Posted on 01/31/2011 6:07:44 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
I hate to sound like the cover of some woman’s magazine, but today we’re going to talk about “The Sweet Science Behind Dark Chocolate” and “What Eating Dark Chocolate Can Do For You.”
Scientists are my new best friends. At first, I thought those headlines were just stuck at the top to make me want to read the e-mail that followed. Maybe whoever was contacting the media was just trying to lure in candy-loving journalists with a chocolate-coated bait-and-switch press release that eventually got around to talking about health insurance reform.
But, no, chocolate apparently is a “super food.”
“Studies show that people who eat generous amounts of superbly heart-healthy and flavonoid-rich cocoa rarely develop high blood pressure and have a very low death rate from heart disease,” read the e-mail.
I haven’t the slightest idea what a flavonoid is, but I just ran downstairs to the snack room to chow down on a candy bar and guzzle a cup of machine-made hot chocolate.
You’ve got to love a health motto that starts with “A Kit Kat a day...”
Daily ritual
A daily intake of chocolate is exactly what Janet Bond Brill, the registered dietitian who was being quoted in this e-mail, was espousing.
She’s got a book out, “Prevent A Second Heart Attack: 8 Foods, 8 Weeks to Reverse Heart Disease.” And cocoa is one of these foods. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate being handed this medically sound reason to practically slather my insides with melted chocolate.
“Consuming just one or two squares (up to one ounce) of dark chocolate (at last 70 percent cocoa) every day can help boost your blood-antioxidant level, lower your blood pressure, fight inflammation (and) make your dysfunction endothelium more functional,” read the release.
Now, in my younger and less health-conscious days, it would have bothered me that I didn’t know anything about “dysfunction endothelium.” I might have even argued, “My endothelium is fully functional, thank you. In fact, I have to hold it back.”
But, after reading this e-mail, I figure, hey, the dietitian lady doesn’t seem concerned, so just eat the Hershey’s bar and let the chocolate sort it all out.
The chocolate diet
Maybe I’m overreacting, but I may eat nothing but chocolate. If one or two pieces of chocolate heal your heart, might 30 or 35 or even 40 pieces make a guy practically immortal?
I knew there was a catch.
“Purchase one of the new high-flavonoid chocolate bars (not milk chocolate or Dutch processed) at least 70 percent cocoa and limit yourself to one or two small pieces a day,” Brill said.
No Snickers?
If you want cocoa itself, “think real cocoa,” she insisted. “Add a couple of tablespoons of dark cocoa powder to your banana and soy milk smoothie — a luscious addition to a heart-healthy drink.”
Soy? Some things just have a sound that makes you not want to live forever...
I can't stockpile chocolate. I keep eating my stash.
My kids love white chocolate, I haven’t yet aquired a taste for it.
I’m still waiting to get to that point. When I think of the headaches, I can usually resist the urge...but not always.
Thanks for the advice!
“————and limit yourself to one or two small pieces a day,” Brill said. “
I have never eaten just 2 small squares of chocolate in my entire,very long life.
And I never will.
That is a joke, right?
Does it have to be a red cup? I don’t have any of those. Also, I work from home. Will that make a difference in taste? ;0)
Oh, and I'm all out of red cups. Will a different color work?
Why would anyone consider dropping cocoa bean production? Is growing corn for ethanol or other fuel-production options more profitable? Is the climate for producing cocoa beans favorable for something much more profitable? Can we grow our own cocoa beans?
In other words, “Aaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhh?!!!!!!!”
Have you ever had those Lindt truffles? Heavenly!
Yes, there are the 5 C’s: caffeine, carbonation, cholesterol, chocolate, and C12H22O11 (sugar—one form of it.)
The white chocolate Lindt truffles are the best(yes, I am aware there’s no such thing as “white chocolate”).
Why a red cup? Is there something the color does to effect the taste?
As everyone knows the six food groups are: Salt, Caffeine, Fat, Nicotine, Alcohol and Chocolate.
Chocolate (cocoa solids, that is) is a wonderful, healthy food in moderation. It’s the fat and sugar that’ll kill you.
I personally love using chocolate in low-carb recipes — the fat isn’t an issue, and sugar can be replaced with zero-carb sweeteners, as long as you’re dealing with something that absolutely requires sugar for texture reasons.
If you EVER get a chance try the Sprüngli truffe de jour. Only place I've ever seen 'em is at the Zurich airport. They do not travel well and aren't exported.
Love your FIVE, LOL! :)
Thanks for the ping.
http://luxuryexperience.com/luxury_products/pantry/confiserie_sprungli,_ag.html
This site says that you *can* order Sprungli products online and that they will ship to the US! Those mini-macaroons look yummy, too! (If mini-macaroon mention is hijacking the thread, I apologize. Some things make me think about other things.)
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