Chocolate: the athlete's happiness partner?

He has been unleashing passions for a long time. Let's take a look around, starting from the cocoa bean to chocolate. We will then see its nutritional contributions and its possible addictive properties.

From the discovery of cocoa to delicious dark chocolate

The cultivation of cocoa is ancestral: the oldest traces of cocoa cultivation that have been found date back to more than four millennia. Different civilizations have cultivated a rather intimate relationship with cocoa, which has been described as "food of the gods." ". In some cultures, such as the Mayans, cocoa was consumed during religious ceremonies. Others had a more pragmatic relationship with him: among the Aztecs cocoa was a commodity and his seeds were often used as currency.

But if our ancestors were fans of cocoa, it is mostly chocolate that interests us. It is a mixture of dough and cocoa butter and sugar, in varying proportions. The cocoa bean is roasted and ground until obtaining a liquid cocoa paste; the fat is extracted therefrom and constitutes the cocoa butter. Thus, all chocolates are not equal and also concentrated in cocoa. For the understanding of the article, we will focus on the dark, the most concentrated in cocoa, the only real chocolate for purists.

Source of vitamins and minerals

Chocolate brings together a vast reality. Between white that is a preparation made of cocoa butter and which is not composed of cocoa and black, which contains at least 35% there is a world. The breakdown between carbohydrates and lipids varies massively depending on the type of chocolate : the less cocoa, the more sugar or fat. So that the article remains simple and digestible, all the nutritional information analyzed will be based on a 100g dark chocolate tablet 70% minimum.

Chocolate contains flavonoids in good quantity: they possess a great antioxidant and antiallergic capacity and the studies agree about their beneficial effects on the cardiovascular diseases.

It also contains theobromine, which is also found in Guarana. This is what gives it its effects of gentle stimulant and which will be at the origin of the positive impact of chocolate on mood. It's also theobromine that makes chocolate toxic in large quantities for some animals : don't let your chichuhua hang around next to your 99% dessert black!

Like quinoa, chocolate is rich in minerals. It's a good source of Magnesium, Iron, Zinc and Copper.

Finally, if chocolate is good for your health, it is also for its substantial and varied contributions in vitamins which the following table gives you an overview.

Sports fuel

Thanks to its stimulating properties and the carbohydrates it contains, chocolate can be an interesting food to eat before or during the effort. Its varied nutrients make it a food of choice for a sportsman. It is important to pay attention to the cocoa content of the chocolate consumed and prefer strong blacks to cocoa. Milk chocolate, with its higher carbohydrate intake, can be interesting after exercise to restore the reserves. However, remember to accompany it with slow sugars. Studies concerning its effects during before and after exercise in athletes are numerous but quite unreliable. The advanced benefits are diverse, we especially remember that a consumption of dark chocolate about two hours before exercise would protect the muscles in reducing the risk of cramps.

Without further ado, allow us to present our selection of cocoa products :

Before the effort:

Chocolate energy cakes  : ideal for breakfast before a test this cake will allow you to refuel in carbohydrates and minerals to perform at best.

During the effort:

Chocolate energy bars  : A pocket size energy concentrate, perfect for refueling. Discover our Best Seller the succulent Clifbar

After the effort:

Chocolate taste recovery bar ° Recovery bars enriched with proteins, vitamins (B1, B2, B6, C, E, PP) and minerals (calcium and magnesium) ° Optimizes recovery after exercise

A last little square?

Is it a drug? The question may surprise but it is posed very seriously. So, chocolate is with cannabis the only known natural source of Anandamide. It binds to and activates cannabinoid receptors just like THC. This neurotransmitter is involved in many metabolic processes: modulation of memory (hippocampus), modulation of emotions (amygdala), modulation of motor activity (basal ganglia), central analgesia (hindbrain), potential roles in habituation , cognition and the reward system (controlling food intake and addiction phenomena).

Anandamide also plays a role in the regulation of eating behavior and the neural generation of motivation and pleasure. So it would seem that eating chocolate increases the response to the pleasure of sweet foods ... Making us more sensitive to his own sweetness.

Basically, chocolate is so good that we are voluntarily addicted!

 Without further ado, go discover and taste our selection of cocoa products