NOTE FROM TED: Please do not look to this talk for medical advice. While some viewers may find the nutrition advice provided in this talk to be helpful, this speaker makes assertions about chocolate that lack sufficient scientific evidence for general prescription. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/t...


Julie Nygard has studied nutrition for more than 30 years. As she was leaving her career to write a book about nutrition, the health benefits of chocolate news broke. Highly skeptical, she investigated the topic and discovered that although the research looked encouraging, companies were misrepresenting the message by encouraging people to eat their sugarheavy chocolate products. Julie's experience with
nutrition combined with the health benefits of chocolate news prompted her to write her first book, "The Chocolate Therapist: A User's Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate." She started speaking about nutrition and the health benefits of chocolate, educating people on what the research truly represented as well as how to follow it properly. In this TedX presentation, she covers how chocolate is made from bean to bar, why people must eat 70%+ dark chocolate, how to read labels, why chocolate is rich in antioxidants and why it's highly important to eat antioxidantrich foods in a toxic world. Julie has a degree in psychology from the University of Colorado/Denver and a Nutrition Educator’s Certificate from Bauman College: Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts.
Julie Nygard has a degree in psychology from the University of Colorado in Denver as well as a Nutrition Educator’s Certificate from Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colorado. She studied nutrition for more than 25 years.

A quick review of the research revealed that large chocolate companies were already mismanaging the “health benefits of chocolate” message, convincing consumers that any dark chocolate is good for them. To help get the correct message out, she wrote, The Chocolate Therapist: A User’s Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate.

Her shop, The Chocolate Therapist, makes cleaningredient chocolates using allnatural chocolate, fresh spices, locally roasted nuts and organic flavoring oils. Julie has made it her personal mission to educate the public about nutrition and the health benefits of chocolate, helping people understand how to include a little dark chocolate in a healthy eating program. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx