Always in moderation, always tasty

Have you ever seen a cocoa bean that was an alien shape that some brave soul decided to try? Wow. I will be forever grateful to them and will savor every bite of their first bite without any major side effects other than joy.

To go back to my last post on superfoods, are we lucky to count them? Not at all, says Harvard MD JoAnn Manson. To get the anti-inflammatory benefits of flavonoids from the cacao plant, you’d have to consume 700 calories of dark chocolate or 5,000 calories of milk chocolate every day. I’ll stop to find fault with that now, but by consuming that amount of chocolate, you may also be eating a lot of sugar and fat. That’s close.

And what about caffeine in chocolate?

Its caffeine content is lower than that of coffee or cola, with 24 mg per ounce for the black version, compared to 40 mg for a cup of coffee. Keep in mind that caffeine intake is cumulative, and it takes up to five hours for half of it to be eliminated from your system, says Christine Rosenbloom, Ph.D., RDN, and author of Food and Fitness After 50. If you’re sensitive to caffeine, stick to milk chocolate, especially if you’re in the mood for a late-night snack.

What about the percentage of chocolate choice?

I just know that the higher the rate, the more bitter it is, I’m talking about taste not attitude. It comes down to how much junk is added during processing that makes it palatable or borderline squeaky. And the amount of dairy is also a factor.

A 2017 study found that 15% of dark chocolates labeled lactose-free or dairy-free and 25% labeled vegan still contained milk. The FDA also conducted a study that sampled 119 dark chocolates and found that four of them contained enough to trigger an allergic reaction, says Dr. Stefano Luccioli, an allergist at the FDA’s Center for Food Safety.

Chocolate cravings are often linked to decreased hormones, not to mention the aphrodisiac compounds phenylethylamine, a stimulant that stimulates your brain. No matter why you crave it, eat it, dream about it, or even use a chocolate face mask, it’s still a tasty treat, but in moderation like everything else.

I have done my own comparison studies and I find that even the most expensive chocolates do not satisfy me or have the taste I like. Honestly, who thinks of putting Rice Krispies in a chocolate bar, raisins or even pretzels.

In college, I always enjoyed a Hershey bar dipped in Jiffy peanut butter, which spiked the sugar levels. I also spent five dollars on a single piece of Swiss chocolate that didn’t taste any different than my Hershey bar. So whatever your taste buds like to consume in the world of chocolate, enjoy it.

As Wonka himself says: “A little foolishness, now and then, is appreciated by the wisest men.”