Today’s discussion is about an important topic indeed: chocolate.
With Easter coming up this weekend, anyone shopping in the supermarket has probably noticed plenty of holiday chocolates for sale.
How Easter Came to Include an Edible Bunny
While Easter is a Christian holiday infused with springtime elements of eggs and bunnies, it’s also known for its modern commercial tradition that caters especially to children: chocolate eggs and bunnies.
Seeing as chocolate holds no traditional tie to Easter’s origins and the trend began purely as a way to capitalize on the holiday (genius idea: who wouldn’t buy chocolates in the name of Easter?), the edible Easter bunny is just one of the many delicious excuses to incorporate chocolate into our lives.
It’s almost as if somebody decided, ‘okay, we have jelly bean eggs and Peeps but it’s been way too long since Valentine’s Day so we better make something chocolate for Easter, too’. But do we need excuses to eat chocolate regularly? Why not accept that chocolate is important for its own sake and should hold a rightful place in our daily consumption habits just because?
Cocoa Improves Our Physical and Emotional Health
I make a conscious effort to consume a nutritionally balanced diet that includes the macronutrients and vitamins required to function well, but I consider my true food groups to be bread, cheese, wine, and chocolate. As we have all been taught, we are supposed to include all food groups in our daily diet: protein, vegetables, carbohydrates, etc. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to expect chocolate (one of my food groups) to be a part of my daily diet. This may sound like a whimsy but science is clear on chocolate’s many physical and psychological benefits.
Of course, the health benefits come from the cocoa itself and not the added sugar (nor, as in milk chocolate, added milk or preservatives). While chocolate bars – even healthier ones with a high cocoa content – do contain calories and fat, and we therefore need to moderate them (can’t just eat a pound in one day), the quality of those calories and fat are what matter. We are much better off getting our calories from something good than from added sugar or additives.
Pay Attention to Ingredients and Cocoa Concentration
Some recommend choosing chocolate with at least 70% cocoa, and others recommend at least 85% cocoa to truly gain the health benefits without excess added sugar. The nice thing about higher cocoa content is that it’s harder to binge on since it isn’t as sweetly satisfying. It is satisfying, but in a way that makes you want to moderate your intake more sensibly than, say, a chocolate fountain at somebody’s wedding. The less chocolate is processed, the more it retains its nutritional integrity. Though higher cocoa content is nutritionally optimal, sea salt sprinkled chocolates filled with liquid caramel and the occasional truffles can have their place in our life, too.
For sweeter items, as with any sugary indulgence, it is important to keep a mental note of sugar consumption in order to cut back on sugar from other areas throughout the day or week. The same goes for calories if that is a concern, but that should be a no-brainer: if you enjoy the extra calories from a chocolate bar, simply cut back on calories from another non-nutritionally dense food you would normally eat. It’s all about daily/weekly or even monthly balance of nutritional and caloric choices.
Check Labels for Fair Trade Certification
Your chocolate’s origin is also important. Cocoa beans are only cultivated in certain regions of the world, so always buy fair trade and sustainably grown chocolate. Fair trade certifications promote fair wages for workers and protect against child labor and harsh conditions. Sustainably grown certifications protect the rainforests. We need to be mindful of the products we consume and choose to support those whose supply chain practices align with our values. Chocolate is important but it is not important enough to infringe on human rights and the already-compromised environment. Thankfully, there are plenty of brands that do make a conscious effort to source chocolate only from fair trade suppliers.
Cocoa Power in Action: House Cleaning Turned Fun
One of the many great benefits of chocolate to which I can attest is that it helps to improve mood and reduce stress. I recently experienced this quite by accident while cleaning the house. I hate dusting and vacuuming but I hate dust and carpet filled with lint/food/dirt/mysteries even more, so that is why cleaning the house is an unpleasant chore I nevertheless feel compelled to do. After dusting all rooms and windows, I took a break to finally eat a late afternoon lunch and afterwards treated myself to an entire sea salt and caramel chocolate bar. (I usually try not to eat an entire bar in one sitting, but I was cleaning the entire house that day so didn’t bat an eye about the extra sugar calories).
Not too long after eating the bar, my mood began to improve until I eventually found myself vacuuming in what felt like a state of euphoria. There is nothing in the world to make me believe that anything about vacuuming could be remotely delightful, except for chocolate’s intervention. I also felt remarkably calm and at peace, instead of my normal baseline anxiety and chronic feeling of hurriedness. I was impressed enough that I decided to make more of an effort to regularly incorporate chocolate into my diet. Don’t take my word for it, though: science has provided multiple studies to show how chocolate helps to lower stress levels.
For Further Reading
Chocolate’s many nuances are delightfully detailed in Sandra Boynton’s classic and entertaining book, Chocolate: The Consuming Passion. I found a copy of the original publication long ago while perusing a used bookstore and have always enjoyed reading it over the years. It is satisfying to know that I am not alone in my preoccupation – that we are a community of chocolate-minded people.
If you are not convinced that chocolate is important enough for the simple fact that it tastes delicious and makes us feel great, consider some of its other benefits such as increased blood flow, potential protection against sun damage, and improved mental sharpness.
The Takeaway: Eat More Chocolate (for the People)
It’s time we stop pretending that chocolate is a guilty indulgence or some frivolous pleasure. It’s time we realize that it is a necessary pleasure to enjoy in reasonable moderation on a regular basis. What would happen if everyone in the world ate a little more chocolate every day? Would people calm down enough to get along better? Would there be a gradual worldwide epidemic of happiness, relaxation, and improved physical health?
For the sake of the world and for the people, let’s try and eat a little more chocolate. That doesn’t mean go running for sugary processed conventional candy bars, but look for high-cocoa products with fair trade certifications. By helping ourselves to feel better and better operate in the world, we are indirectly benefitting everyone else, too, since we will be a better person to be around. If chocolate is good for us and it helps us feel good, let’s give it its proper place in our lives!