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Chocolate is a Vegetable!

Other little known Chocolate facts:

Chocolate is derived from cacao beans. Bean = vegetable. Sugar is derived from either sugar CANE or sugar BEETS. Both are plants, which places them in the vegetable category. Thus, chocolate is a vegetable.

To go one step further, chocolate candy bars also contain milk, which is dairy product. So candy bars are a health food.

Chocolate-covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit; so eat as many as you want.

If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

Problem: How to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite, and you'll eat less.

If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves. (We're testing this with other snack foods as well.)

If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other?

Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger. Therefore, you need to eat more chocolate.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Now, isn't that handy?

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. You can't let that happen, can you?

NEWS FLASH: "Stressed" spelled backward is "desserts."
So, to reverse being "stressed" . . . CHOCOLATE!!!

Now, dear, sincereheart, why in the world would you post an article about chocolate in the "Just for Women" secton!!??? ;) 

Are you a fellow choc-aholic?  I admit that I usually have some form of chocolate everyday, and I'm not huge, just a little overwt.  From my avatar, I look downright thin, ha.

Thanks for the chuckle.

I do not like chocolat at all.
I'm a crisp and pretzel gal myself.

My daughter would like to lay her hands on this list, I know. :D

UH OH! Busted!  ;D

I'm a chocolate snob.  ;) Must NOT be that generic stuff. MUST be milk chocolate. And along with that, I must confess I am a chocoholic!  :o
And isn't it grand to know that it's now rationalized to be a veggie?  ;D

My pleasure!  :D

Oh that is sad! So very sad!  :'(


 ;)

I'm all for the pretzel- covered in chocolate!  ;D

LOL! Ah! A young woman after my own heart!  :-*

 :o     Chocolate?!? Chocolate? Did someone say CHOCOLATE??   :o

Especially DARK CHOCOLATE!!

YUCK!!! chocolate Give me peppermint!! ;D

Ladies I couldn't resist popping in here on this subject. I love my chocolate. I have some everyday and there is good news for those of us that do love it.


A Dark Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Daily Dark Chocolate Good for the Heart, Loaded With Flavoniods

Here's news that's hard not to like. Eating a small, 1.6-ounce bar of dark chocolate every day is good for you. Very good for you, find Mary Engler, PhD, RN, of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues.

Now here is a medical experiment you would love to volunteer for. Engler's team divided 21 healthy adults into two groups. One group got a Dove Dark Chocolate bar every day for two weeks. Like other dark chocolate bars with high-cocoa content, this one is loaded with something called epicatechin. Epicatechin is a particularly active member of a group of compounds called plant flavoniods. Flavoniods keep cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels, reduce the risk of blood clots, and slow down the immune responses that lead to clogged arteries.

The second group that didn't get Dove bars wasn't totally left out. They, too, got dark chocolate bars. But their treats had the flavoniods taken out.

All subjects underwent high-tech evaluation of how well the blood vessels dilate and relax -- an indictor of healthy blood vessel function. Blood vessel stiffness indicates diseased vessels and possible atherosclerosis. Those who got the full-flavonoid chocolate did significantly better. Why? Blood tests showed that high levels of epicatechin were coursing through their arteries.

"This is the longest clinical trial to date to show improvement in blood vessel function from consuming flavonoid-rich dark chocolate daily over an extended period of time," Engler says in a news release. "It is likely that the elevated blood levels of epicatechin triggered the release of active substances that ... increase blood flow in the artery. Better blood flow is good for your heart."

Why Dark Chocolate Is Different

Not all chocolate is created equal. Dark chocolate contains a lot more cocoa than other forms of chocolate. And standard chocolate manufacturing destroys up to half of the flavoniods. But chocolate companies have now learned to make dark chocolate that keeps up to 95% of its flavoniods.

Sure, this seems like a scam. Can't you get more and better flavoniods from other foods? Surprisingly, the answer is "not really." Engler says that dark chocolate contains more flavoniods than any other food -- including green tea, black tea, red wine, and blueberries.

"Many people don't realize that chocolate is plant-derived, as are the fruits and vegetables recommended for a healthy heart," Engler says.

While a little dark chocolate is good, a lot is not better. Chocolate still is loaded with calories. If you're going to eat more chocolate, you'll have to cut back somewhere else. And remember that a balanced diet -- and plenty of exercise -- is still the key to heart health.

Engler's study was funded by the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing. The American Cocoa Research Institute, a nonprofit group funded by the chocolate industry, provided the chocolate used in the study.

The findings appear in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Engler previously reported the findings at the 2002 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association and at the Experimental Biology 2003 meeting.

PR, I just may have to learn to acquire a taste for dark chocolate!  ;D

*hangs head*  :-X




 :P

LOL! I sure hope so!  ;D

 ;D

Oh yeah! Peppermint covered in chocolate!  ;D

There are actually some dark chocolates that taste rather good then there are others that are really bitter.

I like the dark ones put out by hershey and dove's, they are sweeter than most.

Nope no chocolate, just peppermint. ;D

I love chocolate and I love peppermint but mixing them is just a travesty to them both. EYuck!!

Nope, I don't like them either. The only thing I like with my chocolate is cherries or COFFEE.

Chocolate coffee........................ YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's called Mocha, Chocolate cappichino. It's great. I especially like it in Mississippi Mud!

Well if you want to sit in the Mississippi mud, and drink mocha have at it... ::)

Mississippi Mud is not for sitting in unless you like sitting in cream pies.  ;) ;) ;D ;D

Okay, now I'm lost.................... :o

(http://img116.exs.cx/img116/1231/z7shysterical.gif)

I guess I just keep finding the bitter ones.  :-\

I'll give the Dove a try next time I'm feeling brave!  :D

But I do have to say that 'milk' chocolate is my favorite way to get calcium!  ;D

MMMM Peanut Butter cups my favorite. Yummy

ROFL

I can just imagine PR rollining in mud trying to drink his chocolate coffee

And chocolate covered raisins too. mmmmm

There wouldn't be no trying .... mud or no mud the coffee gets drank.   ;D ;D

I like those, too. I remember my mother making the first ones that I ever had. They were delicious. She wouldn't make them often though.

I must've been real hungry   ;D

another one of my favorite snacks is yougurt covered macadamia nuts, yummy.

   
For lovers of chocolate,
future could be very dark
Worldwide shortage of cocoa beans threatened
due to sudden epidemic of chocomania in Asia

GLIMPSED through its smoked glass windows, with its dim lighting and its watchful guards, the Cave du Chocolat in Isetan department store looks more like the premises of an exclusive jeweller than an upmarket sweetie shop.

Inside, beautifully turned out Tokyo ladies hover over chocolates from Switzerland, Belgium, France and Spain that glisten like brown gold.

The standard price is 300 yen (£1.50) for a single piece; the most expensive chocolates, containing foie gras, sell for 1,000 yen each. Prices such as these do not seem to blunt the appetite of Japanese shoppers, the most fanatical chocoholics outside Europe and America.

But now a shadow is looming over the worldwide chocolate industry — the threat of a worldwide shortage of cocoa beans, caused by a sudden epidemic of chocomania in Asia.

With chocolate consumption increasing at a rate of 25 per cent a year in the Asia-Pacific region, and 30 per cent in China, chocolate makers fear that coco- bean growers will not be able to keep up with demand. The unstoppable growth of China has aroused fears of future conflicts over natural resources such as oil, gas and water. Now a new and unforeseen catastrophe presents itself: global chocolate wars.

“It always seems to be the same with China,” says Yoshiko Ishihara, a 56-year-old housewife, who emerges from Isetan bearing a jar of deluxe chocolate spread for her husband. “They consume so much. Fish and oil are becoming scarce. But it’s hard to believe that one day I won’t be able to eat chocolate.”

The first chocolate in Japan was brought by Dutch sailors who gave it to prostitutes in Nagasaki in 1797. A century later the Morinaga confectionery company was selling chocolate at prices that few but foreigners could afford. By 2004, the average Japanese was eating 2.2kg (5lb) a year.

Compared with the British (9.2kg a year) or the world leaders, the Swiss (11.3kg a year), the Japanese have a long way to go. Annual consumption in China is smaller still at 50g a year, but its population of 1.3 billion, and its rapidly expanding urban middle class, make it the market of the future.

“Chocolate is still very expensive for Chinese,” says Fumio Sukegawa, of the Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan. “But even just 1 per cent of China is 13 million people, which is about the size of Tokyo. That’s why chocolate producers are concerned.”

Already chocolatiers are being paid the ultimate compliment in China — fake versions of their most famous brands. In January, Ferrero Rocher successfully sued a Chinese confectioner that had been producing rip-offs.

Cocoa beans grow in a narrow equatorial strip from South America through Africa to Malaysia. It takes five years for a tree to mature, which makes it difficult for growers to react quickly to spikes in demand.

Japan’s peak chocolate season is Valentine’s Day, when women give chocolate to boyfriends, husbands and male colleagues. But the confectioners have also been shrewd enough to establish a second sweetie festival next Tuesday, White Day, when men reciprocate with white chocolate, white cakes or white marshmallows.

The future of chocolate all depends on one thing — the degree to which the Chinese reject their traditional sweets. In Japan, chocolate is still outsold by wagashi, sweets made out of rice, beans and sesame.

A TASTE FOR THE EXOTIC

# The Japanese chocolate market is prone to changing trends. 3,000 new brands are launched each year, of which 2,960 are failures

# In 2002, a 10ft chocolate statue of David Beckham was crafted out of 3,000 bars in Tokyo, to promote the Meiji chocolate brand

# In the early 1990s chocolate consumption was boosted by a craze for tiramisu, following a feature about the dessert in Hanako, a fashionable magazine

# In an advertisement for the benefits of cocoa in 1998, Mr Takeuchi, aged 101 and still chairman of Daito Cacao, went on television to promote longevity through cocoa

# Last month, a chocolate sculpture of the score of Mozart’s Türkischer March was created and studded with 107 diamonds, to celebrate the composer’s 250th birthday

# Strawberry-flavoured chocolate is one of the most popular varieties

For some odd reason, I can see him doing it as well. ;D

I have a new delightful friend,
I am most in awe of her.
When we first met I was impressed,
By her bizarre behavior.

That day I had a date with friends,
We met to have some lunch.
Marilyn had come along with them,
All in all . . . a pleasant bunch.

When the menus were presented,
We ordered salads, sandwiches, and soups.
Except for Marilyn who circumvented,
And said, Ice Cream, please: two scoops.

I was not sure my ears heard right,
And the others were aghast.
Along with heated apple pie,
Marilyn added, completely unabashed.

We tried to act quite nonchalant,
As if people did this all the time.
But when our orders were brought out,
I did not enjoy mine.

I could not take my eyes off Marilyn,
As her pie a-la-mode went down.
The other ladies showed dismay,
They ate their lunches silently, and frowned.

Well, the next time I went out to eat,
I called and invited Marilyn.
My lunch contained white tuna meat,
She ordered a parfait.

I smiled when her dish I viewed,
And she asked if she amused me.
I answered, Yes, you do,
But also you confuse me.

How come you order rich desserts,
When I feel I must be sensible?
She laughed and said, with wanton mirth,
I am tasting all that's possible.

I try to eat the food I need,
And do the things I should.
But life's so short, my friend, indeed,
I hate missing out on something good.

This year I realized how old I was,
She grinned, I've not been this old before.
So, before I die, I've got to try,
Those things for years I had ignored.

I've not smelled all the flowers yet,
There's too many books I have not read.
There's more fudge sundaes to wolf down
And kites to be flown overhead.

There are many malls I have not shopped,
I've not laughed at all the jokes.
I've missed a lot of Broadway Hits,
And potato chips and cokes.

I want to wade again in water,
And feel ocean spray upon my face.
Sit in a country church once more,
And thank God for It's grace.

I want peanut butter every day,
Spread on my morning toast.
I want un-timed long-distance calls,
To the folks I love the most.

I've not cried at all the movies yet,
Nor walked in the morning rain.
I need to feel wind in my hair,
I want to fall in love again.

So, if I choose to have dessert,
Instead of having dinner.
Then should I die before night fall,
I'd say I died a winner.

Because I missed out on nothing,
I filled my heart's desire.
I had that final chocolate mousse,
Before my life expired.

With that, I called the waitress over,
I've changed my mind, it seems.
I said, I want what she is having,
Only add some more whipped-cream!

"Be mindful that happiness is not based on possessions, power, or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect."

~Unknown

I like chocolate, dark chocolate is my favorite. It's always nice to have a treat every once in a while.

Love the poem, sincereheart!

CleanHeart, I'm a milk-and-sometimes-white chocolate gal meself, but since dark is still a kind of chocolate I won't hold it against you. Peppermint sticks are good when dipped in dark chocolate, anyway. ;D I'm a self-professed chocolate addict. Have any of you tried chocolate pecan pie?

Rules of Chocolate

If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

The problem: How to get two pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge off your appetite, and you'll eat less.

If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.

If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other?

Money talks. Chocolate sings. Beautifully.

Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger. Therefore, you need to eat more chocolate.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Now, isn't that handy?

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. You can't let that happen, can you?