Chocolate + Prebiotic Fiber = Blissful Weight Loss

February is about more than just Valentine’s Day, it's also about healthy hearts, feeling the love, and chocolate. Yep, you read that right... chocolate!

I can read your mind—you’re thinking, "Is chocolate allowed on the LynFit Metabolic Boosting Meal Plans?" Yes, of course it is, but not just any chocolate. The chocolate I’m recommending is full of prebiotic fiber and a great source of antioxidants (better than broccoli). It's all about making good chocolate choices, and that’s what today’s nutrition article is all about.

Being a total chocoholic, you’ve probably heard me say that chocolate is good for your health, and it’s even good for your metabolism. It helps boost metabolism, and the chocolate I’m talking about helps ease aches and pains and improves recovery from training.

Cocoa (and, therefore, chocolate) is packed with flavonoids, which are phytochemicals that act as potent antioxidants to help fight cancer, support heart health, decrease LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, and improve your circulation. But that’s not all. The kind of cocoa we use in LynFit products (Chocolate Lean Bars, Sinful Chocolate Sauce, and Chocolate Protein) is much much more than that.
It’s also combined with prebiotic fiber that helps improve your gut microbiome which in turn affects every aspect of your health. Now that’s a marriage made in heaven... health-promoting cocoa combined with prebiotic fiber that you should eat daily!

The chocolate most of us eat is processed food, full of sugar and bad fat, and practically devoid of flavonoids. Sadly, most typical nutrition companies use that low grade in their protein shakes and bars, as well as nutrition products. The giveaway is the low price. Good quality chocolate is about as expensive as buying gold. When it comes to your health, you should always seek the best quality so you can get the best results.

LynFit is not typical! We specialize in metabolic issues such as sluggish weight loss and fat burning as well as helping you to overcome metabolic health issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar, to name a few. We go a step further and make our products with totally defatted cocoa — so daily consumption of this healthy ingredient won’t hurt your health or weight loss the way eating dark or any old chocolate can. We also protect the natural ingredient that's responsible for all of chocolate’s health benefits.

That’s the LynFit difference! Your health and weight loss depend on it.

Even Harvard Medical School researchers agree and report that cocoa can boost nitric oxide (NO) levels. NO is involved in our everyday bodily processes, one of the most important being blood vessel dilation. Supplements that contain nutrients such as the ones we are talking about today that boost NO production are a popular component of pre-workout nutrition because they boost blood flow to working muscles, whether you're a pro athlete, CrossFitter, marathoner, or just trying to delay the aging process lifting weights to stay strong. This also helps to deliver more nutrients, hormones, and oxygen to your muscles, which in turn results in a more efficient workout. Cocoa (chocolate) is great for everyone including anyone who wants to lose weight, feel great, protect brain health, and yes, especially serious athletes.

But beware, I’m certainly not suggesting that you make a steady diet of milk chocolate candy bars (most protein bars sold today aren’t even as good as a candy bar) or indulge in as much chocolate as you desire, even if it is Valentine’s Day.

LynFit has at least five different flavors when it comes to protein bars and shakes that are chocolate-flavored — including Sinful Chocolate Sauce. Our protein bars and shakes are a miracle if you could only understand the amount of research and technology it took to create them. They shouldn’t even exist. Nowhere else can you get this kind of chocolatey taste with so much protein and so little sugar and saturated (LC) fat.

One bite or sip into these, and you’ll swear you’re cheating with flavors like Chocolate Truffle, Chocolate Bliss, Chocolate Almond Coconut, Sinful Chocolate Sauce, Clean Cocoa Egg White, and Chewy Chocolate Lean Bars. Any of these can easily be used to replace your not-so-healthy daily dessert.

Did you know that LynFit Whey Protein is one of the highest on the PER (Protein Efficiency Ratio) of all supplemental protein powders? It contains all of the amino acids in exactly the amounts needed that are better absorbed (vegan shakes or store-bought cannot claim this) so that the processes of boosting your metabolism and your health, including muscle and joint repair, are accelerated.

In 2017, the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness examined the effect of cocoa consumption on the markers of muscle damage, oxidative stress and physical fitness in professional soccer players. In other words, the study wanted to see if cocoa had any benefits on exercise recovery. Great news! As it turns out, it did. Cocoa repaired muscle damage more rapidly than without it. It increased antioxidants in the body (which have a protective effect against cell damage and illness systemically) — think whole body health. But that’s not all... it also increased the pro athletes’ exercise performance. Their bodies are the neediest, so imagine what it can do for your body.

Most people start noticing aches and pains, stiff joints that ache, and muscles that stop gliding the way they should, creating spasms and knots which send you running for pain relief to ease your discomfort. Sinful Chocolate Sauce, Lean Bars, and Complete Protein Shakes all contain the antioxidant superpowers you’d find in high grades of chocolate, but you won’t experience the kind of weight loss benefits, pain relief, or mood boost by eating a square of dark chocolate daily.
Not only is consistent daily intake crucial, getting the pure, premium quality in the specific amounts needed is where its benefits go from good to great. That’s where LynFit's weight loss tools come into play.

These supplements also contain a more productive combination of nutrients that work together as a team, and we all know there is more strength in numbers versus single nutrients.

The other honorable mention when it comes to chocolate is the theobromine. Theobromine is the reason we all get addicted to chocolate in the first place. As we age (starting in your mid-twenties) we need the natural energy and stress relieving mood boost it delivers.! It’s all in there in these supplements, in the amounts needed by our body to see and feel a difference.

So, the next time you crave that loving feeling brought on by eating food you love 💕 (like chocolate), with LynFit, it’s NO PROBLEM — we have chocolate for everyone! 

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References:
Fisher, N.D., et al. 2003. Flavanol-rich cocoa induces nitric-oxide-dependent vasodilation in healthy humans. Journal of Hypertension 21: 2281-2286.

Gonzalex-Garrido, J.A., et al. 2017. An association of cocoa consumption with improved physical fitness and decreased muscle damage and oxidative stress in athletes. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 57: 441-447.