Anything 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.
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.
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