In the last post, we left off with the existential question...
why chocolate?
According to one study, consuming 1.4 g of (dark) chocolate may help reduce anxiety by reducing levels of cortisol in your blood. Moderate- to high-intensity exercise is known to increase circulating cortisol. This is good for your body if the rise is temporary, but chronically high cortisol levels can actually delay recovery from exercise and wound healing. In this case, the addition of chocolate to a post-exercise supplement may actually prevent cortisol levels from rising too high, and therefore inhibiting recovery. To my knowledge, however, there is no study that currently investigates whether the addition of chocolate and/or variance in serum cortisol were confounding factors in the milk-vs-protein-supplement studies.
Instead, we're left with a myriad of findings about how cocoa (the closer to raw, the better) increases memory, decreases acne, is associated with increased life span, and may help make your heart healthier because of its fiber content. For any one food to have so many good effects is no small feat, but there's something else that does almost all of this, is better for your teeth, and helps improve sleep:
-- stay tuned for the next post! No Pain, No Gain: Myth or Inconvenient Truth?
