I want it.. I must have it.. My Precious…

Remember the ‘one ring that rules them all’? It was probably made of chocolate.

Not fair to compare to Gollum’s fixation, but I do like to have anything chocolatey that comes my way. All types of sweet treats with chocolate in it gets a direct pass: ‘no questions asked’ policy.  The only obstacle preventing me from eternal chocolate indulgence is sugar-guilt and my broadening hips.

For a moment, let’s focus on the positives of eating chocolate; not only because I am a positive person (slightly debatable) but also because chocolate does have a lot of health benefits. From protecting our heart to improving our brain function, chocolate is indeed fun food! It even helps perk your mood when you are having one of those cranky, no-good days. Sounds cool to me. I am sold (not that I needed any convincing). Wait, hold one. There has to be a catch. Nothing can be super perfect (food nor humans). Well, with it’s fun side, there is a dark side too (no pun intended). The notorious companions of chocolate are sugar and fat (which I am sure you all are acquainted to). Together, we know they are scary! It’s challenging to separate them as they form an integral part of almost everything chocolate is associated with : chocolate bars, ice-creams, shakes, cakes, croissants and numerous other pastries. Sigh! 

All those gooey, soft, silky and beautiful versions of chocolate foods are not saints after all. They are kind of bad. Wow. Now that sounds attractive, doesn’t it? If human psychology is to be believed, we now desire it even more! They are so delicious and tasty and we accept it in all forms, for it satiates our soul (check ‘true love’). 

Alright, as a rational adult, I would like to (attempt to) bring a balance to the good and the bad. In today’s world, we will never give up on anything bad. We will try to reform them and make them good (check ‘improbable things women believe”). Leaving humans aside, it is possible with food. I recently came across an ad for chocolate that was specifically made for ‘grown-ups.’ It was for a dark chocolate bar where an older woman denies chocolate to a seemingly younger man, who was previously trying to hit on her in an airport lounge, claiming that he had to grow up to have it. Keeping aside the fact that the advertisement was silly, the dark chocolate which they were selling was not. That particular chocolate is low in sugar and fat content, therefore, an instant guilt-free desire to have it (grown-up or not). 

Similarly, a children’s chocolate powder which I used to have till I almost turned 30 (thanks for being non-judgmental) seemed to be non-appealing to me after I started becoming pseudo-conscious about my sugar intake. I then moved onto a bitter cocoa mix which guaranteed zero sugar. I was brave enough to embrace it because I needed my chocolate intake every morning. To my joy, the old chocolate powder that I gave up on, introduced a new chocolate powder catering to women. It had less sugar and a bunch of other benefits (not sure if I can vouch for that) but yes, they introduced it! I felt special and I realized they were plenty of other pseudo health-conscious women out there. I obviously switched to it ever since its advertisement aired on tv. 

You can now see, (from my lens alone) that if you tweak chocolate, and try to separate them from their infamous buddies- sugar and fat, it becomes more desirable and acceptable. However, it is cautious if we try to put a limit to our consumption no matter how good their catalogue looks. It’s probably a sane thing to do. But, just to be clear, I don’t want my chocolate pastries to be sugar-free! I want to reiterate, I mentioned that I was ‘pseudo conscious’ of my sugar intake (check ‘pseudo’).