Everybody wants a box of chocolates

[venta]

OK, I want opinions on chocolate.

Now, as previously discussed with some of you, I'm not an enormous fan of chocolate. Sure, I like it, but I don't really hold it in the kind of reverence that many do. It's a niceish, sweet tasting thing - sadly not the extreme sensual experience which some people seem to find it (and do they really, or are they just exaggerating ?)

So, what I want to know: how much chocolate is too much ? How many people actually don't think there is such a thing as too much ? People who are allergic/intolerant to chocolate (hello, half my family) are a different case. Would anyone seriously claim to be addicted to chocolate ?

For reference, I've eaten a Tw*x and two Cadbury's Roses in the last hour, and am now feeling distinctly queasy about the whole experience. Should have stopped after the Tw*x, really, but when someone hands anything edible round I eat some on reflex.

Update: is there any mileage in the idea that extreme dedication to the eating of chocolate is a female thing ? A quick mental survey of blokes of my acquaintance suggests "no", but some people seem to believe it quite firmly.

Comments

Chocolate varieties

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Dark bitter chocolate is wonderful and like coffee but you don't want to eat too much of it. Milk chocolate is kind of well sweet gooey stuff that is okay really and white chocolate misses the point.
Milk chocolates with nuts in are better than other milk chocolate because nut goes with milk chocolate for some reason.

[redcountess]

I find the amount of chocolate I can handle depends on a lot of factors, including hormones and pain. Basically I eat a lot more of it when I have PMS (not necessarily cramps), or CFS type pain.

[venta.livejournal.com]

CFS?

'Scuse my ignorance.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

BAH! You win the prize for "First person to give me that sinking feeling". The sinking feeling being "MMmmm, some chocolate would be nice. Oh. I've given it up for lent. *Sniff*"

[venta.livejournal.com]

My apologies. It's nasty stuff, makes you feel all sick.
Or I can write extensively about it, if you like, to give you the genuine Job experience :)

Re: Chocolate varieties

[lathany.livejournal.com]

and white chocolate misses the point

Although people who both like and are allergic to chocolate (my father-in-law, for example) can eat white chocolate. They say that it's better than nothing.

Besides I like the stuff. Particularly in large cookies.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Feel free to write about it. (I'm not likely to forget about No Chocolate again soon, and it's only the remembering which is sad)

Re: Chocolate varieties

[triskellian]

I'm with leathellin (except that I'm not all that keen on the taste of coffee, which probably makes me a philistine or something ;-)

(Oh god, this is a 'me too' post. Are me toos allowed when it's data points you're after?)

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say that extreme dedication to chocolate was a female thing, but I would say that a greater proportion of my female friends than my male friends felt that way.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

In the days before I dieted (OK, that's possible pre-teens), I could eat chocolate until I ran out of the stuff. These days I get a vaguely guilty feeling, even though I'm not dieting, after a bar or half-bar. The guilty feeling tends to stop me eating more (after all, if I'm not fully enjoying it then it's wasted). However, I have to eat most of a decent sized easter egg before I start feeling sick.

And, as far as the update goes, bateleur's a chocolate addict - although he tends to have it little and often rather than being able to binge on it (I can do the binge thing).

Re: Chocolate varieties

[lathany.livejournal.com]

except that I'm not all that keen on the taste of coffee, which probably makes me a philistine or something ;-)

Yep, it does.

;-) (too).

Re: Chocolate varieties

[venta.livejournal.com]

No they're not if you're not answering any of the questions :)

I want to know, assortedly, how much is too much, whether you'd consider it addictive, and whether boys like it too. Me-tooing that you prefer dark to white is no use at all.

Bah :)

Re: Chocolate varieties

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Well if it is white then obviously the point is that any is too much and although dark chocolate is lovely I don't really want to eat more than a few Lindt squares at a time.
Addictive in the case of chocolate is I think more of a mental thing than a physical thing.
I think that of course boys like it too it's just that girls whinging about being on a diet are much more likely to comment on how much they wish they could eat some.

Re: Chocolate varieties

[triskellian]

Sorry - implicit question answering there ;-)

Too much = any more than a little bit of dark chocolate (not cos I don't like it, but because it's a bit overwhelming)

Too much = a moderate amount of milk (it's not overwhelming, but it's just not that exciting)

Too much = a slightly larger moderate amount of milk-with-nuts

("A moderate amount", incidentally, is at most two normal-sized chocolate bars. And only that much if I'm in an especially chocolate-craving mood. I think I eat the equivalent of maybe one bar a week, and am perfectly satisfied.)

Too much = any white chocolate. Why bother? (Unless it's Lindt white-with-coconut)

For the last two questions, I present bateleur as defence exhibit A.

[waistcoatmark.livejournal.com]

I find chocolate more-ish: like popcorn. If there's some to hand it takes a conscious effort of will to not eat it until it's gone, however if there's some in a shop it does _not_ take a conscious effort of will to refrain from buying it.

Can't remember ever remember feeling nauseous from eating too much chocolate (feeling full or guilty however...)

[redcountess]

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, it's probably the likeliest diagnosis now that I've been told it's not Lupus, and what I was originally diagnosed with back in 1997.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. A quick google suggests that CFS is hormone related, too (is that correct?).

I know a few people who link wanting chocolate to PMS, but I'd mostly assumed it was a sort of "I feel crap so I want something nice" reaction, rather than a genuine hormonal reaction. Do you think they're actually linked ?

(And since I don't think I commented on your LJ at the time, I'm really pleased to hear it's not Lupus :)

[mr-flay.livejournal.com]

I can quite happily devour a bar of Green And Black's Mint Fondant dark chocolate in a sitting unless I ration myself. I generally find normal (Cadbury's/Galaxy) chocolate to be very cloying after a few pieces though. Eating a whole Mars bar makes me feel queasy, and I'll probably take a fairly long time to eat a Twix. I enjoy it though.

Having said that, it took me over a month to finish off the chocolate I was given for Xmas, and I gave some of that away...

Mind you I did know a girl at university who was literally addicted to it, and got through about six bars a day.

Re: Chocolate varieties

[uitlander]

Indeed. Pure dark chocolate is the food of the gods, and should be treated with appropriate reverence.

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

Best solution for eating less chocolate *and* feeling morally superior:

Fair trade chocolate!

Green & Black's 'white' chocolate, for example, is a totally different animal to most other white chocolates, and is all speckly with vanilla bits :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm... vanilla, you say ? I must investigate.

I must concede about the only chocolate (barring chocolate covered things like Tw*xes and Marathons) bars I ever buy are G&B's Maya Gold. Which is lovely.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'll probably take a fairly long time to eat a Twix

Isn't that more due to having a Foul And Disgusting manner of consumption, though, rather than chocolate content ?

:)

[arralethe.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I think there's plenty of room for discussion on this topic.

Chocolate - if it's cheap and cheerful (Nestles/Cadbury/Hershey) then having too much (in terms of nausea causing) happens pretty early on, if only because the sugar content is obscene.

With quality chocolate (think Godiva and upwards) then it's hard to have too much, because while the sugar content isn't as high (leading to nausea), the satisfaction/taste value is higher, and so you savour it better. And I think that it's at this end of the spectrum that one discovers the more sensual experience...let's face it, Cadbury's just doesn't taste the same.

I don't think I'm addicted to chocolate, as I can go for weeks without having any and then suddenly decide I fancy some. I think a far more dangerous and prevalent addiction is that threatened by Cheesy Puffs.....

[redcountess]

They still don't know the cause, latest classification is that it's neurological. I've had my hormones tested regularly and they've always been within normal range. While it's a relief that it's not lupus, I'm back to square one and not getting adequate treatment.

[uitlander]

I'm very picky about chocs. Generically I don't like milk chocolate, and anything with caramel is just too sickly. So I expect I'd have fallen at the Tw*x hurdle.

Most chocolate (with the exception of Green & Blacks) you get in the UK is pretty low quality. But for arguments sake, if you happened to spend 4 years in Belgium, doing, say, 'academic research', an essential part of that would have to involve the major industries of Chocolate and Beer [oh no, I'd *never* indulge in a freshly picked strawberry dipped into a vat of melted 97% black chocolate, no NEVER - I'd have to have at least 2].