At the start of this month, I made a pledge on this blog to completely cut off my consumption of chocolate. I had noticed a dangerous trend emerging, and felt that the only way to save my love for chocolate was to temporarily give it up for good. It was a drastic measure to be sure, but one I felt had to be taken for the good of my sanity.
Aside from a few exceptions, I successfully eliminated chocolate from my diet during June of 2019. Granted, I know that if there were exceptions I didn’t technically complete my mission, but given the complete list of offenses below I hope you see things my way:
- Authentic Italian bakery cookies from Long Island: These came courtesy of a coworker, who brought them to my housewarming party in the second half of the month. I took the liberty of opening the box when it arrived, and was taken aback by the variety included therein. There were some cookies in there that didn’t contain chocolate, but the first one I picked up did (albeit not very easily seen). Since I already picked it up, and since it looked incredibly delicious, I said “what the heck,” and ate it.
- Kale Cookies and Cream ice cream from By Chloe: This happened the day after the housewarming. I was out on the town with my family when we stopped into By Chloe so my sister could pick up a gluten-free treat. It was the middle of a hot day, and since we had been walking around for a while I was in the mood for something frozen and sweet. I had an internal and external back-and-forth in an effort to decide if I really wanted to try ice cream with kale in it, but my never-ending desire to try odd creations led me to pick up 4 oz of the stuff. Though the taste of kale was not very prominent, it still tasted like healthy ice cream. Am I happy I ordered it? Yes. Would I order it again? Probably not.
- A gluten-free Tate’s chocolate chip cookie: I was hungry at work, and they were there.
- Dark chocolate–covered raisins from Sahadi’s: I actually just ate these today as a way to celebrate the end of my chocolate fast. I had initially purchased the raisins in bulk back in May, and didn’t have the chance to finish the bag before the beginning of June. Thus, the raisins sat in my refrigerator for a month, staring back at me as I continued to push back their date of consumption. Given the nature of how candy ages, I think it’s safe to assume they tasted as good today as they would have a month ago.
Aside from these four transgressions, I led a chocolate-free lifestyle for a month. I had to turn down offers of candy, cookies, doughnuts, brownies, cupcakes, and anything else that might have had chocolate on or in it. I must admit it was a difficult task, and given the exceptions I’ve outlined it’s clear that I still fell victim to my desire to eat anything laid before me. Even though I transgressed, I put quality over quantity. I wasn’t throwing crappy milk chocolate into my mouth every half hour like I normally would at my desk. I was picking and choosing my treats, accepting only the best, unique chocolate options.
What’s more, I think the examples of the chocolate chose to eat prove that this experiment was a success. Eating chocolate became a treat again. I can’t say for certain that it tasted any different after not having it for a few weeks, but there was a sense of joy present that hadn’t been there for a long time.
Given this success, I will try to continue the momentum I’ve gathered to this point. Sure, I may be more likely to eat chocolate than I was in June, but I will do my best to continue to avoid bad chocolate and only eat the good stuff. The never-ending supply of M&Ms on the desk next to me will never stop being tempting, but if I was able to get through the past month without picking at it I like my chances for the weeks and months to come.
