Possibly the most favoured food in the world, we all love chocolate to some degree.
There is a chocolate
flavoured everything! We give chocolate as gifts, we enjoy chocolate as a treat, consider it an indulgence. Despite being loved so much, chocolate has a mildly “forbidden” connotation attached to it. When we are offered this delectable food, the phrase that passes through our minds is all too often, “I really shouldn’t…” Most of us cannot resist the temptation of this offering, and usually end up giving in and eating even more of it than we intended.
Yes, chocolate has developed a bad reputation on the health front. Confirmed chocoholics often worry that indulging their craving will lead to everything from rotting teeth, to acne… not to mention the need to lose a few kilos, and most of us have experienced these effects to some degree. But if we find chocolate so irresistible and favour it so much, there has to be some good in it too? Unlike the desires for alcohol or caffeine, we did not develop the desire for chocolate. Our bodies naturally crave this food, and the body does not naturally crave what it does not need…
A large part of chocolate’s allure lies in the taste – a deliciously rich concoction that satisfies the most intense craving. But several chemical reactions are also at work. For one thing, chocolate stimulates the secretion of endorphins, producing a pleasurable sensation similar to the “runner’s high” one feels after running several kilometers.
Chocolate also contains a neurotransmitter, serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant. Other substances, such as theobromine and phenylethylamine also have a stimulating effect. In fact, there are over three hundred chemicals contained in chocolate that make us feel so good!
In terms of nutrients, chocolate is high in the minerals magnesium and potassium, it is extremely high in iron (a 10g serving of pure cocao contains 106% of your required daily iron intake) and is the food with one of, if not THE richest sources of antioxidants in the world. Pure cocoa in fact has an oxygen radical absorbance capacity (means by which the antioxidant value in a food is measured) almost 30000 times that of the famous antioxidant-rich goji berries!
Apart from that, chocolate is ironically known to diminish the appetite! With all these great things said, nothing takes away the fact that chocolate makes us fat, and does not really “diminish” our appetite in any evident way… The problem is not the chocolate; it is the other junk that is added to our commercial chocolate that negatively affects our bodies. Next time you take a look at the nutritional label on the back of a choccie (if you do that sort of thing) you’ll see that the main ingredient is in fact sugar, followed by things like milk solids and hydrogenated vegetable fat, with cocoa appearing laaater on down the list. Cocoa is the actual chocolate part, so what we’re really eating is a chocolate-flavoured sweet.
This is why our bodies want more and more of the “chocolate” the moment we eat it – it doesn’t get the cocoa fix that it needs. If you switch from Cadbury dairy milk to a Lindt 70% dark chocolate slab, despite paying more for the Lindt, you will eat less of it at a time. And perhaps not the first time… your body might devour the entire slab in one go if you’re lacking sufficient cocoa in your diet, but over time your cravings will decrease until one or two blocks ever so often is all you desire.
However, the best chocolate to eat is cocoa in its raw form: the cocoa bean itself! Thanks to a company called Superfoods, based in Tokai in Cape Town, you can now buy raw cocoa in various forms to snack on, mix into other meals or even make your own real chocolate with. In this way, you’re getting in all the nutrients that your body craves in chocolate, without all the sugar and horridly processed fats added to it. Another company is Honest Chocolate. They sell a range of “real” organic chocolates that are made with pure cocoa, cocoa butter (the actual fat of chocolate) and sweeten them with natural sugar alternatives that have no effect on one’s blood sugar. Look out for these products in the health shops.
So honour the fact that you love chocolate because you need it. Feed your body chocolate to the degree that it is craven and do so by giving it chocolate not “sweets”. Cravings will decrease if your chocolate nutrient needs are met. Real chocolate forms a significant part of my food pyramid. I call cacoa my iron, antioxidant and happiness supplement.
Will go into more detail about mood-boosting serotonin soon.
‘Happy’ indulging!
mindsoulfood 