Dark Chocolate for Runners?

It’s every runner’s dream – a prescription for a healthy diet that includes dark chocolate. Far more than a simple dream, dark chocolate is actually great for a runner’s diet. While this sweet shouldn’t be consumed in excess, it does offer some amazing nutritional benefits.
 
Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. These antioxidants can actually help lower blood pressure, and they may even help with some types of inflammation. But, before you get too excited, you should know that not all types of chocolate are created equal.

The kind of dark chocolate that will help your body is also the kind that is very low in sugar. You can determine a truly dark piece of chocolate by the amount of cocoa that is inside of it. Chocolate that contains a lot of cocoa is also chocolate that tends to be low on the sugary side of things.

If you can’t stomach truly dark chocolate, consider using this power food as a type of dipping sauce. You can melt dark chocolate quite easily (be careful not to burn it), and proceed to dip (hopefully healthy) items into it.

So, there you have it – chocolate is good for you. Well, kind of. Just remember to keep that chocolate dark; look at the cocoa content; and skip the chocolate that is high in sugar. While your favourite candy bar may not make the list of “acceptable chocolate,” you can probably come up with some great dark chocolate treats all on your own.

Keep those running bodies strong with foods that benefit your body. If you keep your chocolate intake to a minimum, then you can indulge in this sweet at least once per week. The next time you have a sweet tooth, skip those sugary snacks and head for that dark chocolate.