Benefits of eating chocolate for breakfast & bull; hello healthy

The ideal breakfast menu usually doesn't contain chocolate. Even chocolate is not the main ingredient in the typical Indonesian breakfast menu, which incidentally consists of rice and various savory side dishes. But what's wrong with breaking the tradition every now and then for something new, let alone proving to be healthy?

Yes, a number of scientific studies provide strong reasons why chocolate can be part of a delicious and healthy breakfast menu.

Chocolate helps increase brain acuity

Getting used to eating chocolate, especially in the morning at breakfast, is reported to be beneficial for the smooth working of the brain. To be able to work optimally, the part of your brain that is used to continuously work will require more fuel. This means that the smoother the supply of fresh blood to the brain, the more neurological activity in the brain will be increased.

Reporting from Boston Magazine, dr. Farzaneh Sorond, study leader and neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, said that chocolate increases blood supply to the brain, especially in people with impaired blood flow.

Sorond and a joint research team from Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital investigated the health benefits of flavanols, natural antioxidant compounds found in chocolate, and their effects on blood pressure. Flavanols in the process form a chemical called nitric oxide when it is absorbed into the blood. Nitric oxide has been shown to relax blood vessels.

There are many blood pressure medications that work to affect nitric oxide levels in the blood, so researchers strongly suspect that flavanols could have a similar medicinal effect. Based on this study, many doctors in the United States have started prescribing cocoa powder for their patients who are at risk of hypertension because cocoa has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease by reducing blood pressure.

ALSO READ: 12 Foods That Can Lower Blood Pressure

Sorond and his team's study later concluded that regular consumption of cocoa, the purest form of chocolate, can improve brain cognitive function: up to 30 percent improvement in memory acuity and thinking skills among subjects with impaired blood flow to their brains after 30 days of continuing to consume a regular cup of drink warm chocolate twice a day - morning and night before bed.

Chocolate breakfast helps you lose weight

Not only is breakfast chocolate beneficial for brain alertness, but this sweet black guy may also be effective in suppressing appetite and other bad eating habits throughout the day.

To prove this, a research team from Tel Aviv University conducted a 32-week in-depth study of people who were clinically obese and found that those who included chocolate (cake, cookies, or bars) as part of their 600-calorie breakfast menu cut an average of 18 more kilograms than those who ate a smaller, 300 calorie low-carb breakfast - even though both groups consumed the same total daily calories (1,600 for men; 1,400 for women).

ALSO READ: How Many Minimum Calories Should You Meet When Dieting?

Interestingly, a full breakfast menu, including protein, carbohydrates, and chocolate, helps you lose weight and keep it off longer. Not only will you have more time left to burn calories from this super filling (and satisfying) breakfast, but it can also suppress the urge to snack on empty calorie snacks throughout the day.

Angela Ginn, a registered dietitian from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as quoted from Self, agrees with the results of the above study and further explains that the real key to a healthy diet is not inducing starvation in the morning. Breakfast is a menu "breaking the fast" after a long sleepless night. This means that the body becomes inactive throughout the night so that the first meal of the morning is the essential fuel to revive a dead engine. Ginn continues, so that you don't suffer from sugar crush, aka short energy spikes that instantly make you sluggish, make sure to add protein and / or healthy fats to your dinner plate.

ALSO READ: Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipes for Diabetics

Want a healthy chocolate breakfast but don't know what to do with it? Check out a list of recommended recipes below for inspiration.

Chocolate chip pancake recipe for breakfast

Prep time: 20 minutes
Servings: 2-3 people

What you need:

65 grams of whole wheat flour
63 grams of all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
125 grams of unsweetened apple sauce
250 ml low-fat white milk
3 egg whites
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 grams of chocolate chips
Natural honey, to taste for topping

How to make:

In a large bowl, mix together until smooth: wheat flour, wheat flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate container, mix thoroughly: applesauce, almond milk, egg white, oil and vanilla. Enter the flour mixture, stir gently.
Heat the Teflon over medium heat. Drop a little oil to coat the surface so it is not sticky. With a ladle, spoon the pancake batter to taste, pour it into the Teflon. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Cook until the small bubbles on the surface of the pancakes are evenly distributed, for 1.5 minutes. Turn the pancakes over and cook on the other side, cook for up to 1.5 minutes. Lift
Repeat onward for the rest of the pancake batter.
To serve, arrange two or three pancakes on a serving plate and pour a little honey over them.