7 Worst Dark Chocolates for Weight Loss

"Sugar should be the last ingredient on a chocolate bar's list, or at least listed after cocoa," notes Bjork. This nutritionally void Lindt bar has the sweet stuff listed first, indicating that there is more sugar than any other ingredient per bite. What's worse, the chocolate (among other dark chocolate brands) was also found to contain lead and cadmium in an independent laboratory test conducted by the environmental and social corporate responsibility organization, As You Sow. While cadmium has been shown to cause kidney, liver and bone damage as well as reproductive harm in humans, exposure to lead has been associated with neurological impairment, especially in children, as their brains have yet to fully develop. For this reason, pregnant women and moms with tiny tots should be extra careful to steer clear of this dark chocolate bar.

We're not quite sure what Hershey's thinks is so special about their dark chocolate bar because, as far as we can see, it's pretty awful. In addition to sugar stealing the first spot on the ingredient panel, it's manufactured with alkalized cocoa, which means its cancer– and cardiovascular disease-fighting powers are severely diminished.

Though Lindt uses some cocoa butter in their truffle recipe, they also mix in palm kernel oil — bad news for your health and weight loss progress. "The stearic acid in cocoa butter fights inflammation and staves off hunger, but the highly processed palm kernel oil promotes inflammation and passes quickly through the GI tract, so you won't likely won't reap much of this truffle's cocoa benefits," explains Bjork.

Dove claims this bar is "made from the finest quality cacao," but don't be fooled! The cacao in this chocolate bar is anything but high quality. In fact, it's been processed with alkali. It gets worse: This is yet another bar that was found to contain health-harming cadmium. Save your cash and steer clear to improve your total health.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Sure, this chocolate is USDA organic and fair trade certified, non-GMO project verified and vegan, but don't let all those food label buzz-words distract you from the cold, hard truth: The majority of this bar is filled with sugar, not cocoa. Leave it behind and pick up something else—there are far better options in the supermarket.

We're only supposed to eat 50 grams of sugar (per 2,000 calories) a day for optimal health, according to the World Health Organization, so it's understandable if you're trying to reel in your sweet tooth a bit. Just don't use sugar-free sweets as a crutch. When manufacturers take out sugar, they often add in sugar alcohols like maltitol (as Hershey's did with these minis), which can have a laxative effect if eaten in excess. In fact, Hershey's slaps that very disclaimer on the package of their alkali-spiked chocolate. You want a dessert that will make your taste buds sing—not send you running straight for the bathroom, so skip this bar and enjoy some of these delicious low-sugar snacks instead.

This recipe calls for more sugar than cocoa butter and is laden with a myriad of artificial colors, some of which have even been banned in other countries because of their proven health dangers. What's more, just half a package of M&Ms contains nearly 16 grams of sugar—and we both know you're bound to polish off the entire lot. When you do, you'll have downed over 60 percent of the day's sugar in a matter of minutes.