Chocolate.

There is no other word that makes you’re conscious, subconscious, taste buds and stomach fight so much that you willing go into battle calling out iniquitous battle cry while drool forms at the side of your lips…. chooocoolaatee.

Yes it is a sinful pleasure punishable by weights being grown from your hips an thighs to weigh you down preventing you from running to grab another piece. But…Strength and determination of your mind will over power that of the physical restraints of continuous consumption allowing you that 5 seconds of pleasure as it melts in your mouth, coating it with the brown thick sweet paint before sliding down your throat.

Ah yes… Chocolate.

There is the cause for chocoholics to claim the natural healthy aspects of the substance, that when used in it’s raw cocoa form or 70% + dark chocolate blocks can be classed as a health food. Such health benefits include – it is loaded with antioxidants. It is also research to help lower cholesterol and cognitive issues such as memory loss. I found this article quite helpful regarding the research of health benefits and origin of the cocoa bean / chocolate.  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270272.php

“I eat chocolate because it’s actually good for me”.

Lets face it. It’s an excuse. Sure anything that comes from nature in moderation is in fact good for you in someway, unless it’s poisonous in which case – stay away. However, I am baffled by how disciplined you have to be to not reach for the everyday chocolate bar from the supermarket shelf and tell yourself – but it’s good for me.

My waist line is the perfect example of the excuse gone into overdrive. You see I was on a health kick and found normal supermarket chocolate was just not making me feel good. So for Christmas my husband bought me a copy of “Model Chocolate” cook book by Abigail O’Niell. The book was 100% healthy ways to eat and enjoy chocolate with out the guilt. Every receipt was good for you, included hings such as coconut oils, dried fruits and the best of raw ingredients. I watched a segment on TV where Abigail was being interviewed about the book where she confessed to eating chocolate for breakfast, lunch and tea.

For anyone that doesn’t know Abigail is a model, fit healthy and stunning. No fat, No love handles and completely open to chocolate.  I thought this was great, this book was my answer to all my chocoholic dreams.

With in 1 month of the booking being purchased, my pantry stocked full of the best raw ingredients as suggested by the book costing around $200 and that was for just  recipes! my stomach decided to tell me the real reason I was reacting to foods and store purchase chocolate… I had a salicylate intolerance.

Basically salicylates exist both in natural healthy foods as a preservative as well as higher concentrates in things such a synthetic food preservatives, food colouring and spices such as black pepper. This means that most of the $200 worth of ingredients I just purchased, I couldn’t actually use. The substitute items I could use, would mean, full fat, full cream and full of weight bearing consequences.

However, Chocolate… I could still eat the Chocolate.

Raw 70% + or raw cocoa, Milo and even some Belgium chocolate brands. I found tolerance toward Cadbury plain family block chocolate. I had to steer clear of any Nestle or Lindt brands as they seemed to set off the intolerance, but Cadbury has seen me through. Easter eggs or any shaped Cadbury chocolate (like frogs or flakes) seemed to have different levels of preservatives, so I stick with the plain block stuff to get me through my daily cravings. The normal infamous purple Cadbury milk chocolate, however, adds to the hip line and with my diet extremely limited with the new intolerance I found myself using chocolate as a staple in my diet as much as say dairy, protein or fruit. Yes 3 – 4 servings a day or a whole family block of Cadbury chocolate was not uncommon, especially in times of stress. My intolerance kicked my cravings into over drive and yup, waist line decided to follow suit.

So back to my first initial point, anything from nature in moderation is good for you. So with the endeavor to continue my chocolate dreams I now recommend – Cadbury Old Gold or 70% + chocolate for your daily fix. But try to keep it down to once a day.

As as I can allow myself a hot chocolate drink in there as well, once a day is manageable. So I guess that would be two servings right?

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