I have had a long history of eating chocolate. My favorite form was M&M’s back when the only choices were plain or peanut. When I was in college, my friends threw me a red wine and M&M’s party on my birthday. M&M’s were my diversion during studying. I probably shouldn’t share this for fear it might uncover some deep psychological disorder, but I used to pour them all out and make designs out of the colors while I rewrote my kinesiology notes. Every time I ate one, I would have to make a new design. I loved to eat just one at a time and let it melt on the roof of my mouth in order to make the small bag last. To this day, when I hear “sternocleidomastoid” it reminds me of using that very muscle to turn my head and examine my new design. Being the visual person that I am, I probably used the artwork to help me learn the spelling of the muscle as it was mandatory in order to pass the course. But I digress.

I eventually gave up eating chocolate for TEN years! It had become the bane of my existence. I was working in a restaurant that served German chocolate cake and we would all hover in the kitchen and pick at the piece that had fallen apart in spite of our careful execution of cake-cutting. The pounds came on and I literally felt weighted down by the heaviness of the subsequent highs and lows of my blood sugar. I gave up chocolate for Lent one year and felt so good that I did not return to it for ten years. Now, in my present state of awareness, it was probably the delivery of the chocolate i.e. lots of sugar that was putting on the pounds and making me feel lousy. I learned that by default, when my M&M’s were replaced by Reese’s Pieces and the effects were no different.

What one might perceive as an insidious return to chocolate was actually a move in the right direction. I had read numerous articles written by credible sources that DARK chocolate was actually good for your heart among other things. Just for review: it contains flavonoids which act as anti-oxidants, which protect the body from aging caused by free-radicals, which are those little buggers that weaken cells. WHEW! The results can be lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure and a drop in LDL cholesterol by as much as 10%. Another benefit is that it stimulates endorphin production and serotonin which acts as an anti-depressant.

As for the taste……..For me it was a bit of an acquired taste. You must break off a little bit at a time and let it melt on the roof of your mouth to release the richness of the cocoa; ironically, the way I always ate my M&M’s. I have two squares of the 85% Lindt (105 calories and 5 grams of sugar) almost every afternoon with a cup of black half-caff coffee for my little pick-me-up while sitting at my desk. Hmmm……perhaps the serotonin has lessened my need to carve designs out of my two squares. And finally, when I am in a celebratory mood, I break off a chunk and pour myself a glass of red wine.