When Is It OK to Eat Chocolate? (About all the bloody time)

Posted on by Live & Learn

truffle-chocolate

Excerpts from Ellen Byron and Tanya Rivero discussing “When Is It OK to Eat Chocolate?” (along with DK’s reality check):

  • Really, it is OK to eat chocolate if it’s the fancy stuff. That’s what we’re telling ourselves. (DK: Not sure I’m telling myself exactly this…I am repeating, “it’s ok, DK, it’s ok, go ahead. It’s ok to eat 4 pieces in one sitting.)
  • Nearly half of chocolate eaters say they look for premium ingredients…they say that’s their health-permissibility factor. (DK: More health research that will be overturned in 10 years. Margarine over butter anyone?)
  • There’s no point in going to a gym and then downing a huge bar of cheap milk chocolate. There’s every point in going to a gym and then downing a small portion of a nice, deep chocolate. (DK: Come on. There’s every point in downing a huge bar of any kind of chocolate and then ‘thinking’ about going to the gym.)
  • Offering portion control also helps chocolate eaters feel good… (DK: Who feels good with portion control? Who? Introduce me to that human.)
  • Lindt’s Excellence bars, which are wrapped in foil and white cardboard, are designed for a “ritualistic” experience. “Consumers take care to rip the foil gently, then break a square off, then roll the foil back up…It’s meant to withstand that type of consumption where you might eat one square or two squares a day. (DK: Ritualistic? Yes, like Human Sacrifice. One or two squares a day? Laughable.)
  • New $7 chocolate bars from Godiva have indented squares that fit a thumb so eaters can snap off one bite at a time. ‘People love to have a bar of chocolate tucked away in their brief case, backpack or purse. (DK: Who can keep chocolate tucked away for more than three minutes anywhere, and especially in a brief case or purse? Who? As to indented squares to enable portion control? Ha! That’s just for better gripping a $7 Godiva morsel so it doesn’t hit the ground while you are shoveling…)
  • The relatively small amount of sugar in a piece of premium chocolate from Godiva doesn’t worry consumers the way other sweets might. “Having a small bit of chocolate isn’t the thing that’s going to kill you.” (DK: Totally right. Expensive Godiva Chocolate is totally exempt from the ills of sugar addiction – absolutely!)
  • Ms. Choma avoids buying large bars for her daily chocolate treat, fearing she’ll eat too much in one sitting. Instead (she) keeps individually wrapped chocolate truffles in her pantry. “It’s just the right size, so you don’t feel guilty,” she says. She’s mindful of antioxidants and other health benefits of chocolate, but mostly focuses on how much she likes the taste. “That’s my brain benefit,” she says. (DK: There’s a lot to digest here. But let’s just jump on the close.  Antioxidants? Goobledygook.  Brain benefit? Ho! Really?!?)
  • “We see people looking for little rewards all the time.” (DK: And we deserve it!)

Photo: Joann Hofer from XchocolArt in Carmel, Indiana with Blueberry Truffle Christmas Gift Organic Chocolate made with Blueberries, cream and luscious chocolate. (Source: Etsy.com)

46 thoughts on “When Is It OK to Eat Chocolate? (About all the bloody time)”

  3. Interesting, I can’t seem to rationalise chocolate consumption at all. In the supermarket I sometimes collide with the chocolate display and have to veer off in another direction immediately. Not possible to even think about it. Good to read this, it helps me to see how hopeless I am 🙂 and the need to focus a bit more on what’s going on in my head…

  4. Bad chocolate is like pad poetry, or bad wine.

    Hershy’s is not chocolate. I’m ready for the lawsuit to defend chocolate.

    Just had coffee, oranges, and 5 Lindt truffles for brrakfast.

      1. I wish I could claim that. Chocolate is a compromise to a life-long sugar addiction. And the perfect compromise it is! :0)

  8. I’m sure I got into the habit of rewarding myself with a chocolate ball after reading so many convincing posts right here. I’m afraid this post might double it to two….

      1. We will not have white Christmas, but a good stash of white chocolate makes well up for it. You see I have lots of additional rationalizations 🙂

  12. What a photo… I’m sitting at my desk.. desperatly trying not to drool onto class tests :o). Tempation at its best

  15. I love your comments, David. They’re almost as satisfying as Lindt Excellence Intense Orange (which I have to keep hidden from my hubby). As I carefully unrolled the foil and broke off the first square, I wondered, what does portion control have to do with chocolate?

    1. Smiling. Thanks Carolann. I have never tried Lindt Excellence Intense Orange. I love orange-anything. I MUST find these! As to portion control – BAH! Like diets, sound great, rarely work. 😀

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