Most of us love chocolate for the smooth, creamy texture and treat it as an indulgent pleasure, and although chocolate is well renowned for its feel-good factor, there’s some debate as to whether chocolate really is the best food to improve your mood.
Welcome to the pleasure dome
Chocolate has been popularly claimed to act like a stimulant, relaxant, euphoriant, tonic and antidepressant. Although chocolate contains some active chemicals that work on the same neurological system as serotonin, these are present in low levels. One researcher has commented that you would have to eat truckloads of chocolate to be equivalent to one antidepressant tablet.
There is also the theory that chocolate has the ability to evoke the pleasure principle. When we eat pleasurable foods we get a rise in endorphins and a temporary mood boost. So when we have a chocolate craving it could be a response to our body crying out for more of that feel-good food.
Ridden by guilt?
There’s interesting new research showing that a person’s feelings about a food have the greatest effect on the emotional changes they experience after eating that food. Comfort eaters who look to chocolate to alleviate stress, boredom or depression are likely to experience a temporary elevation in their mood, but this is quickly followed by intense feelings of guilt, and a worsening of their earlier negative state. However, people who have a little chockie for pure pleasure are more likely to experience joy and ride the wave of the positive mood effect. Quantity appears to play a big role here: a little chocolate seems to be a good pick-me-up, but the whole block is less likely to leave you feeling overjoyed.
Choc-full of tips
Buy the best quality chocolate you can afford so you savour every bite.
Go for individually wrapped squares or mini-portion controlled bars.
The darker the better, as the more cocoa present means the more flavonoid anti-oxidants.
Curb cravings by putting diet chocolate topping on low-fat ice-cream, drinking a diet hot chocolate drink or going for a light dairy dessert.
By Karen Inge
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