Chocolate is the favorite food of many people but it’s often viewed as an unhealthy indulgence. Despite this, more and more evidence is suggesting that chocolate provides a number of impressive health benefits. Is this too good to be true?

Surprisingly, there’s an overwhelming amount of research and opinion existing on chocolate and its potential to alter mood, cause intense cravings, and influence health. As such, there’s a lot of important information to discuss, but too much to include in one article, so this will be the first of three. This article will discuss the beneficial aspects of chocolate, the next one will consider if and how chocolate can detract from health, and the final article will include my opinion on whether chocolate is a so called superfood or just an indulgence as is commonly thought. In this last article, I’ll also share what my three favorite chocolates are as well as some important information regarding selection.

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Agave nectar has been marketed as a natural and healthy alternative to common table sugar and is becoming a popular ingredient in many so called health foods. Unfortunately, many of the marketing claims associated with agave nectar aren’t true, and it’s arguable that this trendy sweetener actually poses more of a health risk than the sugar that it’s used to replace.

Given the health concerns associated with sugar and its tendency to cause weight gain, many people are going out of their way to avoid it. Those who are conscientious about their health are less likely to use artificial sweeteners, and as a result, are more likely to be influenced by the misleading marketing that depicts agave nectar as a healthier and more natural alternative to table sugar. Although agave nectar is commonly found in health food stores and is an increasingly common ingredient in so called health foods, this is by no means an indication of its safety or nutritional quality.

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It’s extremely common to see recommendations for specific foods that will improve energy, endurance, strength, recovery, or some other physical aspect, but is such advice worth paying attention to?

I recently read an article in Tennis Magazine with the subtitle “Six foods that could make or break your workout.” Although I think that some of the recommendations in the article are good, they’re also an excellent example of why so many people are confused about healthy eating.

In general, I typically don’t like advice that recommends a certain food for a specific benefit because I think it neglects the most fundamental reason why it’s important to follow a healthy diet. Whether the benefit of such a recommendation is improved energy, increased capacity for physical activity, or faster recovery, these are nothing more than characteristics of optimal health that are achieved from a well rounded healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, many people are experiencing these types of issues because their health isn’t what it could be, and the idea of a single food resolving the problem is a compensation that rarely works and fails to address the true problem. Although certain food choices can provide benefits beyond the basics of optimal health, trying to obtain these benefits without actually having optimal health is like buying high performance tires for a car with a malfunctioning engine. Basic health should come first!

With this in mind, here are the six foods that can supposedly make or break your workout.

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Due to the massive amount of confusing and conflicting nutritional information, many people find it practically impossible to implement a healthy diet. Fortunately, there’s one basic and foundational principle of healthy nutrition that clears the confusion and makes it much easier to eat well.

Unfortunately, the concept of a healthy diet has become very ambiguous and most people who think that they’re eating well are often mistaken. Despite making a significant effort, they fail to recognize this one simple, important, and effective principle of healthy eating.

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General Mills has successfully marketed their Cheerios brand of cereal to the point of it becoming widely recognized as a healthy breakfast food that helps to prevent heart disease. Are their claims for real, or are they nothing more than marketing hype?

One thing we can be sure of is that General Mills is pushing Cheerios as a “heart healthy” food very aggressively. The Cheerios box proudly boasts it’s cholesterol lowering capabilities and prominently displays the very expensive American Heart Association seal of approval, and just in case you overlook them, there are plenty of Cheerios commercials to make sure that you get the message.

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The low fat diet has been extremely popular for decades and is still strongly promoted by doctors and even the American government. As shown by the Fat Head documentary, it’s a load of bologna and many of us are suffering the serious consequences of our unhealthy fear of fat.

A Misconception About Fast Food

Fast food is undoubtedly an unhealthy and arguably unethical food choice, but not for the reasons you may think. Conventional wisdom tells us that fast food is high in saturated fat and is a major cause of today’s obesity epidemic. However, saturated fat is far from the nutritional villain that it’s made out to be and fast food is no more to blame for obesity than any other type of restaurant food. In fact, many people are overweight as a result of the food that they buy in the grocery store and eat at home.

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Alcohol is a significant part of the modern lifestyle, and even though most of it’s health risks are well known, many people still drink alcohol in excessive amounts and on a regular basis.

As a byproduct of yeast fermentation, alcohol is classified as a mycotoxin which means that it’s a toxic substance produced by fungus. Other common sources of mycotoxins include mold spores, antibiotics, and hallucinogenic drugs. Many of us have experienced the toxicity of alcohol in the form of a hangover, and as such, the damaging effects of alcohol shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

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Sugar and refined carbohydrates are responsible for much of the poor health and disease that are so prevalent today, but because they’re so addictive and exist in so many processed foods, many people have a difficult time avoiding them.

While there are plenty of reasons to avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates, the chances of successfully eliminating them from your diet aren’t good unless you have a solid understanding of what foods to eat instead, how to read ingredient labels, and most importantly for some, how to avoid cravings. With the right approach, it’s not as difficult as you may think and it may make a tremendous difference in your life.

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If you think it’s an exaggeration to say that something as common as sugar or refined carbohydrates can ruin your life, perhaps you should give more consideration to the excessive amounts of it that many people are consuming and the harmful effects that it can have on one’s health.

It only takes a quick look through most major grocery stores to notice the overwhelming selection of processed and packaged foods and the much smaller selection of natural whole foods such as unrefined meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Much of this processed food contains unhealthy amounts of sugar and refined carbohydrates as well as unnatural additives that are potentially harmful. Because processed foods are cheap to produce, have a long shelf life, and are specifically designed to taste good, they’re favored by both the food industry and the general public. The overwhelming abundance and availability of these foods is a clear indication that they’re a staple of the modern diet, and this is very likely to be a major factor in the prevalence of many life altering health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer.

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Blood sugar is vital to human function and must be consistently kept at a steady level to maintain good health. The failure to do so is a primary cause of many modern health complaints and diseases.

Blood sugar is the glucose that circulates in the blood stream and provides cells with much of the energy they need to function. It’s most commonly obtained through the digestion of food and is especially important to the brain and nervous system. Because of the many critical functions that depend on it, and because it’s toxic in excessive concentrations, blood sugar levels that are too low or too high can be extremely dangerous and are dealt with by the body in an urgent manner.

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