I am a big candy eater, since I was a kid. Boston Baked Beans, Lemon Heads, Red Hots, Atomic Bombs, Nerds, Sour Strips, Necco, Gummies galore. But I wasn't much of a chocolate eater. Many an older woman would talk about how they craved the various rich-melt-in-your-mouth cocoa yumminess. I never understood, except for the peanut butter couplings of the tasty butterfinger, peanut butter cups and my favorite 5th Avenue bars. Chocolate just wasn't in my sweet tooth radar - not in the oh my god I crave chocolate right now kind of way - until recently.
Oh yes, I have since discovered the irrational cravings of the cocoa bean. Well, apparently its not so irrational. Chocolate contains a group of alkaloids known as tetrahydro-beta-carbolines - the addictive quality. And cravings may also be an influence of magnesium deficiency (often occuring during pms- oh, that totally makes sense). Chocolate also contains a neurotransmitter, serotonin, that acts as an anti-depressant. Other substances, such as theobromine and phenylethylamine, have a stimulating effect. In addition chocolate stimulates the secretion of endorphins, producing a pleasureable sensation similar to the "runner's high" a jogger feels after running several miles.
I'm not so sure about the runner's high equivalence, but I do have a newfound understanding of the chocoholic. And hopefully now you do too.
Just another random small thought bubble in my ever evolving self.
Tune in next time.
