20 Reasons to Have a Love Affair With Chocolate (as if you needed more reasons…)

Originally published at Jake’s Health Solutions

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.

Charles M. Schulz

I’m not sure exactly why the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus gave the cacao tree the scientific name Theobroma, but it is certainly deserved: the term means “food of the gods” in Latin.

Chocolate’s unique combination of flavor, aroma, and mouth feel provides a captivating experience that has given the confection its “guilty pleasure” reputation.

But chocolate doesn’t have to be forbidden. In fact, a growing body of research shows that, in moderation, it provides impressive health benefits.

Chocolate is one of the most-craved foods in the world, and the reasons go beyond its pleasing taste and texture – it contains over 300 naturally-occurring chemicals, some of which make you feel happy via the release of certain neurotransmitters.

Here are a few of the feel-good chemicals in chocolate and their affects…

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