To Eat or Not To Eat... Chocolate!

My favorite topic, Chocolate! I wanted to bring to light some interesting facts about Chocolate.

1. Chocolate comes from an Aztec word "cacahuatl", which means "bitter water".
2. Cocoa Beans were used as a form of currency by the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Pay me with chocolate any day!
3. Mexico's Emperor Montezuma sipped a Chocolate drink before entering his harem. This gave rise to the notion of Chocolate having aphrodisiac properties. There could be some truth to the idea though, since Chocolate contains hundreds of chemicals including feel-good stimulants - Caffeine, Theobromine, and Phenyethylamine. I know it makes Me feel good!
4. Allergies to chocolate are very uncommon
5. Chocolate is a wonderful energy source. A single chocolate chip provides enough food energy for an adult to walk 150 feet; hence, it would take about 35 chocolate chips to go a mile, or 875,000 for an around-the-world hike.
   
6. A common myth is that indulging in chocolate causes acne. However, experiments conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Naval Academy (good to know our tax dollars are doing some real good!) found that eating chocolate, even frequently, had no effect on acne. That's great news!!! Bring on the Chocolate!
7. Consumers spend nearly $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate.
8. The average person eats about 12 lbs. of chocolate a year. Is that all?!?
9. American Chocolate Manufactures use 1.5 billion pounds of milk each year. That's only slightly less than the Cheese and Ice-cream industries!
10. Studies are now showing that small daily amounts of dark chocolate will lower blood pressure in those with moderately elevated blood pressure readings. Rock on!
    

So now that you know, go! Go out and enjoy your chocolate!