Benefits of CHOCOLATE this Valentine’s Day!
So you’ve heard all the bad things about chocolate, like how it is high in fat and sugar and will make you gain weight if you overeat it… But, if you take away the dairy and the sugar, you might actually have a healthy product! Let’s take a look at the benefits of chocolate in it’s most valuable ingredient: cocoa.
Cocoa Powder comes from the cocoa bean, grown on cacao trees mainly in South America. Raw Cocoa is a nutritious plant that contains several minerals like calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, and zinc. (Sounds like the benefits of chocolate could mean good for your bone health… Now we are onto something!) Not only that, but cocoa powder by itself contains almost 20% of calories from protein!
Image by http://www.nutritiondata.self.
Cocoa powder can be used in so many ways! I like to come up with healthy ways to eat food we like, especially chocolate!! Here is a 3-ingredient cocoa recipe that you can try for Valentine’s Day:
2T cocoa powder
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup dried pitted dates
Instructions: Use a food processor to mix all of the ingredients together, then shape into cookie balls. No baking required. (This was a favorite in our first Vegan Challenge!)