad for you.

Certainly you want to add dark chocolate to your diet, but you need to eat it in moderation. About 1 ounce a day should be plenty for you to reap the health benefits without adding too many calories to your diet. As mentioned above you should be careful to use only chocolate that has a very high percent of cocoa solids. In addition to that, you want to be sure that you don’t pair it with things that are unhealthy for you such as the sugar, white flour and fatty creams and oils that you will find in most desserts.

Don’t despair though, there are some great ways to enjoy dark chocolate without adding in any unhealthy elements. One of the simplest is to just eat it plain. Again, I would caution you not to eat a whole bar for every meal – one little section of a bar should go a long way and, since it is high in calories, you want to limit yourself to a little bit each day.

Some other ways to eat dark chocolate include; melting it and dipping strawberries or bananas in it, shaving off some on top of your oatmeal, grating some and putting it in your coffee, chopping it up and baking it in healthy whole wheat muffins, or sprinkling it over yogurt.

Protecting your heart should be a priority for any adult and making sure that you adjust your diet so that it is heart healthy can help ensure that you live a long and active life. There are plenty of delicious foods that you can incorporate into a heart healthy lifestyle but given the information above, Isn’t it great to know that you can be heart healthy and still eat dessert too?

Lee Dobbins is the author of several books on healthy eating which show you how you can incorporate delicious, healthy foods into your everyday eating plan. You can find her books as well as more healthy food articles at http://www.bestherbbooks.com and get her recipes using healing foods at http://www.healingfoodscookbooks.com.

Lee Dobbins is the author of several books on healthy eating which show how you can incorporate healthy foods into your everyday eating plan. Look for her books along with more healthy food articles at http://www.bestherbbooks.com and get her recipes at http:/healingfoodscookbooks.com

Author Bio: Lee Dobbins is the author of several books on healthy eating which show you how you can incorporate delicious, healthy foods into your everyday eating plan. You can find her books as well as more healthy food articles at http://www.bestherbbooks.com and get her recipes using healing foods at http://www.healingfoodscookbooks.com.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: improve cardiovascular health, health benefits of dark chocolate, dark chocolate health