Chocolate

Chocolate - You Really Got Me Now!

I was a picky eater as a kid, and I still am now. But one thing I have always loved is... chocolate! Dark chocolate to be specific.
Sound track by The Kinks: "You really got me now.
You got me so I don't know what I'm doing..."

I Came for the Cake

My mother told me that the afternoon before she went into labor with me, she had a friend over (She only had two kids to deal with at that time, so she actually had friends.) and she had baked a chocolate cake. After her friend left, she proceeded to eat half the cake. Then she went into labor.

She told me this story when I was about 20. Long before the days when we knew the term carbo-loading. I smile at the thought now. Did I feel the chocolate rush and decide it was time to get me some of that? Did the caffeine rush induce labor a little earlier than I might have wanted? All I know is chocolate and I have had a thing going ever since.

Those of you who more-than-love chocolate would probably agree with me that it is one of the basic food groups. That said, I have been on a food cleanse, which means I've been eating what I'm supposed to, which does not include sugar or caffeine. But a girl can dream, can't she? In fact, sometimes I do dream about chocolate.

I've Given It Up Lots of Times

I have given up chocolate several times for a year or more. I usually dream about it after a few days
without it. I'm sitting there enjoying a huge rich brownie with sweet frosting, and suddenly remember that I'm not supposed to be eating it. Really?! I'm ruining the fun for myself even in my sleep?

One time I had been off chocolate for three years when a coworker had an chocolate fudge cake for his birthday. My coworkers laughed when I said, "I just want to smell it; that will be enough." They laughed and waved the plate in front of me, tempting me to eat a slice.

Fireworks in the Brain

But it wasn't a joke. And I knew it. Later I read that there is a substance called pyrozine in chocolate, roasted nuts, and roasted coffee, that creates endorphins in the brain. I remember this term because it's like pyrotechnics (fireworks) in my brain. So when I pause to smell someone grinding coffee at the local market, or walk into See's Candies and inhale and feel delightful, there is a chemical reason for it.

So next time you pass the coffee grinder at the market, inhale deeply and enjoy!

Ecstacy in Chocolate

In the book Constant Craving by Doreen Virtue, I read a long list of feel-good reasons for why we like chocolate. One was "mouth-feel" because chocolate melts at body temperature. Some reasons were chemical. It said that the street drug Extacy is in chocolate. Really?! Well... That explains a lot.

So I'm taking a class on emotional eating. Yeah, I know, mom's bribes of chocolate dessert if I ate my dinner were a big set-up for this. But she was doing the best she could to get me to eat something.

How Your Brain Creates Habits

There is new research on this all the time. Here's a TedTalk video of Joe Dispenza on how your brain creates habits. We are actually making nerve pathways with our actions just like walking through a field of high grass. The more we walk down the same way, the deeper that pathway becomes. Now that? That really explains a lot!

How About You?

Are you a chocoholic?