• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Eat Right Mama

A healthy slice of eating advice for moms & moms-to-be.

  • Home
  • Pregnant
    • Pregnant with Twins? Eat This!
    • Pregnancy weight gain
      • 5 Easy Ways to Curb Pregnancy Weight Gain
      • Pregnant? What if You’re Not Gaining Enough?
    • Vitamin & Mineral Supplements
      • Tips for Shopping for and Taking Your Prenatal
      • Do You REALLY Need a Prenatal Vitamin? Five Reasons Why You Might
      • Vitamin D and Pregnancy
      • Which Individual Nutrient Supplements Might You Need during Pregnancy?
      • Iron Deficiency Anemia during Pregnancy
    • Food Safety
      • 4 Step Food Safety Guide To Keep You Safe During Pregnancy
      • Food Safety Tips for Pregnancy
      • Should You Eat Fish While Pregnant?
    • Morning Sickness
      • Making Morning Sickness More Manageable Online Course–Grab Yours Now!
      • Morning Sickness Recipes to Beat the Queasies!
      • Must Try Morning Sickness Survival Tips for Moms-To-Be
    • Healthy Eating during Pregnancy
      • Iodine: How to Make Sure You’re Getting Enough
      • 5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Strawberries While Pregnant
      • 5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Peanuts When You’re Pregnant
      • How to Fight Sugar Cravings during Pregnancy
      • 5 Tips to Shop Smart when Pregnant
      • Are You Getting Enough Calcium While Pregnant?
      • “Baby Brain” is Real–Try These Tips to Help Your Brain Work Better During Pregnancy
      • Seafood Sources of DHA for Pregnancy
      • 5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Peanut Butter (Even When You’re Pregnant)
      • Glycemic Index 101
      • 8 Great Almond Recipes–Plus Why You Should Eat Them When You’re Pregnant!
      • Healthy Seafood Recipes…for Pregnancy & Beyond!
      • How to Cap the Caffeine during Pregnancy
      • Caffeine Content: a Mom Need-to-Know
      • Alcohol-Free Drinks for National Margarita Day!
      • Moms-to-Be: Another Reason to Can the Diet Soda?
    • Healthy Living during Pregnancy
      • Realistic Advice from Dietitians About Your Pregnancy
      • Eat To Sleep
      • Should You Drink Coffee While Pregnant?
      • Positive Attitude During Pregnancy Could Affect your Child’s Risk of Overweight
      • Pregnant or Trying to Be? Here’s What You Need to Know about Zika
      • Zika: Still a Worry for Pregnant Women
      • Pregnant? Here’s Help to Be Smoke-Free
      • Pregnant? Steer Clear of Environmental Chemicals
      • Realistic Advice from Dietitians About Your Pregnancy
      • The Power of Being Unplugged: Do You Need a Digital Diet?
      • Pregnancy Apps You Need Right Now!
    • Happy Mother’s Day
  • Breastfeeding
    • Breastfeeding Roundup: A Must Read for Moms
    • What is a Healthy Breastfeeding Diet?
    • Can You Lose Weight While Breastfeeding?
  • Trying to Conceive
    • Eating Your Way to Increased Fertility With Veggies
    • Smoking and Fertility: What You Need to Know
    • Zika: Still a Worry for Pregnant Women
    • Exercise… Too much or Too little When Trying to Conceive?
    • Welcome to The Fertility Project!
    • Happy National Chocolate Day: Chocolate for Fertility
    • A Healthy Lifestyle is Job One When Trying to Conceive!
    • How Weight Affects Fertility: What You Need to Know
    • Eating for Fertility
    • Insulin Resistance, PCOS, and Fertility
    • Why Healthy Gums are Important for Fertility
    • Polycystic Ovary Syndrome & Diet: What You Need to Know
    • The Road to Pregnancy with PCOS
    • Male Fertility in the News: Reliable Reads
    • Dad’s Diet Important for Fertility says Dave Grotto, RDN
    • Trying to Conceive? 14 Foods to Fuel Your Fertility!
    • Avocado–Slice One Today!
    • Is Your Body Ready for a Baby? Take Our Pre-Pregnancy Quiz!
    • Pregnant or Trying to Be? Here’s What You Need to Know about Zika
    • How to Cap the Caffeine during Pregnancy
    • Program Your Baby For Good Health…Starting before Pregnancy
    • Glycemic Index 101
  • Healthy Kids
    • A Healthy Future begins With Childhood Habits
    • Back to School Lunch: Tips to Avoid Tossing or Trading
    • Artificial Sweeteners & Your Child’s Diet
    • 4 Healthy Options for Your Picky Toddler
    • Just Say No to Juice for Babies says American Academy of Pediatrics
    • How You Feed Your Baby: The First Step in Preventing Obesity Later in Life
    • 3 Healthy Apps Your Kids Will Love!
  • Healthy Eating/ Recipes
    • Buying Time with the Slow Cooker
    • 5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Sunflower Seeds
    • 13 Good for the Gut Recipes You Need to Try This Summer!
    • It’s Soup Season! Try this Easy Creamy Veggie Soup
    • Ho Ho Hold the Carbs!
    • Say “Cheese” for this Late Summer Appetizer
    • Make Crepes your New Family Tradition
    • 3 Healthy Apps Your Kids Will Love!
    • Pizza on the Grill—-When It’s Too Hot to Cook!
    • Fueling Your Immune System during the COVID-19 Pandemic
    • Is Your Diet a Fixer Upper?
    • Peanuts for Everyone! 25 Ways Eat Some Today
    • 5 Sandwich Fillings that Avoid Processed Meats
    • Meal Prep for Quick Family Meals
    • Steelhead Trout with Jicama Slaw–Great Leftover!
    • Quick Avocado Breakfast Tostada
    • 13 Good for the Gut Recipes You Need to Try This Summer!
    • Surprising Nutrition Advice from a Registered Dietitian
    • Go Green with a Registered Dietitian: It’s National Nutrition Month!
    • 12 Healthy Nut Recipes You Can’t Resist!
    • 8 Great Almond Recipes–Plus Why You Should Eat Them When You’re Pregnant!
    • 5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Peanut Butter (Even When You’re Pregnant)
    • Let Us Eat Chocolate!
    • Five Things You Can Do TODAY to Cut Your Heart Disease Risk!
    • Avocado–Slice One Today!
    • Channel Your Cravings into Something Healthy!
    • Healthiest Restaurant Main Dish Salads
    • Vegetarian Shopping– The A to Z Guide
    • Main Dish Salads For Supper–Deconstructed!
    • Eat More Veggies–Shopping, Storing, Cooking
    • Veggies: 13 Ways to Eat More
    • Building a Better Sandwich
    • Think Outside the Sandwich for Lunch
    • Blueberries for Breakfast!
    • Caffeine Content: a Mom Need-to-Know
    • Alcohol-Free Drinks for National Margarita Day!
    • Got Allergies? Try these foods!
    • Glycemic Index 101
    • Lunch Time at Preschool: Suggestions for Success
    • 4 Skin Moisturizers You Can Eat!
    • 3 Ways to Clean Up Your Beauty Routine
    • Hurricane Harvey–Safe Cooking from the Pantry
    • March is National Nutrition Month!
    • Trying to Lose Weight? Try These Tips
    • 5 Reasons Why You Should Eat Sunflower Seeds
    • March is National Nutrition Month!
    • The Mustard Seed Café
    • Make it a Cheesy Night with Fondue
  • Healthy Living
    • Limited Food Budget? Fitting in Fruits & Veggies
    • Earth Day–Enlightening Ideas for Kids
    • Earth Day 2022:  17 Ways to Eat More Sustainably
    • Pregnant During Covid-19? Tips to Stay Healthy
    • Is Your Diet a Fixer Upper?
    • Eat To Sleep
    • Why You Should Try Pasture-Raised Pork
    • 5 Heart Health Myths for Women
    • Happy Healthy Heart Month!
    • Choline for Everyone: The Important Nutrient You’ve Never Heard Of
    • New Year, New You in 5 Easy Steps!
    • Food Safety Mistakes to Avoid!
    • Just Say No to Juice for Babies says American Academy of Pediatrics
    • Establishing Healthy Habits: Six Tips
    • Pesticides: A Risk Factor for ADHD?
  • Healthy Travel
    • Healthy Snacks for When You’re Traveling
    • Healthiest Restaurant Main Dish Salads
    • Thirteen Healthy Travel Tips
  • Parenting Advice
    • 10 Must-Have Baby Products for New Mamas
    • Positive Attitude During Pregnancy Could Affect your Child’s Risk of Overweight
    • Best Parenting Books for New Parents
    • Back to School Lunch: Tips to Avoid Tossing or Trading
    • The Power of Being Unplugged: Do You Need a Digital Diet?
  • Living Clean
    • Earth Day 2022:  17 Ways to Eat More Sustainably
    • Earth Day–Enlightening Ideas for Kids
  • About Bridget
  • Bridget Swinney MS, RDN: Work with Me!
  • Contact
  • SHOP!
Home » Let Us Eat Chocolate!

Let Us Eat Chocolate!

November 18, 2016 by Bridget 4 Comments

Like it? Share it! Thanks:)
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Pinterest Pin it
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Google Plus Plus
Send To Devices Send

Today is World Chocolate Day!

We love our chocolate so much that National Chocolate Day is October 28th. And…National Chocolate Week in the UK was October 10-16. Did you really doubt that chocolate had it’s own celebration “day” and “week”? 

chocolate-quote-final-charles-schulz

But let’s talk about hot chocolate for a moment. (There’s even a day for that!) It’s warm, it’s comforting and it lasts a lot longer than eating a piece of chocolate. But it’s summer, so you may not want “hot chocolate”…but you can always have your hot chocolate “iced!” Getting your chocolate fix by drinking it gives you more health benefits than eating chocolate, especially if you use milk and undutched cocoa. The milk adds protein, calcium, vitamin D, magnesium and more, while the cocoa contains those health boosting flavonols and antioxidants.

It's #WorldChocolateDay. Besides eating your #chocolate try drinking your #chocolate--you get the added nutrition from #milk! #recipes #dairyamazing #RDchat Click To Tweet

But seriously, for some people every day could be “C” day. And why not? Chocolate has of lots health perks to it, unless you eat too much of it. Then the extra calories could be a problem.

My motto for eating chocolate: buy the best you can afford, eat it slowly and enjoy every bite!

Just in case you need some motivation for your regular chocolate fix, here are just a few of the health benefits:

  • Rich in antioxidants and flavonols, which helps the body by:
    • Increasing blood flow to the brain and arteries, which can help blood pressure and brain function. Regular cocoa and consumption may help prevent a high blood pressure disorder of pregnancy called preeclampsia. (Read the study from the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.)
    • Increasing cerebral blood flow, which could specifically affect risk of stroke. A recent study found a 29% reduced risk of stroke in high chocolate consumers compared to those who were low consumers.
    • Protecting brain neurons from damage. This could potentially prevent or reverse age-related cognitive decline.
    • Improving mood, but more because of it’s sensory properties, than it’s antioxidants. The smell, taste and creamy texture may stimulate the release of endorphins–the feel good chemicals in the brain.

And now for some healthy recipes to cure your chocolate craving, from my RD colleagues:

If you’re like me, after dinner you crave just a bit of something sweet. When a piece of fruit just doesn’t cut it, try these yummy Dark Chocolate Energy Bites from The Real Food RDs. I absolutely can’t wait to try these. In fact, I just bought all of the ingredients!

Cherry Chocolate Energy Bites! Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
The perfect mix of chocolate and cherry from RealFoodRDs.com
Hot cocoa! Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
Homemade dark cocoa? Yes please! From Whole Green Wellness.

Baby it’s cold outside…at least in some parts of the country. And even in the summer, you can get away with drinking hot cocoa when you work in an office that feels like a refrigerator! Drinking cocoa is one of the best ways to get both your chocolate fix, and the healthy flavonols that come with it, along with the extra nutritional punch you get from adding either regular or soy milk. This recipe for a single serving of Dark Hot Cocoa from Taylor at Whole Green Wellness calls for soy, but you can make it with regular milk. (Worried about caffeine? This hot cocoa recipe only contains about 12 mg–about 1/10th the caffeine in an 8 oz cup of coffee.)

Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
Nutty cocoa goodness right here from Amy Gorin RD.

So, you want something sweet, but you also want it to be a real food snack. Enter these Almond Pistachio Cocoa Bites from Amy Gorin RD. They have 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber each, not to mention the yummy goodness that you get from the nuts, chia and oats.

Chocolate is #brain food! Find #better-for-you #recipes here: bit.ly/2g2nq48 Click To Tweet

Brownies

Brownies…after cocoa and pure dark chocolate, brownies are probably the best way to get the most cocoa antioxidants per bite. Here are 2 recipes:

Black bean brownies! Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
Believe it, these brownies from Kroll’s Korner are both delish and healthy!

First up, Black Bean Avocado Brownies from Tawnie at Kroll’s Korner. Depending on your slant, the name can be a total motivator or a big turn-off. For me, I say, give me seconds for this brownie with it’s cocoa goodness plus the fiber and nutrition from beans and avocado. (And it’s still the Year of Pulses!) These are so healthy, I would probably eat one in the car for breakfast when I don’t have time for a “proper” breakfast!

Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
Another brownie recipe featuring cherries from Snacking in Sneakers.

Another brownie with a bit of a twist is this one for Dark Chocolate Cherry Brownies from Chrissy at Snacking in Sneakers. When cherries are not in season, so you can sub dried cherries or another fresh chopped fruit instead. (Wonder how persimmons would be?!) These also contain black beans plus applesauce and which give it a rich fudgy consistency.

I like fudge but I think of it as instant sugar overload, so I rarely buy it or eat it. But when I saw this recipe for Double Layer Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge from Julie at RDelicious Kitchen, I had to take a closer look. And I’m glad I did!  Sweetened with pure maple syrup and bananas instead of corn syrup, it’s gets points for being more natural.

Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
Healthy fudge? Yes!! From RDelicious Kitchen.
Healthy chocolate recipes plus their health benefits from eatrightmama.com bit.ly/2g2nq48
Like peanut butter cups, only better! from Katie Cavuto RD

When the candy drawer at works gets replenished, I scavenge for a few mini peanut butter cups to squirrel away for one of those days. (You know the ones, when you just need a bite of chocolate yum…) When I saw Katie Cavuto’s recipe for Dark Chocolate Salted Almond Butter Cups that had just 2 ingredients, I responded with a “heck yeah!” Can’t wait to try them!

Craving #chocolate? Try these 7 yummy but #healthy chocolate #recipes! #RDchat #eatrightpro bit.ly/2g2nq48 Click To Tweet

Hope you enjoy the recipes. For information about eating chocolate during pregnancy or when trying to conceive, check out my post, Chocolate for Fertility.

Like it? Share it! Thanks:)
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Pinterest Pin it
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Google Plus Plus
Send To Devices Send

Filed Under: Family Nutrition, Healthy Eating Tagged With: antioxidants, better-for-you, brownies, cerebral blood blow, chocolate, cocoa, cognitive decline, flavonols, health benefits of chocolate, national chocolate day, National Chocolate Week

Previous Post: « A Healthy Lifestyle is Job One When Trying to Conceive!
Next Post: Food Safety Mistakes to Avoid! »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jessica @ The Real Food Dietitians says

    November 18, 2016 at 11:01 am

    National Chocolate Week!? How did I miss that one? Putting it on the calendar for next year, for sure. Thanks for including our Dark Chocolate Cherry Energy Bites in your luscious healthy chocolate roundup!

    Reply
    • Bridget says

      November 22, 2016 at 5:00 pm

      Honestly I just bought all the ingredients and am trying it this week, so thank you!

      Reply
  2. Kaleigh @ Lively Table says

    November 18, 2016 at 3:33 pm

    Love your motto! I usually crave a little something sweet after dinner, and a square of good intensely dark chocolate is just what I need!

    Reply
    • Bridget says

      November 22, 2016 at 4:59 pm

      Thanks Kaleigh! And it’s great to know it has so many health benefits:)

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hey there–I’m really glad you stopped by!

I'm Bridget...and I'm a mom on a mission to help you and your family eat healthier. I'm also a registered dietitian and author of three books on family nutrition.

Check Out My YouTube Intro!

Read More about Bridget…

Check out my latest book!

Follow Me Here for more nutrition wisdom!!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • One More Veggie: Join the Challenge!
  • Eat Red-Go Red! It’s Heart Month!
  • 5 Heart Health Myths for Women
  • On the Fifth Day of Christmas…
  • Food Safety Tips for Pregnancy

Categories

healthy eating

9 better than store-bought recipes alcohol-free holiday drinks avocado breastfeeding Bridget Swinney Bridget Swinney RD calcium-rich CDC cheap home workouts cheese chocolate Chrissy Carroll RD cocoa crustless quiche recipes eating for fertility eggs Elizabeth Ward RD Emily Kyle RD exercise family time fertility fruits healthy chocolate recipes healthy eating holiday eating tips Jessica Levinson RD Jessi Haggerty RD morning sickness nutrition Nutritioulicious overweight peanut butter pregnancy pregnancy nutrition prenatal nutrition prenatal vitamin salmon screen-free activities seafood Trying to Conceive Twelve days of Christmas vegetables veggies ways to stay on track over the weekend whole grains

Copyright © 2023 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress