Food & Drink

Chocolate and sugar addictiveness

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Jul 7, 2017
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Chocolate and sugar addictiveness

Personal observation about how addictive some confectionery can be.

Just before X'mas, my wife and I got into the RCSS/PCO promotion for the PC brand chocolate bars. Fortunately most were given to neighbours but we kept a couple of bars for my consumption (wife's on low carb).

What I found is that the PC chocolates (French made FWIW) are awfully addictive and drives cravings for more. Tried to limit myself to eating a bar over 5-7 days but I think the 2nd one was eaten within 3-4 day if not fewer (certainly wasn't a one sitting).

By contrast, I opened up a bag of Kind Bark purchased months ago at RCSS on clearance. I find that it doesn't taste as sweet and satiates the desire for something sweet much better: Just one "square" - same size as a chunk off the PC bars and it satiates my cravings more the rest of the day.

PC bars have 33% sugar (from beets or whatever is used in France) while Kind Bark is just under 30%. Wonder what the difference is.
I smile when I see container ships sailing past my house laden with stuff made in China
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Deal Fanatic
Sep 16, 2004
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UrbanPoet wrote: Dont they say chocolate gives you an orgasm or something like that?

Not joking im serious! Saw it on the news
Releases endorphins.
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Jan 27, 2004
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gh05t wrote: Releases endorphins.
Is that the scientific name for... “tadpoles”?
I wouldnt want to eat too much chocolate one day and have an inappropriate reaction.

Sometimes @ work. Customers give us chocolate as a present. But i only ever have one or two pieces because you shouldnt have too much. But sometimes i am tempted to eat more.

The ladies of the office go crazy over it. Maybe thats why. Especially this homosexual guy. But he is always happy, he is like one of those kind of homosexuals. Nice guy. Very helpful.
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Think of the Childre…
Don't go grocery shopping on a empty stomach.

WOULD SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!
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For me it is not the endorphins but sugar cravings. I am convinced the human innate conditioning to seek sweetness in foods is being exploited by the snack industry which has led to obesity.
Cheapo-Findo wrote: Don't go grocery shopping on a empty stomach.
That's what I've heard but I seem to have a remarkable ability for self control (or am just too cheap) when it comes to this. Hardly ever buy food on an impulse, and if so never anything ready-to-consume.
I smile when I see container ships sailing past my house laden with stuff made in China
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May 28, 2012
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Saskatoon
I bought some of that PC chocolate during the seasonal offer. I use it for making homemade chocolate pudding (look up recipe from Smitten Kitchen). I'm always on the lookout for deals on imported dark chocolate, not for eating out of hand but for using in desserts. Lindt is especially good. It's much better quality than domestic i.e. Baker's or Chipits chocolate.
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Mars2012 wrote: Lindt is especially good. It's much better quality than domestic i.e. Baker's or Chipits chocolate.
Lindt is the other one we buy now and then. I find it, like Kind Bark, seems less addictive (to/for me) than the PC chocolate.
I smile when I see container ships sailing past my house laden with stuff made in China
Deal Addict
Jun 14, 2018
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I eat chocolate almost every day, but I'll only eat the equivalent of a regular sized chocolate bar and it satisfies my sugar cravings in ways that fruit can't (I still eat fruit everyday as well, though). ~200-250 calories a day dedicated to chocolate is well worth it to never have any other sugar cravings.
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Nov 15, 2008
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There are a bunch of different styles of making chocolate.

For milk chocolate one of the issues is when to drive the moisture out of the milk. If you do it with the milk, chocolate, & sugar together the sugar takes on a caramelized flavour (think Cadbury's, British & some Canadian brands) but if you condense the milk separately those flavour notes are not there (European continental style).

Anything made for higher-heat markets like the southern US (or US in general) or Middle East (where it is not that popular to begin with) is lower cocoa butter because otherwise it will bloom in the heat, where the fat rises to the surface of the bar & makes it look white with mold. It is totally edible but it looks ugly. Without as much cocoa butter the bars have a waxier mouthfeel.

I am not big on chocolate but when I do eat it, I like Ritter Sport.
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thriftshopper wrote: What I found is that the PC chocolates (French made FWIW) are awfully addictive and drives cravings for more. Tried to limit myself to eating a bar over 5-7 days but I think the 2nd one was eaten within 3-4 day if not fewer (certainly wasn't a one sitting).
Bwhahahahaha, I just had to laugh at that. You are nowhere near addiction. 1 bar in a week? Cmon, unless those bars are like, 1 dunno, 1kg each? I sometimes eat 1 reg chocolate bar a day. That's NOTHING.

You remind me of this lol:
Hard work, inheritance, interest on interest accumulating, and stock and real estate speculation. It's all good.
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No doubt the industry wants you to crave their products more but I'm not sure this is the whole case here. Without knowing what you were doing with your life during that time, ie working, sitting at home more than usual, bored more than usual all those things can trick your mind, not having enough water.

Sugar itself is highly addictive and coupled with idle hands would increase your cravings.

Might want to check if you're pregnant as well Face Savouring Delicious Food
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WMPCOT wrote: No doubt the industry wants you to crave their products more but I'm not sure this is the whole case here. Without knowing what you were doing with your life during that time, ie working, sitting at home more than usual, bored more than usual all those things can trick your mind, not having enough water.

Sugar itself is highly addictive and coupled with idle hands would increase your cravings.
Good point. My normal/usual; sitting watching TV after dinner. With Lindt or Kind Bark, I can just eat a square or two and leave the rest of it until the next day. Not so with the PC bars. I do notice the PC bars taste very sweet. The extra 3% sugar perhaps?

Might want to check if you're pregnant as well Face Savouring Delicious Food
Definitely impossible!
I smile when I see container ships sailing past my house laden with stuff made in China
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PC Dark Chocolate & Almonds UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE, SUGAR, ALMONDS, COCOA BUTTER ... no salt
Kind Bark Dark Chocolate Almonds & Sea Salt ALMONDS, CHOCOLATE, SUGAR, COCOA BUTTER ... contains salt
Lindt Excellence Roasted Almond Dark Chocolate CACAO SOLIDS, SUGAR, COCOA MASS, ALMONDS, COCOA BUTTER ... no salt
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I like pineapple, tomatoes & onions (sweetness to the max) + anchovies, green olives, bacon (saltiness to the max, plus a load of extra fat).

The only person who has ever agreed to share this Frankenstein with me was a professional French chef. He got it. No one else did. He liked it, too!

Dark chocolate is very bitter cocoa with a load of sugar & fat to overcome the nastiness, sort of like a double-double. Some people put a sprinkle of salt on their coffee grinds before they brew a pot to take the edge off the bitterness, & the Kind Bark has salt in it to work the same way.
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Jan 3, 2017
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UrbanPoet wrote: This is probably why some weirdos like pineapple on pizza! It has a lot of natural sugars
I like pineapple on a pizza but you haven't lived until you have had grilled pineapple on a burger. OMG..Heaven

Hawaiian Burger for the win
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fryguy1987 wrote: I like pineapple on a pizza but you haven't lived until you have had grilled pineapple on a burger. OMG..Heaven

Hawaiian Burger for the win
Grilled pineapple on a cheese burger is good.
Or just grilled pineapple on a plate of bbq meat and corn.
But hawaiian pizza creeps me out.
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UrbanPoet wrote: Grilled pineapple on a cheese burger is good.
Or just grilled pineapple on a plate of bbq meat and corn.
But hawaiian pizza creeps me out.
Bah, live a little, U.P. haha.
Hard work, inheritance, interest on interest accumulating, and stock and real estate speculation. It's all good.

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