For the love of chocolate

Gentle readers, while you swoon with desire over the offerings above, let me say that the pic was taken over 3 years ago. I only have a 1kg slab of Dairy Milk and a monster bar of Toblerone in my 'fridge.

Honest!

Anyway, here's some seasonal cheer for all my readers....

Chocolate is actually good for you!!!

Many thanks to Medscape and my friend Dujeepa for this heart warming compilation.

Perspective (the small print)

In a commentary on Medscape,[35] Henry Black said, "What does that mean to us? Does it mean that we should start eating chocolate? Does it mean that we should prefer dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate or white chocolate? Perhaps. If we are going to recommend eating chocolate, we would like to be sure that we get the right kind. It is possible that there's something here that we actually like to do. We have to make sure that we watch the calories, that we don't gain too much weight, because we're pretty sure that eating too much isn't good for you either."

As for the Nobel Prize-winning chocolate eaters, Dr. Black added, "This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, and I want to congratulate the New England Journal of Medicine for having a sense of humor."

1. Flammer AJ, Sudano I, Wolfrum M, Thomas R, et al. Cardiovascular effects of flavanol-rich chocolate in patients with heart failure. Eur Heart J. 2012;33:2172-2180. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/770473 Accessed November 19, 2012.
2. Golomb BA, Koperski S, White HL Association between more frequent chocolate consumption and lower body mass index. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172:519-521.
3. Brown T. Frequent chocolate consumption linked to lower BMI. Medscape Medical News. March 26, 2012. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/760920Accessed November 19, 2012.
4. Zomer E, Owen A, Magliano DJ, Liew D, Reid CM. The effectiveness and cost effectiveness of dark chocolate consumption as prevention therapy in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease: best case scenario analysis using a Markov model. BMJ. 2012;344:e3657.
5. Grassi D, Desideri G, Necozione S, et al. Protective effects of flavanol-rich dark chocolate on endothelial function and wave reflection during acute hyperglycemia. Hypertension. 2012;60:827-832.
6. Messerli FH. Chocolate consumption, cognitive function, and Nobel laureates. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:1562-1564.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Back... and more!

Dearest readers... many apologies for my long silence, 3 months and more as reminded gently by Megs.

In summary though, I went to TN, came back completely unscathed and then drowned in a load of work and baby stuff. I completed my UK accreditation in higher education and submitted my portfolio for my postgraduate exam. The little Bumtrinket turned 1 and there was much joy and celebration. My finances lie in ruins due to big bash and indiscreet spending on luxury items for self. The Nanny abandoned us and I have been struggling for nearly 3 months without any household help... the one candidate we did find ran away (I kid you not) 2 days later and there was the whole shebang of filing police reports and what not.

So yeah... here I am a shadow (only figuratively - still am overweight  of my former self. Let's see if I can get this blog back on the role...

Mwah!