I keep telling you: chocolate, wine, tea are very, very good for you. They’re all on the list of my Dozen Daily Delights and should be consumed, slowly and deliberately, very, very often. I do. I expect I’m now one of the smartest people on the planet :)
ScienceDaily (Dec. 24, 2008) — All that chocolate might actually help finish the bumper Christmas crossword over the seasonal period. According to Oxford researchers working with colleagues in Norway, chocolate, wine and tea enhance cognitive performance.The team from Oxford’s Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics and Norway examined the relation between cognitive performance and the intake of three common foodstuffs that contain flavonoids (chocolate, wine, and tea) in 2,031 older people (aged between 70 and 74).
Participants filled in information about their habitual food intake and underwent a battery of cognitive tests.Those who consumed chocolate, wine, or tea had significantly better mean test scores and lower prevalence of poor cognitive performance than those who did not. The team reported their findings in the Journal of Nutrition.
So what other excuse do you need? Spend the last days of 2008 gorging yourself on all things delicious. Don’t put off til tomorrow what you can overindulge in today. What is wrong with you??
Nicola Griffith 
Dozen Daily Delights was the first blog I ever read of yours. It made me feel MUCH better about eating chocolate (not BROWN CANDY!!)and having multiple orgasms. Even if they were self induced. Yay for tea and chocolate…and wine, even though I don’t drink anymore.
People from cold climates have always known that wine, chocolate tea(and coffee) and sex keep the blood flowing in the dark heart of winter. If they also aid thinking, all to the good. My new year’s resolution is to drink more wine, etc. And if it doesn’t taste good, spit it out!
I just wish cost didn’t make chocolate so prohibitive– I hate sweets, so the bullshit sugarchocolate is out for me.As I understand it, Tea Vs. Coffee usually ends up coming out in coffee’s favor, as far as these things go– more antioxidants, whatever. I don’t know. What about mate? I like me some mate.
nicola, the title for this post is awesome! We got an entire month’s worth of pigging-out-on-chocolate supply as presents. We’ve got berries plus cinnamon plus almonds on dark chocolate, we’ve got the usual hazelnut and dark, we have milk chocolate pearls (not my favorite, but E likes them), and truffles. Yum… Also wine. Also loose tea: from the Tower of London *smile* (E’s youngest sis just returned from your old country), plus a bunch of more standard ones. We’re all set to up our cognitive performance. barbara, <>People from cold climates have always known<> […] Nah-ah. Not always. There was a time when Europeans thought xocolātl was poison and/or a drink of the devil. Even though the Spanish introduced it to Europe from Mesoamerica in the 1500s, it wasn’t until the 18th century that it became popular in the form of solid tablets with a lot of milk and sugar. One of the things I love about Mexican cuisine is that there is a variety of sauces (salty, sweet, sweet and sour, spicy, sweet and spicy, etc.) that employ cacao as a main ingredient. Plus a number of traditional pre-Hispanic beverages made with cacao. You may be able to taste some of those without leaving the comfort of the US. My sister-in-law works for the Mexican branch of Hershey’s, and they are in the process of developing a line of “local accents” that includes chocolate with various types of spicy peppers. mordicai, mate is supposed to be very good. It doesn’t dehydrate your bones the way caffeine does.
Karina –Hershey should stop trying. :) There’s already so many great chocolatiers out there that have already done this, with great success. Just walk down the chocolate aisle of any Whole Foods and you can find chocolate with chilies, cayenne, cardamom, etc. And the two best drinking chocolates I’ve ever had both contain a fair amount of chilies and cayenne: Jacques Torres’ Wicked Hot Chocolate and Vosges’ Aztec Elixir. Both are extraordinary!
realmcovet, some self-indulgence is nothing but good.barbara, Seattleites certainly know about the beer/chocolate/coffee troika.mordicai, depends on the tea–which doesn’t irritate the stomach the way coffee does. Also depends how strong you drink it.karina, I don’t think I’ve ever drunk mate–but I’m pretty sure it has caffeine in it. As for dehydration, most tea and coffee drinker adjust to the degree that the diuretic effect is negligible, at least at moderate (two or three cups a day) doses. And I believe bone loss (i.e. the leaching out of calcium) is directly correlated with the diuretic effect.
clindsay, y’know, so many people tell me that chili is great in all kinds of things but no, no no no. Not for me. Ptuh. (One of the–many–instances in which I’m just old-fashioned.)
I glanced at the pic in the post and saw boobies above slabs of chocolate. Happy presents!
Karina, wouldn’t you know two things I love best, chocolate and french fries originally come from south of the border.
So, Can we be broke down into nothing, or are we infinte?
Infinite.
<>anonymous<>, yes :)
Good answer. :)