The Breakfast of Champions -- Chocolate?
While watching the Olympics yesterday, one of the commentators mentioned that the women's triathlon Olympic Gold Medal Winner, Gwen Jorgensen eats chocolate after every meal, including breakfast.
Who am I to argue with greatness? In fact, Gwen is in good company; I eat chocolate after every meal, too.
Benefits of Chocolate
Chocolate lovers across the globe have known for a long time that their daily habit is a positive one, but science is now catching up. It has been found that cacao, which contains flavonoids and theobromine, wards off disease.
The benefits to eating dark chocolate include lowered blood sugar and a reduced risk of heart disease. The flavonoids in dark chocolate have also been linked to providing sun protection. Finally, chocolate has been found to ease stress and to increase brain power. And to top it off, it tastes good!
Here are five of my favorite ways to include chocolate with breakfast.
- Add chocolate chips to a pancake or banana bread recipe.
- Have one (or two) chocolate covered strawberries. You can eat these by themselves, or slice them up on top of your cereal. Yum!
- Chocolate french toast. Prior to frying, soak the bread in hot chocolate. Drizzle chocolate sauce to the finished product.
- Add melted semi-sweet baking chocolate squares to your favorite crepe recipe.
- My favorite go to: spread peanut butter on a quesadilla and add sliced banana and chocolate chips. Fold the quesadilla in half and fry in a skillet for just a minute or two until the quesadilla is golden brown and the chips are melted.
I urge you to join those of us who eat chocolate for breakfast -- there just might be a gold medal in your future.
I agree, chocolate is the best thing ever - just keep it dark (more than 70% cacao levels is best!)
It is the best thing ever! Eating some right now. :)
...and now I'm craving chocolate! Wait. I'm pretty much always craving chocolate. The chocolate French toast sounds especially delicious. I hadn't thought to use hot chocolate for soaking the bread - that should work wonderfully. When I'm cooking with chocolate, I like to use those chocolate discs you can get (favorites are from Central America). They've got sort of a gritty texture if you just eat them straight, which sounds bad but tastes so good.
Me too, chocolate is always on my mind!
I heard that comment on the Olympics, too. She did great and she's from Wisconsin and is a Badger, so we're proud here.
My favorite small snack after a meal are those dark chocolate covered espresso beans from Trader Joe's and I've been snacking on those a while. I know a number of my friends enjoy dark chocolate - like you said, lots of benefits.