Dark chocolate can help you lose weight, study finds

A major research review has discovered dark chocolate can help you lose weight.

When you're trying to trim down, the impulse is often to 'exclude' certain foods from ever making their way onto your plate. Of these, chocolate tends to be one of the first casualties to get the boot. However, a review of 35 major studies has shown that binning your favourite sweet treat could prove a little hasty. The analysis, conducted by a team of Iranian researchers, discovered 30 grams of dark chocolate supplementation for as much as two months produces a noticeable reduction in body weight and body mass index (BMI). Supplementing with dark chocolate can also improve both blood flow and insulin sensitivity - how efficiently your body uses glucose, the energy from carbohydrates. This can likely be explained by the rich flavonoid content of cacao. Flavonoids are a group of a plant nutrients with beneficial antioxidant properties. This certainly provides food for thought, but caution is advised. Don't think you can get away with chowing down on as many bars as is humanly possible. Chocolate of any kind is very calorie dense. Try and keep your portion size to an absolute maximum of 30 grams, so you don't overdo it. Also, not all dark chocolate was created equal. It is recommended that you aim for bars with a cocoa percentage of 85% and above. As a rule of thumb, the lower the cocoa, the more fat and sugar. One thing's for sure - keeping your calories under control will do more for banishing belly fat than gorging on one particular food item. Want a unique way to include dark chocolate in your diet? Try our energy-boosting super smoothie. Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder OR 30 grams 85% dark chocolate
• 1/2 cup of chopped beetroot
• 2 small frozen bananas
• 1/4 cup of sugar-free syrup
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Add all the ingredients into a food processor and blend for one minute. Serve up and enjoy!