Earlier this week I was sucked into a discussion about chocolate and how women seem to have an almost supernatural relationship with it. True enough, it's beautiful to look at, it smells great, it can be used in recipes millions of different ways and, the obvious, it tastes gooder than Hell (to steal a phrase from Squidbillies). Many men I know are also chocoholics but they are somewhat in the closet about it. Anyway, the discussion went to how to cope with loving chocolate without going off the deep end. In other words, how can you enjoy it when you are dying for it without discovering that you've binged on an entire bag of Hershey's Kisses or a king-sized pack of Reese's Cups? (FYI, Reese's Cups are from the gods. They must be. Peanut butter is a food I crave 100x more often than chocolate.) I don't know if this will help any readers and, as I have said before, I am no doctor but certain strategies have worked well for me. In all honesty, I don't keep much chocolate around at one time as an "out of sight, out of mind" device. But when I do, I aim for dark chocolate. It tastes good, it tastes rich and it has some benefits. (http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040601/dark-chocolate-day-keeps-doctor-away) After my low blood sugar experience, I figured it was wise to keep a little sugar around and I wanted something that wouldn't be totally horrible. On that note, I have also found that small, individually-wrapped chocolates are better than big bags in terms of temptation. It's easier to have one and stop at one if they are in an individually-wrapped package than if you are fishing them out of a giant bag. 2 becomes 3 then 5 then 8 and so on if things are in a deceptive bag. The darkest chocolate I could find at the time was a 72% by Ghirardelli and it's not bad. Something that caught my attention in reading the nutrition facts is that one square only has 67 calories but also has 5% of your recommended daily intake of iron. (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/ghirardelli-intense-dark-chocolate-72-cocao-401686) That's not a bad trade-off for one square of dark chocolate.
Another trick is chocolate-flavored coffee. I am not a big coffee drinker for several reasons, not the least of which are not looking for a caffeine-overload and not wanting stained teeth. But on occasion, I don't mind a cup of coffee. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calories/NU00185) As long as you don't dump a bunch of rich creamer or syrups or sugar in there, it's a good way to get a little chocolate taste without diving into a slice of cake.
And now a little gratuitous chocolate porn to be LOOKED AT only unless it's your birthday:
