Why Runners Should Eat Chocolate
No need to deny yourself the good stuff, here's why you should indulge guilt-free the smart way.
No need to deny yourself the good stuff, here’s why you should indulge guilt-free the smart way. – By Ruth Emmett
1. It keeps you trim
After two weeks of 100g daily dark chocolate rations, study subjects at the University of L’Aquila, Italy, showed lower insulin resistance than white-chocolate chompers.
Why do you care? Because insulin resistance hampers your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, potentially leading to weight gain and type 2 diabetes.
2. It lowers your blood pressure
Just 30kcal of dark chocolate per day (two squares of a Lindt dark chocolate bar) can lower your blood-cuff stats, found a German study at University Hospital of Cologne, Germany. Adults were given a daily dose of dark or white choc for 18 weeks – the white stuff had no effect on blood pressure; those on the antioxidant-rich dark side came back with a three-point drop in systolic blood pressure.
3. It boosts your staying power
From reducing your cholesterol levels to easing inflammation, the antioxidants in chocolate could help tackle your risk factors for heart disease – which in turn means you can exercise safely, for longer. One study found apples to be the only food with a higher antioxidant count per 100kcal. As if you needed another reason …
Is your bar choc-full?
Researchers looked at the total antioxidant content of the nation’s three favourite chocolate flavours.
Here’s how the bars stack up in terms of procyanidins, a heart-healthy flavonoid:
White: 0g
Milk: 40.6mg per 100g
Dark: 93.5mg+ per 100g