Raven’s Range
Blather around a virtual range

Monday, 14 July 2008 12:13

On chocolate, deprivation and appreciation

Filed in Blog

Seven weeks ago I made a statement that I would remove sugar from my diet until the Solstice. I did pretty well. I still had an occasional soda; with the extreme heat last week and my refusal to pay $5 for cheapo diet soda up here that I know I can get for half that price in Redding, it was starting to be more like one a day.

It seems that when I am desperately hot–let’s say I’ve walked more than a dozen feet on a 106-degree day–my body screams for the soda, and then moves on to water. I suspect it’s the sodium that I need, because I seldom drink this stuff just for the heck of it. It’s always after that heat/activity combination.

During those seven weeks I did not once purchase “dessert”–be it cookies, pie, a bun in a coffee shop, or the like. I didn’t sweeten my coffee with sugar, but with Splenda. But in the last week or so I realized that I wasn’t sticking to the original terms of the deal, so it was time to figure out what the problem was.

It was this: I was craving chocolate. I craved it all the time. It was like… code code code chocolatechocolatechocolate blog blog blog chocolate code code chocolate code. Harrumph! (Have you seen Badger Badger Badger? It was a bit like that, only instead of “mushroom” it was “chocolate.”)

I started reading candy and chocolate review blogs to see if reading about chocolate helped, and it did, but still… chocolatechocolatechocolate.

So I decided to try an experiment. I decided that not only was I going to buy chocolate, I was going to treat it with the utmost respect: Document it, review it, and appreciate it. Because one thing I have noticed with this awareness of not eating sugary foods is that I have been eating more consciously and picking food out more carefully.

I started educating myself about how reviews were done, how product photography is done, and about chocolate in general. The high cacao content of dark chocolate gives me acid indigestion, so I decided that instead I would go on a long, slow quest to find America’s great bars of milk (and white) chocolate.

As a result of the sugar-free experiment, I can now visit the candy aisle without actually wanting to buy everything in sight. I can walk into a store and not pick out a candy bar as a snack whether I’m hungry or not, though I do like to visit the posh chocolate bars and say hello. ;) And, apart from the chocolate, I still have very little desire to buy scones, muffins and the like at coffee shops.

Here’s something else I noticed. After I bought that first chocolate bar, I didn’t even open it for three days, but the cravings eased because there was the potential of chocolate when I felt like it. And that’s the key, isn’t it: By giving myself permission to eat the stuff if I wanted, I end up only eating it when I want and not just because it happens to be there.

I’d love to tell you that those first three squares–half a serving, or about a hundred calories’ worth–were exquisite and wonderful and everything I’d been waiting for, but they weren’t. I think this quest is going to be a long one because American chocolatiers appear to put too much cacao in their milk chocolate, for which my benchmark is most likely Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (the UK type) or Galaxy. But I have to say that sitting there, letting it melt on my tongue and trying to pick out flavors was a lot more satisfying than guzzling down a Snickers bar, so there’s definitely something to this slow ~~food~~ chocolate movement. ;)

And guess what? I weigh 5 pounds less than I did when I started, and I strongly suspect that this trend will continue. When deprivation gets to the point of obsession, it’s time to have a little of what you fancy and take it from there. Meanwhile, I’m going to get hold of some of my sodas in the next day or so, try to cut out the other kind again, and will continue not to buy scones, cakes and the like in the store. In other words, I will continue with my modified sugar free experiment, my home-cooked food, and my gourmet chocolate.

I’ll keep you posted. You can also expect some chocolate reviews. ;)

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One Comment, Comment or Ping

Flora

I’ve noticed that my body needs a bit more than plain water in really hot weather. Most sodas taste too sweet to me, but I’ve settled on a formula that really seems to work: a glass of water with either a lemon/lime squeezed into it or some unsweetened cranberry juice concentrate for electrolytes. Basically, really watery, tart juice. I never used to be a fan of sour things but this is the most refreshing way I’ve found to keep cool and hydrated.

I’m with you on bucking the dark-chocolate trend. I think the problem is that most US chocolates, milk or dark, are way too sugary. The solution is not to put more cocoa into the chocolate to make it darker, it’s to use real milk and cocoa butter instead of sugar and fake fat to make up the balance of the bar. At Whole Foods I found a pretty decent store-brand bar of Swiss milk chocolate that tastes rich and creamy, without being too bitter or too sweet.

Jul 14th, 2008