Day 1881 - Chocolate and stress

When it comes to stress, eat chocolate!

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No seriously. You have my permission to hit the lolly aisle of the supermarket right now.



Chocolate can bring your blood pressure down and it also keeps your stress hormones at bay. Apparently it stops the stress hormone cortisol from spiking when you start to feel tense. Isn't that interesting!

But if it's your weight that's causing the stress then maybe chocolate is not the way to go.  They say to stick with the higher-antioxidant dark chocolate with at least 70% cacao and to keep your portion size small.  Yeah, you knew I was going to steal your fun in the end ...

There's another plus for the whole eating chocolate thing.  In addition to the stress stuff and the lovely antioxidant properties, scientists have also discovered that certain bacteria in the stomach eat dark chocolate, ferment it, then release anti-inflammatory compounds that benefit the heart! Not sure about the whole bacteria and fermenting biz, but the anti-inflammatory compounds sound fancy.

So off you go.  Go and grab your choccy ....


Information source:  Redbook Magazine December 2014 and Uptown Magazine online March 2014.