Getting Your Chocolate Fix

I will admit it. I have a problem. I'm a choco-holic and I can't really help myself. I remember working in one office where one of our admins would always stock his desktop candy dish with little Hershey chocolate bars and I used to be able to fight the temptation but when I saw that he had loaded it with dark chocolate, I just wouldn't be able to fight off the temptation for very long. I could fight it off as long as I didn't take a single piece but after succumbing to the temptation to eat just one square of chocolate, it was enough to set me off for the whole day. I would then go back to the admin desk every so often to get a piece of chocolate. Now a piece itself may not constitute much by way of calories but when you start adding them up that's when you get to trouble. I mean for those looking to live a relatively lifestyle, a piece or two isn't going to do much but when those two pieces turn to two dozen pieces then you're talking about a problem and in my case an addiction.

It probably wouldn't be so bad if it was something healthy like fruit or veggies but still, I have yet to meet anyone who can honestly say that they are addicted to eating fresh cut celery. I think I enjoy celery as much as the next guy but that's not something you would care to admit to being addicted to. So like any relatively unhealthy habit you need to find a relatively healthy alternative and it seems that the scientific minds at Harvard may have come up with a solution. Inhalable chocolate. Now I know what you must be thinking and it's probably what I was thinking the first time I heard it. What would be the difference then between chocolate and cocaine. But rest assured the actual product isn't cocoa powder which is inhaled through a straw but rather an aerosol spray that is something akin to a breath spray.

The company making this product, Le Whif, says that the chocolate inhaler will give people the chocolate kick they desire without the excessive calorie intake that ordinarily accompanies chocolate consumption. Now I will believe it when I see it (and when it stops showing up on my stomach in the form of excess weight) but it sounds like a plausible alternative. I mean after all, any wine conniseur will tell you that food (like wine) is something that stimulates all five of our senses. And seeing as how the pipes from the nose and throat do intercept at certain points it's not surprising that there be some biological connection saying that if we inhale a chocolate spray we will still undergo the same 'kick' as if we had eaten a piece of chocolate.

We'll know first hand once the product starts hitting the market on 29-April. Perhaps it will be the answer that many people have been waiting for but then again I don't think Hershey or any of the other chocolate giants really have to worry way too much. After all, there's definitely something to be said about eating a piece of chocolate. Like any good food or something that appeals to our primal instincts, there's a different sort of pleasure derived from eating a food rather than the substitute. Perhaps for those of us who want a healthier alternative on occasion to defeat the usual excesses it will be a good choice but I do know that no matter what the scientific basis for the spray and inhaler, I will always have a soft spot for a nice solid piece of chocolate.