Fri, 23 Dec 2022 14:05:15 -0800WeeblyThu, 06 Aug 2015 08:20:07 GMThttps://www.mypointstoponder.com/chocolate/myths-about-chocolate-refutedAnything that is greatly admired is bound to be much maligned as well.  Chocolate is no exception.  There always seems to be someone looking over your shoulder, just waiting for an opportunity to lecture on "The Darker Side of Chocolate".

Myth #1:  Chocolate is Fattening
A crucial factor has been overlooked in this widespread condemnation of chocolate: Most chocolate eaters tend to supplement their chocolate intake with other foods.  By what right, what logic can chocolate be singled out as the cause of plumpness?  How can we be certain that, say, carrots are not a catalyst to weight gain when chocolate is present.
There is empirical evidence that also raises serious doubts about chocolate's fatteningness:  Few chocolate lovers can simply lie back and wait for chocolate to come to them.  For most, getting and keeping chocolate often requires strenuous physical work.
                        
                           Selected Average Caloric Expenditures
                      Related to the Routine Pursuit and Maintenance
                         of personal Chocolate Resources:
Activity                                                                                         Caloric Expenditure

Carrying seven pounds of chocolate                                                 359
from store to residence

Hiding all chocolate before answering door                                    744
when company drops by unexpectedly

Swimming to Switzerland                                                          497,562 (approx.)

Myth #2:  Chocolate is nothing more than a substitute for affection
Much has been made lately of the recent scientific finding that there is a chemical in chocolate- phenylethylamine - that is virtually identical to the substance manufactured by the brain of an individual who is infatuated.  In various studies of this phenomenon, the conclusion drawn is that chocolate obsession is in fact self-medication for the spurned lover.  He or she is trying to synthesize the "high" of being in love.
As is too often the case with these social scientists, they are taking sound, highly suggestive data and drawing empirically absurd conclusions.  What reasonable soul prefers romance to truffles?
Clearly it is not the lovelorn sufferer who seeks solace in chocolate, but rather the chalet-deprived individual who, desperate, seeks in mere love a pale approximation of bittersweet euphoria.]]>Wed, 25 Mar 2015 04:00:57 GMThttps://www.mypointstoponder.com/chocolate/reasons-to-love-chocolateEating chocolate releases the same hormones that our body makes when we are in love: phenylethylamine (PEA)
Eating chocolate increases our endorphins, the body's natural pain killers.
Raw cacao contains N-acylethanolamines that are believed to temporarily increase levels of anandamide in the brain and enzyme inhibitors that slow its breakdown.  This means we feel more relaxed when we eat chocolate.
Chocolate causes certain endoctrine glands to secrete hormones that effect your feelings and behaviors by making you happy.  Chocolate counteracts depression, in turn, reducing the stress of depression.  Your stress-free life helps you maintain a youthful disposition, both physical and mental.  So, eat lots of chocolate!
- Elaine Sherman, Book of Divine Indulgences 

Chocolate is a divine, celestial drink, the sweat of the stars, the vital seed, divine nectar, the drink of the Gods, panacea and Universal Medicine.
- Antonio Lavedon, Surgeon in the Spanish army 1796

Chocolate is a vegetable.  Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans.  Beans = Vegetable
Sugar is derived from either sugar cane or sugar beets.   Both are plants, which places them in the vegetable category.  Thus, chocolate is a vegetable.  To go one step further, chocolate candy bars also contain milk, which is dairy.  So candy bars are a health food.
Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power.  It is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.
- Baron Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873), German Chemist.]]>Wed, 25 Mar 2015 02:58:23 GMThttps://www.mypointstoponder.com/chocolate/chocolate-factsWhat's in the cocoa bean?
54% Fat (cocoa butter)                               34% Cleic Acid
                                                                          33% Stearic Acid
                                                                          26% Palmitic Acid
                                                                            6% Other

31% Carbohydrates                                       1% sugar
                                                                          16% Fiber

11% Protein                                                     Arginine, Glutamine, Leveine

3% Polyphenols                                             Flavanols, Proanthocyanins

1% Minerals                                                    Fe, Mg, K, Cu

Chocolate was invented at least 3,100 years ago by the Aztecs in Central America and not as the Sweet treat people now crave, but as a celebratory beer-like beverage and status symbol.
Researchers identified residue of a chemical compound that comes exclusively from the cacao plant - the source of chocolate - in pottery vellums dating from about 1100 B.C. in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, .
This pushed back by at least 500 years the earliest documented use of cacao, an important luxury commodity in Mesoamerica before European invaders arrived.
Cacao seeds were used to make ceremonial beverages consumed by elites of the Aztecs and other civilizations, while also being used as a form of currency, perhaps to celebrate weddings and birth.
The chocolate enjoyed by later Mesoamerica civilizations like the Maya and Aztecs was made from ground cacao seeds with added seasoning, producing spicy, frothy drink.
The Spanish conquistador who shattered the Aztec empire in the 16th century were smitten with a chocolate beverage made from cacao seeds served in the palace of the emperor. 
The Spanish brought cacao back to Europe in the 16th century and many chocolate innovations have occurred in the ensuing century.
Theobromine is a mild stimulant, similar in effect to caffeine, found in chocolate.

]]>Wed, 25 Mar 2015 02:35:00 GMThttps://www.mypointstoponder.com/chocolate/chocolate-quotesSave the Earth, it's the only planet with Chocolate.

When no one understands you, Chocolate is there.

When life give you lemons, Throw them back and ask for chocolate.

Nobody knows the truffles I've seen... -Geroge Lang

Sometimes a girl's gotta have some Chocolate. - Carrie Underwood]]>