ChocolateBet: October 29, 2006

I'm finishing the last wonderful chocolate from a hand-picked assortment from Cocoa Bella (San Francisco). Today I polished off a chocolate in the shape of a cocoa pod. After the Cocoa Pod truffle, which is quite good (and visually fairly stunning), and is even colored and textured somewhat to look like the real thing, I decided to move on to a local favorite: Sees candies.

I grew up seeing the Sees white and black candy boxes, and remember their chocolate and caramel suckers as well. In the late 1970s, when I lived on the East Coast, bringing back Sees chocolate to the Wash., D.C., area group I worked with (after picking some up on a visit to California), was always appreciated. Those of us who had grown up on the West Coast really missed great fresh produce, good Haas avocados, sourdough french bread, good Mexican and Chinese food, and local favorites like Sees. Now, much has changed, and you can probably get all these things and more around our nation's capitol city. But, back to Sees...

I drive over to the local Sees at lunch, and they hand me two dark chocolate covered molasses chip candies to try, before I say a word. They're very good. The nice women there even give me a discount based on the company I work for. (I've forgotten to take off my geek badge I was wearing, and they notice.) I buy much more chocolate than I planned, and they load me up with another sample or two when they hear about my chocolate bet. Hmmm.

About the health part, there are indeed components of chocolate, especially dark chocolate that I'm told are healthy. But, there is the fats and sugars that cocoa is packaged with that cause worrisome effects. I'm not actively thinking about readjusting my goal of only gaining a few pounds during this year of chocolate dabauchery; but I'm starting to feel a snugness around my beltline. And I don't think it's my imagination. I'm starting to feel like Morgan Spurlock (sp?) who "starred" in the documentary "Supersize Me." He ate nothing but McDonald's fast food, and decided to up the ante by always saying yes when asked if he wanted McDonald's staff to supersize the burger-and-fries-and-drink and other combos he was ordering. And he documented his weight gain and other ill health effects during this time. I didn't weigh myself before I started this chocolate bet, and the cocoa-fueled portion of my diet is only a fraction of my total intake. However, I'll watch how my clothes are fitting, and will get my blood tested next year, just out of curiosity.