The Light Side of Dark Choc

When I read that dark chocolate, my best friend, was effective in lowering blood pressure,  while tea, love it it iced with loads of lemon, is not, I zeroed in on the daily portion mentioned, 3 1/2 ounces.  This ounce thing has always irritated me, other than in the liquid realm. I comprehend an 8 ounce cup and thought I understood a shot glass, which I see is often 2 ounces, with a line marked at 1.5 oz--but then again, to complicate our lives, there is such a thing as a "pony shot" , of just one ounce.

Anyway--3 1/2 ounces of DARK chocolate is apparently enough to lower BP with great pleasure and without nasty meds. The study results are here.

So what is/are 3 1/2 ounces?  According to the Iowa State University Extension website, it's a tad less than 8 dominoes, a tad more than a playing card.  Don't have any dominoes handy but in my mind's eye they seem much bigger than the amount of choc I eat each day--my usual pattern is a square of Belgian dark chocolate ( T. Joe's) in the a.m. as my breakfast "dessert," and another square or two in the afternoon, in between meals.

Having scanned the packaging of dark choc with almonds, I now see that 3 squares at 1.3 oz total, is considered a 200 calorie serving--clearly I am not eating enough!  ( The caloric content is an issue, at higher levels.........but I am gardening furiously these days.)

My BP is rising just contemplating this whole ounce annoyance.

(Thanks to www.kitchenslave.com/chocolate.htm for pic.)

Comments

[KathyF]

Is that 3 ounces of pure chocolate? The strongest dark (plain) chocolate I've seen is 70-80 percent.

[foodie]

I have not found a description of the cocoa content as yet. I usually go with 72%. Over that and I feel I am gnawing on straight baking choc--not to mention that I am buzzed....

[Cloudzilla]

Finally. An excuse to eat chocolate (not that I needed one). Unfortunately, I prefer milk choc, which I understand is useless when in comes to lowering BP.

As someone on the dreaded BP medication, I am going to start self-medicating with dark choc, to see what happens.

[edy]

trader joes has some very good brands at reasonable prices

[Cloudzilla]

Another tip for keeping blood-pressure manageable: avoid commenting in the same blog your mother is commenting in.