Not all chocolate is created equal! Quality is so important in order to take advantage of chocolate's MANY health benefits.  The secret behind chocolate's nutrition punch is cacao.

This super food is packed with healthy chemicals like flavonoids and theobromine. Cocao is bitter and chalky on its own, though it is a great snack with something that adds some sweetness to it. For example, try mixing gogi berries with cocao nibs for a great power snack!

However, because of cacoa's bitter taste, ingredients like milk, sugar, and butter are added to create a sweeter, more rich flavor. This is the aspect that is not always great for your health. Besides adding calories, these can dilute the benefits of the cacao. Therefore, to enjoy the health benefits while treating yourself, stick to healthy chocolate with at least 70 percent cacao (or cocoa, which is cacao in its roasted, ground form). As long as the content is that high, you can reap the benefits from eating only small amounts.

A 100 gram bar of dark chocolate with 70-85% cocoa contains:

• 11 grams of fiber.
• 67% of the RDA for Iron.
• 58% of the RDA for Magnesium.
• 89% of the RDA for Copper.
• 98% of the RDA for Manganese.It also has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.

It also has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium!

100 grams (3.5 ounces) is a fairly large amount and not something you should be consuming daily, especially as this also includes 600 calories and moderate amounts of sugar.

Image courtesy of m_bartosch at FreeDigitalPhotos.net