You know what’s great about the world? The way it can turn around and surprise you with a little gift and a bit of a lift when you least expect it.
It’s a cold, raw, rainy day in my world, the kind that can make you feel a little low and lost. I’ve been moody and everything is irritating me, so I splurged on one of those gourmet chocolate bar things that always look way too dangerous but are always way too expensive.
I don’t even want to say how much it was. But it sure was good. Except that when it was gone, I felt sooo bad about my unbridled gluttony. I’ve been trying to lose a few pounds not pack more on in a fit of self-comfort. Then I read this: they’ve discovered that chocolate makes you smarter.
OMG! From guilt to gimme more in less than a minute. Well, okay… I still don’t feel so great about all the calories I just scarfed down, but the rest of it sounds good to me.
Apparently, scientists studied about 1,000 people and found that the ones who ate chocolate all the time did better on mental tests that checked out how well their brains work. The secret (they think) are these things called cocoa flavanols, which chocolate is loaded with and which may also help us all avoid dementia and other mental problems we can have as we get older.
There is some fine print. (Isn’t there always?) Milk chocolate and white chocolate don’t have very much of the good stuff inside. They’re pure sin so put that Snickers bar away. But dark chocolate is loaded with the flavanols you want, and the darker the better.
But no going crazy because even though switching to a chocolate-based diet would be fun and might even make me a little smarter, it for sure is going to make me a lot wider. So moderation in all things, and probably best to stick with the occasional chocolate treat rather than turn it into a lifestyle. (See? I’m smarter already!)
