The power of endorphins
Everyone knows that chocolate can sometimes be very tempting. Do you know why? It’s because chocolate contains endorphins. So if you are obsessed with reaching for a bar of Belgian milk chocolate, you are not sick, but just sensitive to endorphins.
- They increase your pain tolerance and:
- Regulation of the menstrual cycle
- Release of other hormones, including GH, ACTH, prolactin, and cortisol.
- Feeling of euphoria that occurs at the end of sexual activity.
- Controls appetite and gastric activity
- Thermoregulation
- Control of sleep
The release of endorphins into the bloodstream occurs under certain circumstances, such as during sports, acupuncture, electrotherapy, and massage.
According to recent research, the most interesting aspect of endorphins is that they can regulate mood. When we are stressed, our body tries to protect itself by secreting endorphins. Endorphins help us cope with pain and positively influence our mood.
In this way, endorphins give us a feeling of joy and well-being and help us to manage stress.
This is a perfect explanation for the wonderfully uplifting and euphoric feeling we get after exercise. Reducing stress, anger, and anxiety and regulating appetite are other benefits of endorphins.
They also have a powerful analgesic effect, as they reduce the sensation of pain.
Endorphins reduce the feeling of exertion, decrease pain, improve mood, and put a smile on your face, allowing you to perform at your best when you exercise. Endorphins really are our friends!
So, if you want to eat Belgian milk chocolate every day, you can. Just be careful not to eat too much of it.
The differences between dark, milk and white chocolate
Everyone has a favorite type of chocolate – white, dark, or milk – but few people know the difference between these three types. It turns out that certain components of chocolate determine which of the three types of chocolate you end up with.
It turns out that endorphins are not actually chocolate, but are made from cocoa butter and sugar, without cocoa liquor. Many people who prefer white chocolate to dark or milk chocolate cite its smoothness and creaminess as reasons. Ironically, many chocolate connoisseurs believe that white chocolate should not be called chocolate because it does not contain the liquor that gives chocolate its sweetness. Chocolate connoisseurs believe that it must contain some liqueur to be called chocolate.
Milk chocolate, on the other hand, is made from cocoa paste, cocoa butter, milk, and sugar. Milk chocolate is lighter in color than dark chocolate and contains much less cocoa paste than dark chocolate. And milk chocolate is the most common confection and is considered by many chocolate lovers to be the most popular of the three types of chocolate.
Unlike milk chocolate, dark chocolate is made from cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and sugar. The amount of liquor used in dark chocolate is greater than that used in milk chocolate, which gives dark chocolate its characteristic bitter taste. As the amount of liqueur decreases, the bitterness of the chocolate also decreases.
What is cocoa liquor?
Cocoa liquor is made from cocoa beans finely ground into a thick paste. The cocoa beans are ground in a mill, where heat is generated as they pass through a series of grinding wheels that reduce them to a liquor. As the paste cools and dries, it hardens. The cocoa liquor is very bitter, as is the cocoa bean itself, before being combined with sugar and cocoa butter. Many people confuse cocoa liquor with cocoa butter, but cocoa liquor contains no alcohol and is made from ground cocoa beans.
What is cocoa butter? Cocoa butter is a fat obtained from cocoa beans or cocoa liquor. Cocoa butter can also be obtained in a press that extracts the fat from the beans. However, the most effective method of obtaining cocoa butter from cocoa beans is to suspend the ground beans in a hot room so that the cocoa butter drips from the suspended beans. This suspension process is called “bromization”.
Of the three types of chocolate ingredients, it is the use of cocoa liquor that most determines the final product. More liquor means dark chocolate, less liquor means milk chocolate, and no liquor at all means white chocolate.
About Author
Sara is a qualified food expert at Main food line, Canada. She had graduated from the University of Cambridge. Sara loves to write about healthy nutrients which help to prevent the human body from various diseases. So people enjoy a healthy lifestyle. She is well experienced in milk chocolate and has an impressive portfolio of serving international clients.
