“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” It certainly doesn’t hurt...in fact, chocolate is love! Charles M. Schulz was more true than he knew. Chocolate, more than just being a palliative measure for the blues, can actually reproduce the feeling of being in love. It all comes down to getting the right chemicals to activate the right neurons in your brain. How does chocolate make you feel like you’re in love? Cacao beans contain very high concentrations of some important compounds that are key to keeping your brain happy and your mood lifted.

Cacao beans contain caffeine and theobromine which stimulate blood flow in the brain, decrease fatigue, and increase cardiac activity after consuming. The result is elevated serotonin activity. You might recognize serotonin as the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you look at someone you love, or at a bar of Antidote. :)

PEA, or phenethylamine, is probably the strongest “love chemical” in chocolate. Even though it occurs in small quantities, it triggers massive endorphin release in the brain. These happy little endorphins produce a pleasant, euphoric feeling. PEA also makes the activity of dopamine, an antidepressant that floods your system when in love, more potent.

The name for this compound comes from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means bliss. This compound naturally occurs in three places - chocolate, the human brain, and marijuana. With the ability to produce powerful feelings of euphoria, this compound is why some get very relaxed and peaceful after eating a bar of chocolate. While many think that chocolate is merely a libido-enhancer, it can actually reproduce the sensation of being in love!

All these compounds are in cacao but even stronger and multiplied in a chocolate with high cacao percentage and when raw cacao is used. Now you’ve got the Antidote Love with all feel-good love compounds in higher doses. Low in sugar and potent with raw cacao and botanicals, Antidote will give you an extra love boost every day.