Just when you thought July couldn’t get more fun, July 7th is World Chocolate Day! To celebrate, here are our top 10 delicious healthy chocolate recipes to nourish your body and delight your taste buds.

They’re easy! Give one a try today and celebrate the small blessings (like chocolate) in life!

Top 10 Healthy Chocolate Recipes

1. Keto Zone Chocolate Brownies: It’s hard to beat a good brownie. Our Keto Zone Chocolate Brownies combine nourishing cocoa, healthy fats and Keto Zone® Hydrolyzed Collagen to deliver an amazingly healthy chocolate brownie. With its delicious flavor, you won’t believe each serving only contains 3 grams net carbs!

2. Chocolate Avocado Pudding: Smooth, velvety, and dairy-free, this healthy chocolate pudding will knock your socks off! Made with cocoa, avocados, and Keto Zone® Hydrolyzed Collagen powder, it delivers great nutrients to your body while satisfying your chocolate cravings!

3. Chocolate Almond Butter Smoothie: Looking for a smoothie that will actually keep you satisfied all morning? Look no further than our Chocolate Almond Butter Smoothie! This smoothie boosts only 6 grams net carbs (for your entire breakfast!) plus healthy Keto Zone® MCT Oil Powder, spices, almond butter, and more. Blend up your healthy chocolate almond butter breakfast today!

4. Chocolate Chili Fat Bombs: If you’re looking for a treat that’s a bit different from the norm, you’ve got it with our Chili Chocolate Fat Bombs! These treats will satisfy your cravings with both sweet and spicy flavors. In fact, they combine raw cacao powder, Keto Zone® MCT Oil Powder, spices, and more for a zero-net-carb fat bomb!

5. Double Chocolate Ice Cream: In the middle of summer, there’s one healthy chocolate recipe that will cool you down while nourishing your body from head to toe; Keto Zone® Double Chocolate Ice Cream. Our ice cream is incredibly decadent. Got an ice cream maker? Great! Don’t have an ice cream maker? No problem, you can make it without!

6. Collagen Chocolate Caramels: Maybe you’re in the mood for a smaller, candy-like healthy chocolate recipe. Collagen Chocolate Caramels are perfect! Cocoa, coconut oil, nuts, and Keto Zone® Hydrolyzed Collagen are combined for this easy, delicious treat. And best of all, only 2 grams of net carbs per serving!

7. Keto Zone® Mason Jar Collagen Shake: A healthy chocolate shake with minimal grams of net carbs? Yes, please. No fancy equipment needed, just place the ingredients, including Keto Zone® Hydrolyzed Collagen in a mason jar and shake!

Click here for recipe: Keto Zone Mason Jar Chocolate Collagen Shake

8. Keto Zone® Chocolate Truffles: Keto Zone® Truffles are a surefire way to stop cravings in their tracks while enjoying ingredients that are great for you! These truffles actually support heart health and whole body wellness. Make plenty to share because they’ll be gone before you know it!

9. Chocolate Cookie Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches: This delightful summer treat does take a bit of time and effort. But, it’s absolutely worth it! There’s no reason to settle for boring foods, “diet” foods, or tasteless foods when you’re in the Keto Zone®. In fact, your Keto Zone® lifestyle should be full of an exciting, nourishing, delicious variety of foods like ice cream sandwiches!

Click here for recipe: Keto Zone Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches

10. Keto Zone® Chocolate Covered Strawberries: Everyone likes a chocolate covered strawberry, right? However, most varieties are full of sugar and carbs. Not so with our Keto Zone® Chocolate Covered Strawberries! This healthy chocolate recipe boosts detoxifying and metabolism-supporting ingredients while leaving out the sugar. It’s perfect for a summer chocolate treat!

Why Add More Chocolate and Raw Cacao to Your Keto Zone Lifestyle?

Healthy chocolate recipes, especially those using raw cacao, do more than delight the taste buds.

They are good for you. Really.

A little raw cacao can:

• Affect brain health and mood (1). Cacao’s flavanols, including phenethylamine (PEA), deliver natural pain- and stress-reducing benefits while increasing endorphins to improve focus. What’s more, cacao improves mood by raising serotonin levels and contains theobromine, a mild stimulant sometimes used in the treatment of depressed moods.
• Increase blood flow to the brain. Better bloodflow supports brain health and cognition in those with and without cognitive deficit. How does raw cacao increase flow? Cacao’s flavanols increase blood levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide dilates arteries and improves blood flow.
• Support heart health while discouraging inflammation. Again, nitric oxide increases artery dilation and blood flow, thereby reducing blood pressure especially in older adults and those with hypertension (2, 3). In fact, some have found that higher chocolate consumption is associated with a significantly lower risk of heart disease, stroke and death (4).
• Reduce fatigue. In addition to a small amount of caffeine, cacao delivers anti-fatigue nutrients including iron, magnesium, and nitric oxide. One small study from London showed a decrease in fatigue related ailments and symptoms after 8 weeks of cacao treatment (5).
• Support insulin sensitivity and healthy blood sugars. When cells are more sensitive to insulin, they are healthier. They deal with carbohydrates better, require less insulin to store them, and store less fat. The flavanols in cacao support insulin sensitivity by slowing down carbohydrate digestion and absorption in the gut, improving insulin secretion and stimulating the uptake of sugar out of the blood into the muscle (6).
• Discourage free radical damage. Unfortunately, most every biochemical reaction, our environment, our foods, and our lifestyles can increase free radical damage. However, when we consume antioxidants like those is raw cacao, we consume compounds that neutralize free radicals and work to heal cells. In fact, cacao has more than 300 different antioxidant chemical compounds and more than 20 times the antioxidant power of blueberries. And while other foods antioxidants diminish with time, cacao has demonstrated stability in samples over 75 years old (7)!

Bottom Line

There’s really no reason to not add more healthy chocolate to your life and many great reasons to do so. Enjoy our 10 favorite recipes and all the health benefits that come with them!