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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For more than half a century, saturated fat has been regarded as a deadly nutrient that clogs your arteries and causes heart disease. However, when you consider the fact that we’ve been eating saturated fat for millions of years, it just doesn’t make sense that it could be so unhealthy.

Modern science often neglects the importance of nature and this is one of the more prominent examples. Many reputable sources of information are now revealing that we’ve been misled and saturated fat does not cause heart disease. In fact, the “heart healthy” vegetable oils that we’ve been told to use instead of saturated fat pose a much more significant risk.

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As more people begin to realize the importance of vitamin D, natural sun exposure is becoming more widely accepted as a critical aspect of a healthy lifestyle. This raises a question that many tanning enthusiasts are likely to ask. Could tanning beds be a healthy source of vitamin D as well?

What About Skin Cancer?

The primary reason why people avoid tanning, whether it be in the natural sunlight or in a tanning bed, is because of it’s association with skin cancer. However, this doesn’t make much sense when you consider that melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, is most prevalent among indoor workers and is most commonly found on the areas of the body that are exposed to sun the least.

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Provoked by high rates of skin cancer, many people avoid the sun as much as possible and cover themselves with sunscreen before spending any time outdoors. Sadly, these people are actually increasing their risk for cancer and other diseases.

For millions of years, humans have spent many hours out in the sun each day without the protection of sunscreen. As such, it seems completely backwards for this natural and essential part of life to be considered dangerous. A closer look at the issue reveals that it is indeed backwards and that the fear of sun exposure is the real problem.

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