Is Healthy Chocolate an Oxymoron?

Jumbo shrimp. Definitely maybe. Seriously funny. Healthy chocolate?

Is healthy chocolate a contradiction? While I believe the term "healthy" can be interpreted many ways, there are now tons of chocolate options on the market to fit into many diets including: low sugar, no sugar, dairy free, gluten free, etc. I wholeheartedly support this because I believe everyone should have chocolate!

It's one of my life goals to get chocolate from as many countries as I can. So far, Italy has had the best chocolate (if you go, find Venchi!). Clearly, I'm an un-certified chocolate aficionado. So it is my duty to try all the "healthy" chocolates that I can get my hands on!

JOJO Chocolate Bark

This chocolate comes in two varieties: 70% dark chocolate bark and peanut butter delight. The dark chocolate bark encases raw almonds, pistachios, and dried cranberries. It's non GMO, has only 8g sugar and a boost of Non GMO casein protein! I really loved the nuts and cranberries and the dark chocolate had a good flavor. The peanut butter delight is studded with pieces of peanuts, made with peanut flour and plant based protein. It contains just 6g sugar and boasts 6g plant based protein. It is also non GMO and made with their premium German chocolate. If you like peanuts and chocolate, this is the bar for you! They also guarantee you will love it or they will refund your money - you can't lose! JoJo's was designed to help people kick their sugar cravings by cutting down on sugar and boosting with protein!

Learn more: https://jojoschocolate.com/

Nibmor Chocolate

Nibmor is a line of organic, non GMO, vegan and gluten free dark chocolate bars and squares. They have several flavors so I have not tried them all but what I have tried, I have thoroughly enjoyed! I'm normally not one to love fruit in my chocolate, but their all natural superfruit bars (cherry and blueberry) are really enjoyable. They also have boxes of "daily dose" chocolates. These contain individually wrapped squares of dark chocolate and I loved the covenience of just unwrapping one single square to get my daily dose of chocolate! They also have organic drinking chocolate that I have yet to try! A serving of the 80% dark chocolate bar is 160 calories with 8g sugar, 12g fat, and 2g protein so it doesn't have the protein boost but it still keeps the sugar in the single digits (if you can keep to one serving, that is!) This is a great brand to try for any dark chocolate lovers. 

Learn more: http://nibmor.com/

CocoPolo Chocolate

This chocolate is gluten free, Non GMO, and has no added sugar all while tasting ridiculously good. They utilize stevia as a natural, sugar free sweetener but there no stevia aftertaste. They were created to be Diabetes friendly and now everyone can benefit from this healthy chocolate. They have both milk and dark chocolate and several flavors that incorporate superfood ingredients! These bars truly melt in your mouth and taste great. The 70% dark chocolate bars are vegan as well. 10/10 recommend if you can find them! You won't believe there's no sugar!

Learn more: http://www.cocopolo.com/

FlavaNaturals 

FlavaNaturals dark chocolate bars preserve the cocoa flavanols in their processing resulting in 5x the cocoa flavanols of a comparative dark chocolate bar. From the bean sourcing to the processing, they have this down to a science! What are cocoa flavanols aka why do we care? Cocoa flavanols are plant based antioxidants shown to benefit circulation, brain, heart and skin health. So I guess I should eat more chocolate to be the pinnacle of health, right? I won't get into the nitty gritty of the science because I'm no expert on that, but you can read more about it at flavanaturals.com and cocoaflavanolscience.com. Anyway, these bars come in six flavors: blueberry and green tea matcha, crystallized ginger and Saigon cinnamon, classic dark chocolate, espresso ground coffee, pure cocoa nibs, roasted almond and Himalayan pink salt. These chocolate bars are not for the faint of heart - they have a deep, rich and satisfying dark chocolate flavor and each variety I've tried so far is very true to it's name. For instance, the crystallized ginger was literally studded with crystallized ginger and the rich dark chocolate was complimented by the subtle spiciness. The sugar count, however, does creep into the double digits as the classic chocolate bar has 12g sugar (this is a 35g serving vs JOJOs 34g serving and Nibmor 31g serving). If you like deep, dark chocolate and the prospect of potential health benefits from natural antioxidants, try these out!

Learn more: https://flavanaturals.com/

The Good Chocolate

With a name like that, it better be good! The Good chocolate is a bean to bar, organic, zero sugar chocolate bar. They are vegan (with the exception of the milk chocolate flavor), soy free, antioxidant rich and have only 1g net carb! They utilize erythritol, stevia, mesquite and vanilla as a natural sugar free sweet-blend to create a melt in your mouth chocolate experience. I recommend the Himalayan salt flavor! You just can't beat the salty sweet combination! This is a great option for those following a low carb/keto diet or anyone! How could something that tastes so good, be bad?

Learn more: http://www.goodchocolate.com/

Overall, I would recommend any of these brands for dark chocolate lovers. If you're a milk chocolate lover, CocoPolo is the way to go in my opinion! Whatever your dietary preference, delicious chocolate is within your reach and thank goodness for that!

These are just a few of the "healthy" chocolate brands on the market right now! Have you tried any "healthy" chocolate? What did you think of it?

Keto Friendly: CocoPolo, The Good Chocolate

Diabetes Friendly: JoJos, CocoPolo, The Good Chocolate

Vegan: Nibmor, FlavaNaturals, all other brands have vegan options