8 Amazing Biohacks with Dark Chocolate – A Nutritionist’s Guide

by The WellBeing Team 14/09/2021

It’s really not too good to be true: chocolate is good for you. Nutritionist, naturopath and chiropractor Damian Kristof shares his better-for-you chocolate guide with Pana Organic Dark Chocolate.

Chocolate and Biohacking are 2 of my most favorite things to talk about.

For all those new to the world of biohacking. “Biohacking”, is a movement that consists of making incremental changes to your diet or lifestyle to ultimately improve your health and well-being. Some changes can be instant where others serve as optimal building blocks a long term pay off.

For all the chocoholics out there, chocolate has an abundance of Biohacking health benefits. But before you reach for your everyday commercial milk chocolate… to get all the amazing health benefits, we need to be looking for chocolate that is high in cocoa. This is where the superpower of chocolate lies. The darker you go, the more benefits you’ll get. We’ll talk about food intelligence later on – but suffice to say, the more processed food is, the less quality information (intelligence) the food gives us.

So, before you ask ‘where can I find chocolate with high levels of cocoa’?

Pana Organic chocolate have answered the call with a new dark chocolate bar that features a whopping 70% cocoa. If there was a gold standard for a biohacker’s chocolate bar, this certainly is it.

So, while you break into your Pana Organic chocolate stash. Here are some Biohacking facts for you to munch on.

Brain Health

Did you know that in places where chocolate consumption is the highest have the most Nobel Prize recipients? According to a 2012 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this fact is true. Perhaps this is because chocolate has been reported to improve your working memory in as little as 2 hours after eating!

Improve your Mood

Chocolate can help you find your bliss… literally. As dark chocolate is the main food source of anandamide, also known as the “bliss molecule.” It boosts your production of feel-good chemicals leading to happiness and positive mood. Some people also report a feeling of a brain buzz similar to being in love. WHO LOVES CHOCOLATE!?

Lucid dreaming

Eating any kind of food before bed isn’t usually a good idea. But chocolate can actually enhance your dreams. Some have reported a few pieces of chocolate can lead to lucid or even R-Rated dreams. Be careful not to eat too much… your dreams may wake you up too!

Heart Health

One of the biggest benefits dark chocolate may play in improving your heart health. According to the journal ‘Heart’ published in July 2015, researchers found that people who indulged in a daily habit of eating dark chocolate decreased risk of both heart disease and stroke. I reckon that’s pretty interesting! Moderation is still key!

Athletic Performance

We’ve all heard of Popeyes super strength when eating spinach. Well chocolate may have the similar effect. That’s because the flavanols found in Dark Chocolate have shown to increase nitric oxide, which, in turn, helps to oxygenate your blood when exercising. I reckon I’ll still eat my protein after exercise and perhaps a couple of little squares of chocolate too.

Libido

If you’re looking for ways to destress and feel good, getting intimate may just do the trick. But before you get there, a healthy serve of 40g of dark chocolate has been shown to increase dopamine in your body. Dopamine is the body’s own chemical shown to increased and activate your pleasure centres in the brain. Bring me more!

Coughing

The chemical theobromine found in cocoa has been shown to have a significant effect on calming the vagus nerve. A nerve that runs down your spine to your stomach and diaphragm. Theobromine was found in a study to help supress coughing better than some cough medicines even ones that contain codeine, a highly addictive opioid!

Magnesium replenishment

Cramping, light sensitivity, cravings for salty foods, melancholy, insomnia, anxiety and more are signs of magnesium insufficiency or deficiency. The are many high-quality sources of magnesium in your diet, but little do many know that dark chocolate is rich in plant based sources of magnesium. This makes it a tasty and easy, plant based source of magnesium – great for carnivores, omnivores and herbivores (vegan and vegetarians).