To get the health benefits when eating chocolate it must be dark, and in my opinion it must be at least 70% cocoa. There are a few very famous chocolate companies that have “dark chocolate” but when I researched it is only 60%, not to mention all the other crap that they put in there. One company called their’s “extra dark chocolate”.  It is legal for a company to market 41% cocoa as dark chocolate. That is such nonsense because the other 59% is made up of anything but cocoa, mostly sugar. Chocolate becomes chocolate when you take cocoa or pure cacao and add sugar. There is absolutely no health benefits to eating sugar and it outweighs the health benefits of chocolate if there is too much. Oh, and it will cause you to crave more and cause you to gain weight in your waist area, which then starts to increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes.

Here are my tips for reading the labels and understanding the ingredients to help you choose the best dark chocolate:

  1. Choose a minimum of 70% cocoa/cacao bean - great quality chocolate will always list this on their packaging.
  2. Cocoa/Cacao bean should always be the first ingredient. Look for single origin bars - they list the country or plantation that the beans came from, this is a clue that it is great quality.
  3. Cocoa butter is typically ok - it is a natural fat in cocoa beans.
  4. Sugar is ok - but less is more and you can truly taste the chocolate so remember when you choose the higher % cocoa there will be less sugar. Look for organic and natural sugars.
  5. Vanilla is good and adds a nice flavor, best if it says vanilla bean.
  6. Emulsifier/lecithin is ok but I’ve had great chocolate that does not have this. If you see soy lecithin always look for non-GMO.

Don’t buy any of chocolate containing any of these ingredients:

  • Sugar - If this is listed as the first ingredient, this is not good quality chocolate. It might taste good to your taste buds, but there is no health benefits to this and lets just call it CANDY.
  • Lactose
  • Whey powder
  • Cocoa powder
  • Malt
  • Butter fat
  • Vanillin
  • Milk solids

Some of the best chocolate I've had has had the fewest ingredients listed. I’ve even had 99% cacao, but you need to work your way up to this one. You can really appreciate the taste of it when it isn’t loaded with sugar.

I wrote a little more in a previous blog here: https://healthybalance.us/?p=127