Why you SHOULD eat MORE chocolate!

[content_protector password=”pavlova17″]Chocolate is good for you. Why? Because it makes you smile.

That’s what my music teacher would say to us anyway, before our annual shared lunch. It was ironic because for the rest of the year I thought I would get in trouble for smiling. But this piece of advice always stuck with me, because as a kid it was exactly what I wanted to hear. Even as I’ve grown up, its remained one of my favourite thoughts. There really in nothing better than chocolate. The only downfall, is the health issue a bar of chocolate comes with. So wouldn’t it be amazing if someone told you that chocolate isn’t as bad as we think, in fact, that you should eat more of it? Well luckily, that’s exactly what I’m going to say!

If you overeat it, this won’t work. Too much of a good thing can’t be good. But there is a load of medically proven ways in which chocolate with a cocoa percentage of around seventy per cent or more — really is good for us. Research is continuing all the time, and experts have already found that chocolate is good for the heart, circulation and brain, and it has been suggested that it may be beneficial in such major heath challenges as autism, obesity and diabetes.
However, we don’t want to be told we can only eat dark chocolate in moderation, we want the good stuff. The Oreo Cadbury, the Lindt Bunny’s, the Whittaker’s Creamy Milk. So here it is, the research we need… It has been found that chocolate stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that bring on feelings of pleasure. This simply means that chocolate makes you happy. You take just one bite and it send a rush of delight to your brain.

However, because of the unbelievable deliciousness of chocolate it has more than one purpose. It’s so good, it can be used to motivate us to do just about anything. I put an M&M between each page of my readings when I need extra enthusiasm to do my work. Nothing works better. This doesn’t just work for encouragement though. Chocolate can solve an enormous amount of problems. Grumpy? Chocolate. Bored? Chocolate. Lonely? Chocolate. Mad? Chocolate. Sad? Chocolate. I’m telling you now, it will solve any issue you’ve got.

Critical Thinking Challenges:
1. Do you think chocolate is good for you?
2. Discuss the benefits of chocolate and the downfalls also. Try to think outside the box.
3. Think about the amount of chocolate you eat in your life. Should it be more or less? Do you even enjoy it?

Practical Tasks:
1. Ask your parents why or why not you were allowed chocolate as a kid?
2. Ask around your friends and take a poll about chocolate to discover whether people your age think it should be eaten more or less.
3. Research the amount of chocolate sold in big countries, such as America and compare it firstly to what is eaten/sold in New Zealand and then to what you eat.

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