Happy New Rears!

A week ago, I actually caught myself strategically thinking, “If I eat this entire tin of Christmas cookies now, they’ll no longer be a temptation.” I’m one smart cookie. Pun intended.

Many of us go from overeating during the holidays to extreme dieting beginning in early January. During the month of December, you couldn’t find an empty spot in the workplace refrigerator without shoving aside a tray of finger rolls. Now the lunch room is full of yogurt, tossed salads, and a lot of commiserating coworkers.

Healthy people know that bouncing from one extreme to the other is no way to maintain consistent health and weight. It’s important to find satisfying treats that will stave off the need to go overboard.

Van Otis Chocolates offers an all natural line of gourmet chocolate bars including milk, Cambra dark (72% cocoa), white, blueberry dark, blueberry milk, cranberry almond milk, cranberry almond dark, hazelnut milk, and hazelnut dark. I can attest that the blueberry milk chocolate bar is delicious and since it’s all natural, it doesn’t have the acidic bite that blueberry-flavored foods tend to have.

The all natural trail mix bark in milk or dark chocolate, all natural bark in milk or dark chocolate, milk chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, and mixed nuts or unsalted cashews are other wonderfully satisfying choices.

Vitamin DC

Most of us know that vitamin E is good for healthy skin and vitamin D promotes bone health. We also might be able to identify some of the foods possessing high doses of essential vitamins and nutrients, while admitting to our limited daily intake. Today, vitamin supplements are as common as the utensils sidling our plate.

What about vitamin DC or "dark chocolate"?

A study published on March 30, 2010 in the European Heart Journal suggests that small amounts of dark chocolate may dramatically lower a person’s risk for heart disease and stroke. Researchers followed 20,000 people for eight years, questioning their diet and exercise habits.

They found that people who had an average of six grams of dark chocolate per day, or about one square, had a 39% lower risk of heart disease or stroke. It’s believed that the health benefits stem from the flavinoids that are in chocolate. Flavinoids or flavinols are the brightly colored pigments found in fruits and vegetables. These can help decrease blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and increase clarity of blood vessels leading to your heart and brain.


Van Otis offers Cambra Dark Chocolate Bars, Dark Chocolate Trail Mix Cups and Dark Chocolate Caramelized Almonds, which are made with Cambra dark chocolate, containing 72% cocoa content.

Of course, there are many other factors contributing to good heart health including diet and exercise. However, a table setting of fork, spoon, knife, and Cambra Dark Chocolate sounds like a good start to any dietary health improvement plan.