According to health experts, consuming around 30-60 grams of dark chocolate per day is a healthy amount for most people. That's about two to four small squares of your favourite chocolate bar.
How much chocolate can I eat a day? Experts say the recommended “dose” is approximately 1 to 2 ounces or 30-60g. Indulge in anything more than that, and you may be consuming too many calories. A 1.45-ounce (41 gram) Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar has 190 calories.
Excessive consumption of anything is harmful to health, whether it is veggies or chocolate. One must not eat more than 30 to 60 grams of chocolate in a day. Consuming too much chocolate will increase your daily calorie count leading to weight gain and other issues.
Too much chocolate, 85 bars to be exact, results in theobromine poisoning which will give you symptoms similar to that of a caffeine overdose – trembling, excessive sweating and severe headaches. In some cases, consuming 70g of theobromine can lead to death by cardiac failure, dehydration, and seizures.
Feel free to eat dark chocolate regularly, but don't overdo it, as excess calories can cause weight gain. A small portion—just a square or two a day—will still put a smile on your face while boosting your heart health.
And the winner is…
Dark chocolate! Because of its lower sugar and fat content and its higher flavanol content, dark chocolate has benefits over milk chocolate. However, both should be eaten in moderation because both contain more sugar and fat than is ideal in a heart-healthy diet.
What are the side effects of eating dark chocolate? The dark chocolate side effects may be associated with caffeine. It may cause sleeplessness, nervousness, increased urination, fast heartbeat, skin allergies, migraine and headache, nausea, and stomach problems like gas and constipation.
The symptoms of chocolate addiction withdrawal include intense cravings for sweet foods, carbohydrate cravings, increased irritability, depressed mood, headaches, lack of energy, and exhaustion. Cutting back on chocolate may affect a person by causing withdrawal symptoms that may be uncomfortable.
Chocolate is high in calories, so you need to enjoy it in moderation. You can have about 1 ounce of dark chocolate no more than three times a week.
Excessive consumption of dark chocolate can increase caffeine levels in blood, causing increased heart rate, nausea, dehydration and insomnia. Approximately 30-60 grams of dark chocolate per day is recommended quantity to be healthy.
Scientists also recommend the best time to eat chocolate is earlier in the day (between 9am -11am), making chocolate a great choice for an elevenses pick-me-up, as your palate has not been tainted by other flavours from lunch – something only one in five (20%) of Brits already do.
Go for a dark chocolate or a dark coconut milk chocolate if you're looking to maximize health benefits— it's not just a lower cacao content that makes a milk chocolate less good for you. The proteins in animal milk bind to the antioxidants in chocolate, making them unavailable for your body to use.
You're not getting enough magnesium
We need magnesium to help turn the food we eat into energy. As dark chocolate is high in magnesium, some argue that chocolate cravings stem from a magnesium deficiency.
Dark chocolate may help improve sleep quality by increasing the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is linked to feelings of calmness and relaxation. Additionally, the antioxidants and flavanols found in dark chocolate can reduce stress levels and help reduce the time it takes to fall asleep.
And even though quality dark chocolate is a better choice than milk chocolate, it is still chocolate, meaning it's high in calories and saturated fat. To avoid weight gain, Amidor recommends eating no more than 1 ounce (oz) of dark chocolate per day.
The accumulated evidence from research studies suggests that cocoa is beneficial for sustaining cognitive performance, improving measures of general cognitive abilities such as attention, memory and processing speed.
The easiest way to bring your blood sugar level back to normal is by drinking a lot of water. If your daily water intake level is normal, then your blood sugar remains in control. Water helps kidneys to flush out toxins and insulin from the body.
And while some chocolate-filled treats can be loaded with sugar and other ingredients that aren't great for your health, dark chocolate can be surprisingly good for you. If you eat a small portion of dark chocolate every day, you could see an overall improvement in your health.
Increases heart health: The antioxidants in dark chocolate have been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of clotting and increase blood circulation to the heart, thus lowering the risks of stroke, coronary heart disease and death from heart disease.
Don't Eat: Chocolate
Even though chocolate doesn't contain much of the stuff, even a little caffeine can disturb or halt the sleep-inducing chemical processes going on in your brain and body before bedtime, he says.