Chocolate - The Ultimate Aphrodisiac
Blog post by Lindsay Mustard, Holistic Nutritionist
Ah, Valentine’s Day. The day of the year where we shower our partners, friends and family with chocolate, cards and Valentine’s Day grams. Was there anything better than getting a candy gram from your crush back in grade school? Or a Spongebob Squarepants Valentine’s Day card from your friends? Nothing beats it! Except for a song gram - those were equal parts adorable and embarrassing. Fast forward to today, now we look forward to a romantic evening with our loved one, the making of memories and the exchange of sweet, thoughtful words. We’ve levelled up our Valentine’s Day and we now make adult-like meals such as surf and turf, grown-up mac and cheese and chicken alfredo. With delicious meals like these comes even more decadent desserts. Chocolate has been the preferred Valentine’s Day gift of choice for many years. And for good reason! Especially if you’re gifting it to your partner and sharing it together. In this blog post, we’ll be talking about the powerful aphrodisiac properties that chocolate possesses and how it can help you spice up your Valentine’s Day this year!
Dark chocolate, or cacao, is linked to a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Serotonin is a key hormone that helps to stabilize our mood, regulate feelings of well-being and overall levels of happiness. In other words, the more serotonin that is released, the happier you feel! Dark chocolate contains an amino acid named tryptophan which is a precursor for serotonin. This is only one of the brain chemicals that is linked to eating chocolate! When one consumes dark chocolate, dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin are released and form a trio that is responsible for our feelings of happiness and our boost in mood. Oxytocin is a powerful neurotransmitter that helps to regulate our emotional responses and behaviours such as our levels of trust, empathy, ability to bond with others, recall positive memories and general feelings of positivity. Have you ever felt a warming sensation in your stomach and heart when you’re on a date with the partner of your dreams? This is oxytocin at work. It makes you feel like a toasted marshmallow. Warm on the outside, but a complete gooey ball of mush on the inside. That’s love for you!
Now back to the benefits of chocolate and how it can help your sex life this Valentine’s Day! We mentioned earlier that chocolate is linked to tryptophan, which is linked to serotonin, the chemical that makes us feel happy! But it is also involved in arousal and the release of phenylethylamine. Scientists have found that phenylethylamine, or PEA, is a neurotransmitter chemical that causes one to fall madly in love with someone. This is one of the reasons why dark chocolate helps to lift your spirits, improve your bonding abilities and make you feel euphoric.
Just when we thought chocolate couldn’t get any better, we discovered that it is an aphrodisiac! The word itself can be traced back to the origins of the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. The Mayans considered chocolate as the “food of the gods.” This might be why we feel like kings and queens while we’re eating it and it slowly melts in our mouth! Dark chocolate contains an amino acid called L-arginine, which is a powerful sex-enhancer for both men and women. The amino acid helps to increase nitric dioxide, which results in improved blood flow to sexual organs. And well, you know how the rest goes...
Another benefit that dark chocolate has to offer besides being a powerful aphrodisiac, is its stress-busting ability. Researchers have found that eating dark chocolate regularly helps to reduce the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, also known as our “fight or flight” hormone. Couple that with having sex and you are bound to feel like a cloud floating in the wind with zero stress on your shoulders in no time!
This Valentine’s Day, make sure you have your bases covered with a variety of dark chocolate flavoured bars from Zazubean. Keep your love life spicy with the help of our Lunatic Bar, which contains maca, a libido-boosting superfood! Or give our Hottie Bar a swing, our sweet and spicy bar containing cinnamon and chilli pepper. Or when in doubt, grab yourself one of our Flirt bars - packed with acai, a known aphrodisiac that helps to increase energy levels, feelings of well-being and increases levels of sexual desire. This Valentine’s Day is going to be one for the books, or for the beds! ;)
Perfect Paleo Heart Cookies
Ingredients:
Filling:
3/4 cup unsalted butter or ghee
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Zazubean Flirt Bar, melted
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the ghee and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat on low speed until combined.
4. Cover the dough and place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.
5. Begin to knead the dough until it sticks together (it might be slightly crumbly, but should come together with the heat of your hands). Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about a ¼ inch thick and use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut into the dough.
6. Transfer the heart cutouts to the baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Leave extra room between the cookies to allow for expansion.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-8 minutes. If you want a clean edge on the cookies, use the cutter to re-cut the cookies and discard the excess. Allow the cookies to cool completely.
8. Using a spoon, gently drizzle the melted chocolate on the bottom half of the cookies and place back on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining cookies and sprinkle with decorative sprinkles. Place the cookies in the freezer to set for 15 minutes and then transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.