A doctor has recommended an unlikely breakfast combination which he says can help your body burn harmful white fat. Dr William Li is not only a best-selling author but also a respected doctor specialising in the link between food and health.
He said that a morning combo of dark chocolate and coffee could be the ideal start to the day for your body. But before you go out and start filling up your supermarket trolley with chocolate, he said that the type you buy was vital.
Dr Li said that dark chocolate with a cocoa percentage of around 80 per cent or higher was required. He said both coffee and dark chocolate arere packed with polyphenols, a category of compounds naturally found in plant foods which it is thought can help protect against a range of illnesses.
“This is a double-barrelled approach,” Dr Li told the Great Company Podcast. “Dr Li, you’re asking people to eat chocolate? Yes, I am. Chocolate is actually a plant-based food.
“Cacoa comes from the cocoa pod. What’s in that seed pod? Polyphenol. What you want to look for is 80 per cent or higher. The more cacao you have, you’re getting a ton of these polyphenols in your chocolate, and these polyphenols trigger brown fat to fire off and burn off your harmful white fat. Dark chocolate does that.
“Now, the darker it is, the more bitter it’s going to be. So what I like to do is just get a little square of it and have it with coffee – a bit of chocolate, a sip of coffee. You’ve created your own mocha.
“Coffee also has polyphenols, chlorogenic acid. A cup of coffee will fire up your brown fat to burn down the harmful white fat every single morning. That’s a double-barrelled approach.”
Is chocolate healthy?
Dark chocolate that is at least 70 per cent cocoa is high in iron, magnesium, copper, and manganese. It also contains calcium, potassium, and zinc, as well as traces of vitamins A, B, E, and K. An average 100-gram bar of dark chocolate has around 11 grams (or 0.39 ounces) of fibre – something that more than 90 per cent of Brits do not eat enough of every day.
It also keeps your blood sugar levels in check, reducing cravings later on in the day. Cocoa contains substances called flavanols that may improve insulin sensitivity in people who have pre-diabetes. They are antioxidants, meaning they help protect your cells from damage by free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can cause significant damage.
Much like the polyphenols in fruits, nuts, and seeds, those in dark chocolate “are like rocket fuel for your gut microbes,” says Professor Tim Spector. Cocoa is also a prebiotic, a type of fiber that your gut bacteria digest. It also contains polyphenols, which may help prevent blood clots, reduce blood sugar levels, and lower heart disease risk.
Is coffee healthy?
More and more studies are suggesting a limited amount of coffee a day is good for you.