hot chocolate - a healthy drink!

Saw this today, thought it'd give me fodder for this blog month we're in..... I will paste excerpts from it to save you the long, drawn out version I had to suffer through, which after reading, I craved a hot chocolate for some reason, even if it was 82 degrees today!

"I never associated hot cocoa with good health. It was just a better, lower fat alternative to an intense craving for, let's say, ½ pound of dark chocolate devoured in one sitting, or a really big slice of Mud Pie...... hot cocoa has been elevated to a new status: Health Drink. Recently, researchers at Cornell University have found that cocoa teems with antioxidants that prevent cancer. In fact, cocoa has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine and up to three times those found in green tea. This discovery surprised even the researchers: 'If I had made a prediction before conducting the tests, I would have picked green tea as having the most antioxidant activity,' However using this good news as an excuse to polish off more chocolate bars is a no-no: Although a bar of chocolate exhibits strong antioxidant activity, the health benefits are still controversial because of the saturated fats present,' researchers of the study write. Okay, so hot cocoa (minus the whipped cream & marshmellows) is a good way to fight cancer, but can't you get just as many antioxidants from, say, eating a carrot stick?
Well, yes, any vegetable you pick up at your produce section (particularly grapes, garlic and spinach) is bound to give you healthy boost of cancer-fighting antioxidants. But how much fun can you possibly have munching on garlic cloves while curled up by the fire on a cold winter night? So this holiday season, drink up your hot cocoa - after all, it's good for your health!"

The study did mention to NOT use the pre-made packaged hot chocolates, they have way too much sugar (you know, calories...) and other non-essential parts ~remember my blog of acceptable animal/insect parts in our packaged foods :-)? and make your own. Drink up!!