This comes from Dr. Myrtle at my local shoppe for all things naughty, A Woman's Touch.
If there was one food that you could eat in moderation, was enjoyable to consume, left you feeling satisfied, happy and relaxed, and can be manufactured in a way respectful to the earth and the people processing it, you would eat it, right? What if this same food actually REVERSED some of the negative effects caused by other life choices (like smoking damage to blood vessels), lowered our bad cholesterol, helped our insulin system work more effectively to strip dangerous blood sugar peaks out of our lives, and improved our ability to enjoy sexual pleasure? You would run out to buy it!
Chocolate is this impressive wonder food, determined by the ancient Mayans to be the "food of the gods". Multiple studies have shown that there are positive effects from diets rich in dark chocolate. One such study, just published in a leading heart-research magazine, confirmed that chocolate has direct positive effects on enhancing the flexibility and function of small blood vessels (the "endothelial layer") that are critical to healthy heart functioning, even in individuals who smoke cigarettes.
What's this got to do with sex?
In a nutshell, sexual arousal depends upon two different things functioning: your nerves and your blood vessels. The nerves have to be healthy enough to transmit pleasure information to and from your brain, skin, genitals, ears, eyes … any part, really. When the brain is willing to be sexual and this information begins zinging around your nervous system, its next influence is on little blood vessels in your body and, specifically, in your genitals.
Everything would be fine if we knew how to care for our little blood vessels, but actually most of us are pretty poor custodians. We allow all sorts of junk to lie around; we bring bad influences in; we eat "junk food," and many of us have diets that don’t include healthy, vessel-protective substances that could allow our vessels to function more efficiently. We breathe in toxic air pollution (including smoking). We don’t give the little vessels much of a healthy workout while we’re living our lives of quiet desperation, all stressed out and angry at that *@#* driver up there. Sheesh. Then we expect our blood vessels to perform miracles?
Blood vessel dysfunction is not only due to little clogged-up vessels. It's also that we are poisoning the inside of our little vessels. To be healthy, blood vessels need to be supple and flexible, so they can transport vital fluids to other parts of our body. When the vessels are poisoned, their inner lining, something called "endothelial cells," can't work properly, and they become underfed, un-exercised and inflexible.
It is this flexibility that is critical for blood vessels to swell and transport fluids properly. Fluids flowing and getting temporarily trapped in the genitals is the cause of that … stiff and swollen experience also known as sexual arousal. Poor blood flow, by itself, can further cause damage to parts of the body which swell with sexual arousal (like the clitoris and the penis).
Eating diets containing predominantly fruits and vegetables, mono-unsaturated oils (olive, canola, etc.) non-beef protein sources, good and varied amounts of spices and herbs, 74% dark chocolate, and allowing yourself a smattering of white things (flour, sugars, etc.) to fill in the mix is a SEX-HEALTHY way to live – a balanced diet including dark chocolate helps our little vessels get cleared out so they can let fluids through and, thus, make sexual arousal easier, leading to more pleasure.
Some other facts about chocolate to consider:
* Eating chocolate infuses PEA (a "love hormone" in the adrenaline family which helps us feel sexy, alive, and loved) and theobromide (which causes mild mood elevation without an increase in stress and helps our body’s system that enhances early sexual arousal) into our blood streams for a light, positive buzz.
* Eating chocolate also causes us to release endorphins into our systems. Other things that do this are: hearty laughter, acupressure and acupuncture, warm hydro-massage, hypnosis, visualization, massage, using peripheral vision and exercise.
* Although chocolate contains caffeine, a very large study again confirms that chocolate does NOT cause heart arrhythmias, as caffeine by itself can.
* Although sugar is associated with some types of cancer, chocolate itself is anti-inflammatory. So don’t eat milk chocolate (which is mostly sugar); eat the good stuff that's at least 70% cacao, or nothing!
* The fat in dark chocolate is healthy fat that decreases your bad cholesterol and increases the good.
* Regular chocolate consumption suppresses chocolate cravings.
My prescription: Eat 1-4 ounces of at least 70% dark chocolate, and call me in the morning.
Take care and pass the chocolate,
Dr. Myrtle
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