This is the real reason we crave chocolate on our period

According the internet and Snapchat, July 7th is World Chocolate Day. Like we needed another excuse to gorge ourselves with chocolate.

But have you ever wondered why when you’re on your period, you crave chocolate like a savage animal? Same.

Thankfully there’s science to help us answer that.

Hormones, obviously

Our hormone levels fluctuate when we’re on our period so the estrogen and progesterone levels are all over the place. According to Dr. Amy Jo Stavnezer, your estrogen levels go through a three to six fold change and progesterone goes through a four fold change every regular menstrual cycle.

What’s a fold change?

It’s the change in the hormone levels from the initial value to the ending value. So the level of each of the two hormones at the start and finish of your period.

Just picture your weight changing by that much! A girl can dream, right?

Why do we crave it?

Some women crave chocolate when these hormone levels are at their lowest, while for other women the craving is a learned behavior. Another reason we crave the chocolate is because we like the mouth-feel of it, the smell is enticing and the high-fat and high-calorie combination fulfills a hedonistic desire that has been essential for survival through food scarcity, says Dr. Amy Stavnezer.

Chocolate craving through learned behavior really just means we saw our mom or older sister do it and associated it with being on our period and then it became something we did when menstruating.

So you most likely crave chocolate because your hormones tell you to or because someone told you that eating chocolate while on your period was the cool thing to do.

Some women also believe that eating chocolate helps induce the levels or dopamine and serotonin to the brain. There is little evidence pointing that this is true, and it is more so that we like the way chocolate feels in our mouth. I can’t argue with that.

No matter what your reason why you crave chocolate, just break off a piece from your favorite candy bar, put on the Notebook and enjoy.