Thursday 12 March 2009

Chocolate Bad, Salt Good?

So this Scottish wowser is calling for a tax on chocolate. Chocolate, he declared on the radio this morning, is 'a major player in the rising obesity crisis' (and obesity is, he points out, 'a mushrooming problem'). He's especially indignant about the good press chocolate has been getting lately, giving people the impression it's good for them. Well, that depends, of course, on what you call chocolate. In my book, proper chocolate begins at 70 percent cocoa solids (and ends some way short of the all but uneatable 99 per cent). Unfortunately, what most people regard as chocolate has percentages in the 20s and is mostly fat and sugar. The obvious thing to do - and I've been saying this for a long time - is to tax sugar, a substance which has no place in the human diet. Best, indeed, to tax all sweeteners, as they only encourage the 'sweet tooth' and make us fat. Sole exemption - honey, because I like it and therefore conclude it's health-giving. Sorted.
I also like salt - and there's good news on that front. It may kill you, but at least you'll die happy. Of course, like all such 'findings', this should be taken (hem hem) cum grano salis.

14 comments:

  1. Note with interest the Doc's location, Lanarkshire, the county who's population have a death wish, solid labour, as you would expect, high unemployment caused mainly by employers being terrified of moving into the region. The good Doc should have added batter to the hit list, deep fried Mars bars are the default evening meal.
    The Holyrood numpties need little encouragement to social engineer, at the moment they want to introduce a minimum price for alcohol in an attempt to reduce binge drinking, the nations going to hell in a handcart and Scottish politicians are playing with their marbles

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  2. More than a hint of Krauty schadenfreude in that Speigel spiel, Malty?

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  3. I'm sure you're right about chocolate. I believe the pure kind low in sugar and high in cocoa is actually very good for us, as well as being delicious. These folks make top chocs, imho. I use honey rather than sugar. Honey has so many uses, even as a salve according to Dr James Le Fanu. Besides, while no one would think of giving someone a bag of sugar as a gift, a jar of really good, homemade country honey makes a fine one.

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  4. Absolutely, Mark - especially as British honey's becoming increasingly rare, with all these bee problems...

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  5. Rubbing salt into the wound Brit.

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  6. Honey is good for you, Nige. So is maple syrup, though I don't know how available that is in England. And of course you are quite right in concluding that if you like it, it must be good for you. That's my rule of thumb.

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  7. Fear not, Frank, maple syrup has reached these shores. We pour it liberally over our liver and onions, tripe, black puddings and spotted dicks.

    But not on our bacon - that's just weird.

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