5 Healthy Ways to Enjoy Chocolate

It’s okay to eat a treat every day. Yes, I said every day. Here’s the catch: whatever sinful, seductive and scrumptious bite you decide to take should promote your good health – not push it to the backburner. This one little caveat isn’t as limiting as it seems. In fact, cookies, peanut butter cups and chocolate bars can still make the cut. Just pull from my list of chocolaty favorites and indulge freely.

Here are my top 5 ways to enjoy chocolate:

Vitacost Super Cacao in Coconut – I bought about five or six, because I love these as an everyday treat. They contain many great nutrients not normally found in a chocolate bar, including green tea extract, probiotics, maca, curcumin extract and DHA (one of the essential omega-3 fatty acids).
Enjoy Life Morsels Dark Chocolate – If you’re going to be baking cakes or cookies that require chocolate chips, these are the top allergen-free morsels. They also come in mini-chips if you prefer smaller bits of chocolate, or if you’re making mini-muffins.
Endangered Species 88% Dark Chocolate – I do like snacking on these, but mostly I use these bars for whipping up chocolate mousse or baking anything that calls for dark chocolate. I love this brand for being non-GMO and gluten free!
Justin’s Organic Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups – The orange-wrapper dessert cups are my weakness. Thankfully, these are a healthier version with USDA Organic ingredients and rich, dark chocolate. Calorie-wise, they’re comparable to the big brand, but the quality of ingredients is a “cup” above.
Vega Protein Smoothie Choc-A-Lot – When the weather warms up, I’ll be back to making smoothies. Unfortunately, whey protein does not agree with my body (or vice versa), so I was pleased to find this chocolaty, plant-based formula by a brand I trust.