Macaroni Kid loves chocolate. We love it in all forms, from classic Hershey's Kisses to the most elegant truffle. We love it plain and we love it with sea salt and caramel. We love it dark, milky and even the "ivory" chocolate is, well, not exactly chocolate. We loved learning that M&M's -- those little bits of colorful chocolate goodness -- have found their way into outer space and to the depths of the ocean.
This month, Macaroni Kid decided to take a deep dive into chocolate and were thrilled to discover that, according to Dr. Laurell Matthews, "eating a small amount of high quality chocolate twice a week seems to be enough to lower blood pressure slightly and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. And it turns out that most of the things that are good for the heart are also good for the brain, so chocolate might also help prevent dementia." Chocolate might help dementia? Pass the peppermint-infused truffle!
Expecting? No need to abstain! According to Lisa Reinhardt, self-proclaimed chocolate geek and founder of Wei of Chocolate, a study by Yale University showed that the women who ate the most chocolate during pregnancy had almost 70% less preeclampsia than the women who ate the least chocolate. And for the kids? Lisa shared a UK study that showed that the kids who ate chocolate before a math exam did better on the test and had less stress about the exam than those who didn't, so go ahead and slip those organic chocolate chips into their backpack on test day.
But will chocolate sabotage your diet? Not if you keep quality up and portions under control reports Justine SanFilippo in this month's Macaroni Kid Family Fitness. And if that’s not enough good news, Stephanie Merchant, author of Chocolate Indulgence: Simple Healthy Recipes for All Occasions shared a recent US study that found that eating small amounts of chocolate and combining it with regular exercise helps boosts performance by 50%. We are not suggesting you skip the gym in favor of a brownie, but go ahead, and reward yourself for that good long run with a little bit of organic chocolate!
Read on for chocolate reviews, recipes, the report from a blind chocolate ice cream tasting and more.
