Can daily dark chocolate boost athletic performance?
I will begin with a confession, I love dark chocolate. So I am an avid reader of any scientific research on dark chocolate, as its always good to be able to justify eating chocolate for its health benefits!
Recently a research team studied nine amateur cyclists to establish whether epicatechin, a type of flavanol found in the cocoa bean, would increase nitric oxcide production in the body. Nitric oxide expands blood vessels, allowing more oxygen to get to vital organs, which boosts endurance and sports performance. The cyclists were divided into tow grounds, with the first instructed to replace a normal daily snack with 40g of dark chocolate for two weeks, while the other group did the same for white chocolate.
The two groups were assessed in cycling exercise tests in the laboratory to measure heart rates, oxygen consumption levels during moderate exercise. The groups switched chocolate types after a one-week interval and repeated the tests. The cyclists eating dark chocolate were found to use less oxygen and covered more distance in time trails compared to the cyclists eating white chocolate.
So maybe dark chocolate shoulder become a staple part of endurance althlete’s diets.
Reference
R K Patel, J Brounder, O Spendiff, 2015, Dark chocolate supplementation reduces the oxygen cost of moderate intensity cycling, Journal of International Society of Sports Nurition, 12:47.
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Power Poses
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So can you apply this in real life. Last weekend I was on my sports massage course and each weekend we have a written test we need to pass. For some reason I had misunderstood what the test was on and forgot to review the whole subject. I discovered this about 30 minutes before the test. So I was in a highly stressful situation. So I decided to give this power pose a try and did it during the next 30 minutes while revising. The science says 2 minutes but I felt I needed all the help I could get. It turns out that I passed. While this isn't irrevocable proof, I would recommend people try it.
As Amy Cuddy says "our body's change our minds, our minds change our behavior and our behavior changes our outcomes." For a more detailed understanding of power poses, the science behind them, watch Amy Cuddy's Your body language shapes who you are.
Tips for a healthy stomach
The stomach is the body's food processor. It takes about 4 hours for a moderate meal to be processed. It takes 7 seconds for food to travel from your mouth to your stomach. Your stomach can hold 1.5 litres of food and drink. Chew each mouthful at least 20 times Chewing produces saliva which start the digestive process efficiently, enabling the food to the broken down thoroughly. Eating to quickly often means you don't chew each mouthful enough and causes problems such as heartburn and indigestion. Swallowing large lumps of food causes problems for the gut as undigested food ferments, creating toxins and gases that irritate the stomach lining; it also prevents absorption of nutrients and creates digestive problems. Digestive enzymes Digestive enzymes help to minimize indigestion, acide reflux, bloating and gas. There are three main clasifications of digestive enzymes:
- Amylases: which break down carbohydrates
- Lipases: which break down fats
- Proteases: which break down protiens
