The healthiest foods aren’t always green and crunchy and aren’t always located in the produce aisle. Study after study has been proving that dark chocolate—sweet, rich, and delicious—is good for more than curing a sweet craving.

The secret behind its powerful punch is cacao, also the source of its distinct taste. Packed with healthy chemicals like flavonoids and theobromine, this little bean is a disease-killing bullet. The only problem? Cacao on its own is bitter and actually kind of nasty-tasting stuff.

Stick to chocolate with at least 70% cacao or cocoa; as long as the content is that high, you can reap the benefits from eating only small amounts. Because of its high fat and sugar content, limit yourself to no more than 7 ounces (it’s a lot!), in a week.

Here are some of the amazing reasons to eat chocolate–guilt free (in moderation)!

1. Protects your heart
2. Can reduce the incidence of preeclampsia in pregnant women
3. Reduces inflammation
4. Lowers cholesterol
5. Regulates blood sugar
6. Helps you to focus and concentrate
7. Fights depression
8. Helps to ward off dementia —particularly hot cocoa
9. Improves athletic performance
10. Dark chocolate lowers cortisol, making you feel less stressed
11. Helps to shield your skin from UV rays
12. Enhances libido
13. Has been studied and shown to help prevent cancer
14. Aids weight loss
15. Increases longevity
16. Keeps your teeth healthy
17. Contains a bunch of vitamins and minerals (potassium, copper, magnesium and iron), making it practically a health food!
18. Dark chocolate can help protect your kidneys
19. A dark chocolate scrub makes an excellent skin-detoxifier in combination with caffeine
20. Helps promote blood circulation in the scalp which leads to increased growth of healthy, lustrous locks. Thanks to being a circulation-booster, it is also found to be very effective in reducing hair loss.
21. With incredible anti-inflammatory properties, it also helps minimizing the odds of getting scalp infections.
22. Dark chocolate serves to reduce LDL (bad cholesterol) levels in the arteries and heart.
23. The flavanoids in dark chocolate may help in curing anemia.
24. Studies have shown that the flavanoids in dark chocolate help to improve blood flow to the brain which helps improve eyesight.
25. Chocolate is an aphrodisiac (especially chocolate body paint).
26. The Mesoamericans used cacao to treat snakebites.
27. Dark chocolate is the perfect travel food. In 1990, Hershey’s introduced the Desert Bar, which accompanied astronauts to the moon on Apollo 15 and soldiers in Desert Storm.
28. Can be used as fuel for your car (seriously!). Scientists have used surplus chocolate (we weren’t aware there was such a thing) to feed E-coli bacteria, who in turn produce hydrogen, which can be used as a clean power source.
29. Has been used as a weapon. During World War II it was believed the Nazis were going to try and assassinate Winston Churchill using a bomb disguised as a bar of milk chocolate.

What’s your favorite healthy reason to nibble on chocolate?

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