Since we began 90/10 nutrition, people are always asking us if we can work our magic to make dark chocolate healthy.
That seems to be the one thing they miss most when they decide to try clean eating. They miss their chocolate.
It made me wonder if most people understand chocolate to be unhealthy. So, I tried this little experiment with one of my friends:
I said to her, “When I say “chocolate,” you say:”
Her: “Yes please.”
Me: “No. I mean, what do you think of when I say the word ‘chocolate?’”
Her: “More please.”
Me: “Listen: I’m trying a word association thing. Like, when I say ‘chocolate’ do you think ‘fattening, unhealthy, shouldn’t eat it,’ or something like that?
Her: “I want chocolate.”
#frustrated
Ok, so my little experiment failed. I was trying to make the point that the word chocolate is generally associated with guilty pleasure, something we want but shouldn’t have. Apparently all I managed to prove is it’s generally something we want.
Is Dark Chocolate Healthy?
But, even without the cooperation from my (former) friend, I think we can all agree that in general, chocolate is pretty much red tier, right? Something reserved only for a planned treat, birthdays and date nights and such.
That’s not chocolate’s fault though, actually. Cocoa, cacao, etc. actually comes from a plant (and no that doesn’t mean it counts as salad). In its purest form, it’s actually pretty good for you. It’s loaded with antioxidants which help boost the immune system. (Haven’t you ever heard the old phrase, “a chocolate bar a day keeps the doctor away”? No? Just me?)
The problem arises when Mr. Hershey, Mr. Wonka, and Mr. Reese decided that putting heavy cream and refined sugar in with the cocoa made it taste better. (And actually I’m pretty sure it wasn’t even they who thought of it first…I think it comes originally from France.)
We Got This
But what if there was a way to make dark chocolate healthy?
Really, all that means is taking out the cream and the sugar. Then we will have the genius formula that will make dark chocolate healthy.
Except then it won’t taste good.
Shoot. I knew I forgot something.
Ok, but what if, instead of cream we used another fat, one from the green tier? Like, coconut oil? And what if, instead of sugar, we used a different sweetener, like one from the yellow tier? Something like honey? We wouldn’t need much. It’s supposed to be dark chocolate. Just dark chocolate, healthy!
And then, what if, after we had that figured out, we could use that formula to make other chocolate recipes? What if we did that? I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure we could then go down in history as the ones who made dark chocolate healthy.
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The chocolate peanut butter cups are so delicious!