A Valentine’s Day love story… 

You might think it’s crazy and bizzare, but while we’ve often been told to stay away from eating chocolate, the truth is, chocolate helps your heart health!

Now, I’m not talking about chocolate full of processed sugar and oils, the world has not turned upside down. However, dark chocolate with 70% or more cacao is considered beneficial for your heart. 

In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), cacao is associated with a bitter taste. The bitterness gives your heart energy and helps keep it beating strong. It’s a warming food, and the heat stirs up the heart and makes your blood quicken. Also, the sweetness that comes with dark chocolate is associated with the spleen. This calms our thoughts, makes us happy, and increases our energy. 

So go ahead and enjoy some chocolate! We recommend up to ½ to 1 ounce every day of over 70% cacao dark chocolate.

Here are some of our clinic’s favorites:

Whitney:

“For 70% or more dark chocolate, chocolove xoxox is my favorite. There’s a poem inside too!”

Natasha:

“Woodblock Chocolate: you can go into their cafe and see them in action making their chocolate, they even hand wrap their bars! While you are there you can sip on their 70% drinking chocolate. Honey Mama’s is unbelievably “melt in your mouth” good. This is a sweet treat that is loaded with healthy ingredients and you would never be able to guess!”

Melissa:

“While I’d rather recommend white chocolate… go with Equal Exchange’s 92% dark chocolate.”

Eden: 

“I enjoy stopping by Godiva in Washington square and grabbing a dark chocolate covered strawberry every once in a while, so good! Otherwise, their 72% dark chocolate bar is my go-to. What can I say… I like the basic stuff!“

We hope you have a great time enjoying a healthy bit of chocolate with friends and loved ones this Valentine’s Day!