Dark Chocolate Proven To Enhance Mood
A recent study done in Australia shows that dark chocolate can boost one’s mood via giving calmness and a sense of contentment. How is that even possible? It all lies in the polyphenols that cocoa is packed with.
Naturally, polyphenols are abundant in plants and almost always included in the human diet. These compounds are known to decrease oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is linked to a lot of diseases. More to these, polyphenols allegedky have outstanding psychological effects.
“Anecdotally, chocolate is often linked to mood enhancement,” Matthew Pase, a PhD candidate at the University of Swineburne in Melbourne and lead author of the study, claims. “This clinical trial is perhaps the first to scientifically demonstrate the positive effects of cocoa polyphenols on mood.”
This study was based on a randomized study which involved 72 healthy men and women aged 40-65 years. Each participant was given a dark chocolate drink mix standardized to have either 500mg of cocoa polyphenols, 250mg of cocoa polyphenols or none.
These people were then given the drink mixes in the same packaging for the investigators and participants to be unaware of which treatment they were being provided with. They drank their assigned drink once a day for 30 consecutive days.
30 days following this, those who got the high dose concentration of cocoa polyphenols said they had much more calmness and contentedness than the one who got either of the other drink mixes.
The researchers didn’t come up with any evidence that cocoa polyphenols hugely enhanced cognitive performance, though. Only participants who ingested the highest amount of polyphenols reported any remarkable or drastic positive effects. Those who were given a moderate amount (250 mg a day) claimed to have no dramatic effects.
Everybody gets stressed out at one point or another. It’s typical because of our job, but it could be for other personal reasons, too. Chocolate never fails to help some people. How about you? How do you take all the stress away?
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: cocoa, dark chocolate, either, mood enhancer, people
How To Make Chocolate Silk Pie
Chocolate silk pie, ah, the ultimate when it comes to decadence. Want to try whipping it up yourself? This video might come in handy.
In this video, chocolatier Rob Kingsbury demonstrates how to make a rich, silk chocolate pie.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Categories: chocolate recipes, chocolate videos Tags: CHOCOLATE, chocolate silk pie, Rob Kingsbury, Silk, Video Rating
How to Make Chocolate Truffles | Candy Making
Chocolate truffles are an immensely delicious treat any time of day and any day of the year. But did you know that they are named after the fungus, the fruiting bodies of underground mushrooms, because of their resemblance as it looks a lot like the dirt?
Enough with the food for your mind, make some for your tummy!
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Categories: chocolate videos Tags: chocolate recipe, chocolate truffle, looks, treat, truffle recipe, Video Rating
Chocolate Diet
Chocolate has always been contradictory to weight loss. However, new trends in dieting include chocolate, but it’s not what you think. You can’t just eat any kind of chocolate you put your hands on.
Basically, there are three types of chocolate, namely dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. The dark variant is considered as the healthiest type as it has the highest cocoa content. Cocoa is known for its antioxidants which provide tons of nutritional benefits.
Antioxidants play a big part in protecting the cells from damage, and new studies even show that it prevents certain diseases, particularly ones that affect the heart. They are also known to help fight the damaging effects of free radicals. So yes, cocoa, because of its antioxidant effects, can be a healthy addition to a weight loss plan.
Some diets require you to get rid of sweets altogether, but that abrupt change can lead to a dieting downfall. Most women crave chocolates but want to go on diets, so they deprive themselves of their cravings, which usually makes them break down and end up with unsuccessful diet plans.
While on a chocolate diet, make sure you consume other low-calorie but filling foods. Eat a lot of vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, among many others, as they contain minimum amount of calories. They have very high fiber contents which can help you feel full for longer periods of time. Not only that, they also aid in proper digestion. If you exercise a lot or have an active lifestyle, you may need additional calories. But never ever go on crash diets! Ever.
Keep your body hydrated at all times. Drink water all throughout the day. There are diets that require you to eliminate coffee from your diet as it induces cravings. However, there are people who just can’t live without caffeine in their systems. Just be moderate in your consumption.
Being on a chocolate diet still entails healthy eating and drinking plenty of water, just like any healthy diet programs. You don’t just get to be at your ideal weight, you also get to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings.
More Chocolate Information Articles
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: chocolate diet, cocoa, dark chocolate, healthy, help, milk chocolate, White Chocolate
Chocolate Masters Hangout #1: Dandelion Chocolate
Oh, chocolate! How you make everything better. Everything chocolate is just so interesting to miss.
No Chocolate Masters conversation would be complete without tasting a great chocolate. Interested much? Watch the entire video!
Crushing and winnowing cacao for chocolate making in Chiapas, Mexico
Chocolate is always interesting. It makes life better! That’s why a lot of us are curious about how it’s done. Are you one of them? Watch this video as it shows crushing and winnowing of chocolate, which is the actual removing of the papery shell of the cacao bean.
Video Rating: 0 / 5
Chocolate Beer Spread
You can now have your beer fix at any time of day. And yes, without the guilt!
Europe has a new creation, a new sandwich spread with the flavors of chocolate and beer combined. This new products is called as “Birra Spalmabile”. The ones behind this suggest buyers to use this on toast or used as a cake filling. Why would anyone want to make their child’s cake taste like beer?
Two Italian companies, brewery Alta Quota and chocolate maker Napoleone, the ones responsible for creating this masterpiece, say that it can also be eaten with cheese or other appetizers.
This innovation was introduced at “the Salone del Gusto food fair in Turin, where chocolate maker Pietro Napoleone described it as ‘like a sweet, beer-scented jelly,” according to italymagazine.com.
Interested? Know first that there are two kinds, the lighter and the more delicate one, and the stronger one. So yes, you can actually use it on your child’s cake! Just go for the former.
It’s something strikingly different. However, it’s not really newthat someone has tried to make a non-liquid beer in Italy and in Europe. The previous ones were just not successful because the combination of ingredients was not quite right.
Lifestyle website selfridges.com described the spread as “a sweet and beer-perfumed jelly with an intense scent and a full-bodied taste. The beer spread provides a unique accompaniment for hors d’oeuvres and cheeses, or even try spread on toast or as a stuffing or garnish for tarts and cakes.”
People all across Europe are raving about this brand new invention, and the creators are hoping for it to spread to other parts of the globe.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: behind, chocolate beer, chocolate beer paste, chocolate beer spread, chocolate innovation, chocolate pairing, Europe, sweet, tried
