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I really love chocolate. Every time when I feel upset or stress, chocolate is the first food that comes into my mind. And people also like to sent chocolates as gifts to their loves and friends on holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween. In America, each people eat almost 12 pounds of chocolate per year. There are many different types of chocolate such as milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate.

Chocolate is made from coco beans. Cacao beans come from a large pod that grows on a tropical tree. These beans are roasted, shelled, and ground into a paste. The cacao paste is mixed with sugar and cooked at a high temperature to make chocolate.

But how does chocolate reduce stress?

Chocolate can affect the brain by causing the release of certain neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the molecules that transmit signals between neurons. The amounts of particular neurotransmitters we have at any given time can have a great impact on our mood. Happy neurotransmitters such as endorphins and other opiates can help to reduce stress and lead to feelings of euphoria. As connections between neurons, they are released from the pre-synaptic membrane and travel across the synaptic clef to react with receptors in the post-synaptic membrane. Receptors are specified to react with particular molecules which can trigger different responses in the connected neurons. The proper neurotransmitter can trigger certain emotions.

Other concerns about eating chocolate

Dark chocolates can reduce stress, but people still have some concerns about this method.

One concern about eating chocolate to lower stress levels is the risk of weight gain. A bar of Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate has 180 calories – not an overwhelming number – but the calories need to be considered if you’re watching your weight.

The good news is it only requires the equivalent of a single 1.4 ounce dark chocolate bar each day to lower stress levels and dark chocolate is surprisingly filling and satisfying.

How to choose the right dark chocolate?

If you want o eat dark chocolate to lower stress levels in your daily life, you have to make sure it’s pure dark chocolate, because the milk chocolate may not have the same effect in reducing stress. We have some tips for you to choose the right dark chocolate.

1.Choose a dark chocolate that is at least 70% cacao which reveals that the chocolate is lower in sugar and dairy products. By adding milk to chocolate will make the effect of reducing stress cancel out. So if you want to get the benefit from chocolate, you’d better choose the pure dark chocolate.
2.Choose a chocolate that contains no dairy. If you really want them, you can find ones that use cocoa butter and rice mile instead.
3.Choose raw chocolate whenever possible. All the benefits we talked about above are lessened when cacao is heated and processed. Choose the raw cacao nibs or power, and you can also add them into a smoothie or use them to make a raw dessert by yourself!

There are still one thing you should keep in mind. Eating a bar of dark chocolate a day is overkill—after all it has less sugar than milk chocolate but the stuff is still there. A few chunks a day is all you really need to gain the maximum benefit.