Often, the foods we enjoy eating are not the healthiest. Chocolates and soft drinks should be avoided when trying to lose weight or diet. However, there are some alternatives on the market that are not only tasty but also seem healthy. We are talking about dark chocolates and diet sodas, which unlike sweet drinks and milky choclates have become a staple on many diet conscious individuals’ plates. It remains to be seen if these products are really as healthy as marketed.
Diet soda is a bubble-rich beverage that has fewer calories and no added sweeteners.
The downside of diet soda
Diet soda is popular because it has fewer calories and tastes like the sweetened sodas. Studies suggest that people may overconsume diet soda because they believe it’s healthy. Diet sodas use artificial sweeteners like saccharin and aspartame in order to achieve the desired effect. Studies show that even though diet soda has fewer calories, it still contains similar ingredients like artificial flavours which can also be harmful to your health. According to studies, long-term consumption of diet soda may lead to heart disease, metabolic disorders like diabetes, strokes, dementia, and liver diseases like fatty liver.
Dark chocolate contains many health benefits
Dark chocolates, unlike milk chocolates, have some surprising health benefits. Milk chocolate is made up of sugar, cocoa, and cocoa butter. Dark chocolate has between 50-90% cocoa, while milk chocolate can contain anywhere between 10-50% cocoa, sugar, milk, and cocoa butter. Dark chocolate is made from cocoa, which contains chemicals known as flavanol. These chemicals have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Here are some of the health benefits that dark chocolates offer.
- Reduces inflammation
- Reduces bad cholesterol
- Insulin resistance can be reduced
- Antioxidative stress and neutralize free radicals
- Improves blood flow and lowers the blood pressure.
