CHOCOLATE THERAPY
If you think that’s barking, then what do you think of this next chap? His name is Murray Langham, author of the book Chocolate Therapy: Unwrap the Secrets of Your Inner Self. I was once on a radio programme with this guy when he was launching his book in the UK – he was on the phone from the States and I was in a BBC studio here in England. I don’t want to mock but ‘HELLO, IS THERE ANYBODY HOME?’ He claims that depending on the taste and shape of the chocolate you like, it not only determines part of your future but also tells you the kind of person you are. For example, if you like the taste of chocolate, ‘you are part of the advancement of the human race, looking to the future. You’re a pro-active person who respects other people’s points of view …’ and so it goes on. He then says that if you don’t like chocolate then ‘… perhaps you need to see a chocolate therapist.’ Now I realize that most people haven’t advanced to this level of far-out theory to sell the idea of chocolate to themselves and others, but you may not be lagging that far behind!
CONFECTIONERY
The fact is, you are not addicted because of the taste. You have certainly acquired a taste for it, there’s no question of that, and, yes, possibly you do now love the flavour of your favourite ‘brand’ of chocolate. But what must be clear is that is not why you find it hard to stop eating it. I love freshly picked strawberries. I love the texture, the look, the taste, the way a cool strawberry on a hot summer’s day feels in the mouth. I love the way that once in the mouth it begins to soften and melt, the flavours slowly trickling down my throat. I love all of that, but after I’ve had one I don’t have to ‘hammer the rest home’ until I feel sick; I don’t have to try and sell them to myself with provocative words or get people to ‘join me’ without feeling guilty. And if they were making me fat, ill, miserable and spotty I certainly wouldn’t have to buy a book on how to stop eating them! I don’t mean to shout but this point must be clear before we move on:
YOU ARE NOT ADDICTED BECAUSE OF THE TASTE!
You need to understand the reason for the ‘hook’ isn’t simply down to a very clever manipulating and manufactured taste, but the whole brainwashing package. And it’s the brainwashing package that needs looking at most of all. Taste clearly does come into it, I’m not saying for one second it doesn’t, and like I say you have indeed acquired more than a simple taste that you possibly now like very much, but you need to realize even the taste is a con. Not only are there professionals who are paid massive amounts of money to trick your taste buds and who can literally make anything taste of anything. Taste technology is now so advanced that they can make an artificial taste of vanilla if they so wish. Every aspect of the ‘taste sensation’ has been cleverly designed to trick you and, more importantly, to make sure that you come back for more. You need to realize that the chemicals and other apparent ‘foods’ they use to cover up the foul taste of cocoa also create part of the mental hook. The reason? Some are highly addictive!
We have seen already that there are many layers to this chocolate wolf – advertising, conditioning, brainwashing and taste. But each segment has its own layer and each one needs stripping fully before you can even begin to make the mental shift to freedom. Remember, I don’t expect you to get rid of chocolate yet, please tuck in if you want to throughout your reading of this book. We need to remove every layer and then give you the mental guidance before you can make the jump (glad that’s clear!).
On the taste front, we now know that neat cocoa tastes awful. In order to make it taste good the GODS have had to apply several different layers in order to make it edible and appealing for the mass market. The taste of cocoa is bitter, so therefore easily resistible. To help make it apparently ‘irresistible’, combinations of different confectioneries are made. It’s worth knowing that the word ‘confection’ originally referred to a ‘medicine’ made palatable with the addition of spices and sugar, hence, in my book – confection. Yes, even back in the 18th century, long before the chocolate bar was upon us and long before the GODS were doing the manipulating, doctors, along with priests, were preaching the ‘benefits’ of the bitter chocolate brew and were calling it a medicine. And how do we get the medicine to go down? A spoonful of sugar, of course! Now call me Mr Cynical, but it comes as no great surprise to me that doctors and priests were celebrating the virtues of this confection. Yep, you guessed it: the main manufacturers of chocolate brew were … priests and doctors! The GODS, of course, have gone a lot further than this with the addition of chemicals and all kinds of other ‘goodies’. However, there is one thing which hasn’t changed since the birth of the chocolate bar. There are a few substances in mass-market chocolate which hold your taste buds hostage, but make no mistake, none have the same power as this next layer. Yes, willpower doesn’t stand a chance, as your taste buds cry …
SIMPLE UNNATURAL GLUCOSE, ADDICTIVE AND REFINED
William Duffy was one of the first to warn of the dangers and addictive nature of this substance in his excellent book Sugar Blues. Since then there have been many more books warning of the dangers of this apparent ‘sweet and innocent’ food, and if there’s one ingredient in chocolate which I feel more passionate about than any other it is white refined sugar. If you get nothing else from this book, I truly hope that you leave it understanding the full implications of putting white refined sugar into your bloodstream on a regular basis.
The chocolate industry is fully aware of the horrific consequences which can easily come about as a direct result of refined sugar consumption/addiction – consequences which go way, way beyond losing the odd tooth or twenty. Yet despite knowing this, it doesn’t stop them lacing their ‘aimed-at-children’ products with tonnes of the white stuff. As a group, chocolate companies are one of the largest buyers of sugar in the world and they are more than aware of its addictive nature. According to the official BBC website,
‘All modern commercial chocolate products contain substantial amounts of sugar, a fact which may partly explain chocolate’s supposed addictive properties.’
The BBC have it right on the Cadbury button. Cadbury alone get through a massive 150 tonnes of sugar EVERY DAY! That’s a whopping 540,000 tonnes of white refined sugar entering just the Cadbury UK