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If your diet is making you a humbug this season, there’s some good news. Turns out dark chocolate, that decadent confection, may actually be good for you!

Yes, recently conducted studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have shown that a dose of dark chocolate will heed all sorts of healthy results. And with the holidays just around the corner, this news couldn’t have come at a better time.

So just for fun, I thought I’d conduct a mini-research project of my own and get the “skinny” on our friend dark chocolate. Here’s some of the interesting “factoids” I came up with: Cocoathe precursor to chocolate–has been around a long time. A few thousand years, in fact. It has been thought that cocoa beans were brought to Europe in the 1500’s by Christopher Columbus. Cocoa, later made into chocolate, was given to American Soldiers in WWII. A source of high energy, each solider was given a three chocolate bar per day ration, according to historical data. Researchers started getting more involved when studies began showing that in addition to being a high energy food, chocolate also seems to stimulate elevated moods. Researchers found truth to this, showing that dark chocolate does, in fact, increase levels of the mood-altering chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins. Some researchers have also gone on to conduct major studies to prove the correlation between chocolate and a true physiological craving. (Check out “Why Women Need Chocolate,” written by Debra Waterhouse, Registered Dietician in 1999). And, the best news yet. Upon further study, it has been found that the “flavonoids” in dark chocolate are scientifically proven to act as antioxidants, preventing “bad” cholesterol (LDL) in the blood from oxidizing and clogging arteries.

So, if you are looking for a healthy way to “cheat” this holiday season, dark chocolate may not be all together a bad option. Facts aside, however, and before you run out to fill your shopping cart full, keep these guidelines in mind: Heed the advice of Aristotle: “Everything in moderation.” Refrain from taking the “chocolate factory tour.” Keep your chocolate fix to a minimum. Enjoy it, but please don’t over do. When you are shopping for chocolate, try to find “dark” varieties with at least 70% cocoa. Also, make sure “sugar” or “butter fat” are not the first items listed.

If you’d like to skip the treat and not the fun, send a virtual chocolate postcard from this fun chocolate website (no calories included) : http://www.virtualchocolate.com/index.cfm

To summarize my findings, it appears that dark chocolate is in fact our friend (and we will just leave its aphrodisiac qualities to your own private discussion groups, thanks).

As for the cravings….Well, do we really “need” chocolate?

Survey says: Dunno. But, with the holidays upon us, a Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate once in a whilenow available in the “sugar free” variety, mind you–sounds sweet enough to me.

(Research Ref: Eat To Beat Cancer, Hatherill. 1998 St. Martins Press, New York)

About the Author

Laura Turner, Certified Personal Trainer has developed a series of health, fitness, and nutrition tips available at http://www.1brand-new-body.com In 21 days you can create healthy new you,let her show you how! Get her free report: 7 Steps to a High Performance Body by sending a blank email to: mailto:hiperformbody@getresponse.com
VioletProsePubs@aol.com

September 11, 2001 was not the first time an airplane crashed into a skyscraper. Actually, such tragedies are more common than is thought.

On July 28, 1945, for instance, a U.S. Army B-25 bomber traveling at 200 miles (c. 370 kilometers) per hour in heavy fog crashed into the Empire State Building in New York City. Luckily it was a Saturday, though dozens were injured and 14 killed. People thought the city was being bombed:

Doris Pope, Boynton Beach, Fla. told The Palm Beach Post in 1999:

“We heard this terrible noise, and the building started to shake. … As we looked out our third-floor window, we saw debris fall on to the street. We immediately thought New York was being bombed.”

Another eyewitness, Helen J. Hurwitt, from Greenacres, Fla., told the Post:

“I heard a horrendous noise. My husband and I were in a building directly opposite the Empire State Building. … Large plate-glass windows looked out onto 34th Street. The floor we were on was pretty high. At some point, we heard a horrendous noise and rushed to the windows. … We were horrified to see a B-25 half in and half out of the Empire State Building.”

“The building shuddered, realigned itself, and settled. Probably instantly, although several witnesses said there seemed to be a moment’s interval, came the explosion, and the top of the fog-shrouded Empire State Building was briefly seen in a bright orange glow. High-octane airplane fuel spewed out of the ruptured tanks and sprayed the building…The heat was so intense that partition frames within offices disappeared, and the shattered glass from windows and lamp fixtures melted and fused into stalactites….One engine, part of the fuselage, and a landing gear tore through the internal office walls, through two fire walls and across a stairway, through another office wall and out of the south wall of the building, with the parts coming to a fiery rest at 10 West Thirty-Third Street in the penthouse studio/apartment of sculptor Henry Hering, who was off playing golf in Scarsdale at the time”

John Tauranac, The Making of a Landmark, New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1997, (originally printed in hardcover by Scribner, 1995)

One of the massive aircraft’s engine crossed the entire skyscraper, from north wall to south wall, and landed on the roof of another building nearby. The damage was estimated at $1 million (that’s 1945 dollars). It took 3 months to repair the 78th and 79th floors.

But the September atrocities provoked a wave of copycats and renewed awareness of such risks.

On April 18, 2002 a small airplane ran into the 26th floor of Milan’s tallest building, the Pirelli Tower. Three people were killed, dozens injured and the building was severely damaged.

On January 5, 2002, a 15-year old deliberately crashed a small, single engine, craft into the 28th floor of the Bank of America Plaza in Tampa, Florida. The pilot dies. There were no other casualties.

At the beginning of May 2002, an Indian air force jet hit crashed into a bank building in northwestern India. Eight died in the ensuing fire.

Sam Vaknin ( samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com