Chocolate As Comfort Food
We all go through tough times, we get sick, we get sad and all that. And usually, at those moments in our lives, we tend to look for comfort. Comfort food always comes in handy. They just magically make us feel all the better. What is it with these foods, really? Why do they bring such magic?
Chocolates are known to be the universal comfort food. And chocolate’s reputation as a mood-lifter makes it a frequent and cherished gift, especially to people who are particularly rolling with the punches. It gives a lift to their spirits that most of us can relate to.
The term “comfort food”, which was added to the Webster’s Dictionary in 1972, is defined as “food that gives a sense of emotional well-being,” or “any food or drink that one turns to for temporary relief, security or reward.”
Research shows that when we eat chocolate, the brain elicits feel-good hormones into the body to make up for the bad vibes that overwhelm us in our everyday life like stress and fatigue. These particular hormones are also released when we feel happy such as when we hug someone. Interesting, I know.
One’s comfort food is another’s dieting archenemy. We all know how figure-conscious people muster everything they can just to avoid a bar of chocolate. Just so you know, completely depriving yourself of the things you love will just cause you to yearn for them even more intensely. The trick to this is to not totally rid yourself of them, but just have them in moderation.
People who are very uptight with what they eat often crumble down when they just can’t take it anymore, and the result? They go overboard with eating what they have been craving. So not ideal. So yes, it still boils down to having the things you want in moderation.
These comfort foods don’t essentially have reasons why they give us comfort and boost our moods, but they do make our lives a little better and get us back to our sense of self.
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Categories: chocolate articles Tags: chocolate comfort, comfort food, gives, people, sense
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
Organic Chocolates
Organic chocolate was deemed unsuitable before, but it doesn’t hold true any longer. More and more people involved in the chocolate-making industry are getting their growers in tropical climes to grow organic cacao. They are derived from the tropical cacao tree, no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers are used in growing them.
Fair trade practices aids in making sure that the workers are paid a living wage, work in safer conditions, and can access health care, education and other important opportunities even though they aren’t necessarily eco-friendly.
The taste of organic dark chocolate is described by chocolovers as a near-transcendent experience. Anyone who has a take on it?
You can go for organic chocolate when you want to give something to a chocoholic friend, while at it, you get to help Mother Earth, as well.
Chocolate has been a star in the human palate and heart ever since it was discovered. It started from being one of the most cherished foods on the planet, now it takes the limelight of being the most studied. Scientists claim that there are several health benefits of chocolates. The chocolates also contain many chemicals that act in a pleasant way on the moods of those who get to eat it.
But of course, there are several negative impacts that come with chocolates. Surprise, surprise. Chocolate is packed with sugar, especially when you don’t opt for the dark type. To make it yummy and low in carbs, it takes some ingenuity but it can be surely done.
Studies of today also display how good chocolate is for the heart. Studies indicate that chocolate can improve blood vessel responsiveness blood pressure, and cholesterol. For improving glucose tolerance other studies have shown it has potential, which is significant to people who are using low-carb diets to lessen blood glucose spikes.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: Chocolates, dark chocolate, friend, making, Organic, organic chocolate, people, takes
The Mediterranean All-You-Can-Eat Chocolate Diet
There are diets that most of us are used to, and the Mediterranean diet goes for a different route. People going for this diet may eat nuts and eggs to their heart’s content, and yes, even chocolate! Only, it should have more than 50% cocoa. It allows them to have as much fish, seafood, low-fat cheese, and whole-grain cereals as they want.
If you are looking to follow this diet, you must also stick to having olive oil, which you use on salads as well as cooked veggies abundantly. Also, you must have at least two servings a day of vegetables, with at least one of those servings in the form of a salad, on top of at least three servings a day of fresh fruit.
Legumes, which include garbanzo beans, lentils, soybeans and peas, must be eaten at least three times a week. Additionally, you should eat fish or seafood three times a week, with at least one meal of a fatty fish like salmon, tuna or sardines.
A sauce made with tomatoes, garlic and onions simmered in lots of olive oil at least twice a week must also be a staple in your diet. You can pour the sauce on pasta, rice or vegetables. If you’re a wine drinker, you can have it with meals, at least seven glasses a week.
It goes without saying that there is also a list of foods you have to limit. Those include: cream, butter, margarine, pâté, lunch meats, French fries, potato chips, soft drinks and other drinks with sugar added.
Don’t shy away from the oil and nuts, considering they tend to make you full, making you eat less of other foods. Truth be told, nuts are ideal to be eaten at dinner time, since they are so filling.
I’m rambling on while the main idea is that you can eat as much chocolate as you want! This diet is supposedly based on what people in Mediterranean countries used to eat.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: all you can eat chocolate, chocolate diet, meditarranean diet, nuts, people, three, unlimited chocolate, week
Chocolate Gifts
Chocolate gifts always make almost anyone happy, from a mother for Mother’s Day to a friend who has just graduated from college or a couple who just got married. If you’re on the hunt for chocolate gifts, then there are myriads of choices, from milk and dark chocolate to white chocolate gifts.
A lot of individuals purchasing chocolate gifts opt for conventional items such as mixed boxes of different types of chocolate, but there are tons of other choices, including truffles and chocolate covered fruits or nuts.
There are chocolate gifts products you can buy by the kilo, and this makes some chocolate gifts stores a great option for bulk buyers that want to stock the shelves of their retail store with top-of-the-line chocolate gifts.
If you want chocolate gifts but you are unsure about what type to opt for, then check the list of the bestsellers.
You can use these chocolate gifts for a wide range of occasions, and a lot of individuals want these kinds of gifts for wedding, corporate events and parties. They may even include amazing chocolate buffets, which can be totally tailored to fit the needs of anyone.
Those who opt for this kind of chocolate gifts can pick their own type of chocolate, pretty much any bowl of container they want, any type of bag and as many scoops as they deemed necessary.
If you want chocolate gifts for a present for a loved one, or you want these chocolate gifts options to make your special day personal and very memorable, looking for stores that offer these treats is not very challenging these days. They are rampant already.
Anyone who gets chocolates for a gift would surely smile from one corner of the mouth to another.
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: anyone, CHOCOLATE, couple, dark chocolate, Gifts, option, people, stores, type
Math And Chocolate
It’s no secret that many of us dread numbers, especially when it comes on a test paper. Many of us have math as waterloo. You might deem this irrelevant as nonsensical, but chocolate and math actually have a strong link. How come? Read on.
A group of researchers presented a study during the annual Brighton Show at the British Psychological Society that showcases how chocolate containing compounds of flavanols which is a part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols can make mental arithmetic easier for people by means of boosting the blood supply to the brain.
According to the said research, the volunteers who were given 500mg of flavanols in their cocoa drinks had lower chances of experiencing mental draining. Professor David Kennedy who is the director of the performance and nutrition research centre at Northumbria University and co-author of the study said “For things that are difficult to do, mentally demanding things that maybe crop up in your work it could help.”
Such researcg involved 30 volunteers in groups of three were instructed to count backwards randomly between 800 and 999 as chosen by the computer. These people were provided with cocoa drink first and was discovered that they were quick and accurate with the calculations later on. The participants were observed to be less tired in spite of being asked to do the task over and over again within an hour.
If you lack in the department of math problem-solving skills, a cocoa drink or anything rich in flavanols and you can continue getting on with your life without having to fear numbers. Okay, that’s pretty sugarcoated, but you get the picture!
Categories: chocolate articles Tags: CHOCOLATE, chocolate studies, cocoa, math, numbers, people
