dark chocolate, part of a balanced diet

There is a website, All Chocolate, that describes everything you want to know about chocolate -- its history, production, recipes AND health benefits..

I like how the article explains that chocolate comes from a plant that has nutrients, properties (like antioxidants), and chemicals that are beneficial to our bodies.  The key is to keep the cacao bean as close to its original form as possible. 

If one is fortunate enough to live where they are grown, it is easy to suck on a bean and delight in the natural and pleasant flavor it provides with all of those substances being absorbed into one's body.  Dash was able to do this recently when he visited a cacao tree farm in one of the rural regions of Ghana.  He said if you bite into the bean, though, it tastes bitter. 

Most of us in the world will never have the opportunity to suck on an unfermented cacao bean -- what's best for us is to eat dark chocolate and to choose a dark chocolate with the highest percentage of cacao bean in it as possible.  The higher the percentage of cacao bean the lower the corresponding percentage of sugar.