The Rules of Chocolate
| Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices & strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want. |
The problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot. |
| Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite and you'll eat less. |
A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy? |
| If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you? |
If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves. |
| If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other? |
Money talks. Chocolate sings. |
| Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger. |
Q. Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous? A. Because no one wants to quit. |
| If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. |
Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done. |
Things you may not know about Chocolate:
Chocolate with a high cocoa content is a good indicator of a quality chocolate. Look for chocolate that contains cocoa butter, and not other vegetable fats. They will have a smoother texture and a more chocolatey taste.
Check that the chocolate is made with real, not imitation, vanilla bean. Imitation vanilla gives the chocolate a chemical taste.
Note the sugar content, as a lot of sugar, especially in bittersweet and semisweet chocolates is often an attempt to conceal the flavours of poor quality cocoa beans.
The length of the ingredient list should be short. Good chocolate will not have a long list of additives. The proportion of each component will determine the chocolate colour:
- Dark chocolate can contain up to 70% of cocoa.
- Milk chocolate contains milk powder
- White chocolate is only made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk without cocoa.
The lingering effects of individual chocolates in the mouth, referred to as "aftertaste", is the last quality to watch for. A good chocolate will not disappear immediately, but will leave subtle and pleasant sensations in the mouth.
Did You Know....
Almost 50 percent of all women crave chocolate at one point or another but especially during menstruation or when they are under stress (so that would mean all the time ha ha).
Like red wine, chocolate contains antioxidants that may reduce heart disease. Even small amounts of the stuff can aid in this prevention.
A wine chemist at the University of California found that one and a half ounces of milk chocolate contains almost the same amount of phenols (good antioxidants in grape juice and wine) as a five ounce glass of red wine.
Chocolate also contains iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium. And it’s the magnesium that may help ease the symptoms of PMS. So ladies, take your vitamins!
Chocolate aids in mental and physical performance which gives you a quick boost and can even help people drive safer as research at the University of Bristol has found.
So next time you crave that piece of chocolate, don’t fight it you’re really self-medicating. But remember, everything in moderation.