Stress-Busting Chocolate

In accordance with dietician Silke Restemeyer, who is working for a Germany-based nutrition association, chocolate can indeed uplift the spirits. She says that chocolates contain plenty of fat and tryptophan. These substances make sure that higher amounts of the neurotransmitter serotonin are created in your brain, thus giving us happy feelings.

Many people link chocolate consumption to positive memories of childhood. The sensation that you get from chocolate as it melts in the mouth gives a warm feeling, which may actually give you temporary distraction from all the apprehensions of daily life.

Nevertheless, this little pleasure typically lasts only for a little while. “After all, you can’t eat that much chocolate for it to have a sustained beneficial effect – and nor should you,” Restemeyer said, pointing out the high calorie and fat content of typical chocolate.

A tiny amount of chocolate every day will help you deal with stressful moments. However you should stay away from other sweet treats or snacks. Snack alternatives like dried fruit or fruit and nut combinations will provide you with sufficient energy that you need to help you keep stress at work or the stress of personal relationships in check.

At certain moments that you need chocolate, keenly observe yourself. When you’re always craving chocolate, you must take particular measures to curb it. Some measures include basic things such as drinking a relaxing cup of warm tea, taking a brief walk, and practicing relaxation techniques, just to name a few. Do any of these thing, and you are sure to dispel the blues.

“It would of course be preferable to avoid the stressful situations where possible, or to learn to cope better with them internally,” Restemeyer says. That way, you eat chocolate while enjoying a quiet moment, rather than considering it as an antidote to stress. That, I believe, is the true essence of chocolate!

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