Giving up chocolate

Well, not entirely, but I'm giving up slab chocolate. A few days ago I had an acute pain all up my left arm - and it then spread down the left side of my chest. It was a little bit frightening.

I took a paracetamol and it subsided.

I knew I had eaten some sandwiches which were a little mixed - and had also had one of those breakfast croissants with fruit in it. I thought it was pain au chocolat but it turned out not to be - and it was so tasty I could not stop eating  it. In the sandwiches, which came with a working lunch the same day, was onion and other oddities.

On its own that's not enough to provoke an extreme reaction. After a little thought I realised I had changed my chocolate type the previous week. It was the final see-saw in an issue that has been bothering me for some years. Mild chocolate seems okay and can be tasty and quite stimulating - in the absence of coffee. However it's rich in fat and sugar. Now this year I've been steadily putting on weight. Not enormous amounts and I'm not fat but it was beginning to feel a little out of control, especially in the light of my NHS Health Check.

So I decided to try, again, switching from the cheap dark chocolate - which is about 60 per cent cocoa - to proper dark chocolate, which was about 85 per cent cocoa. It's bitter and should deter over-consumption. It's also rich in caffeine - as I found out two years ago.  Silly even to think about trying the stuff.

My arm is still a little stiff. I've tried finishing my bar of dark chocolate. That's probably a mistake - especially since I have run out of montelukast and have deleted the email address for a repeat prescription.

So I've got to stop snacking on chocolate things. If they're safe, they're too fatty and sugary. If they're lean, they're unsafe. I'm now getting through pints of decaf coffee as a substitute. Then it will be back to chewing carrots I think.

RAS