According to a small sidebar note in a recent edition of Woman’s World Magazine, a long-term study at Harvard has concluded that those who eat modest amounts of chocolate live longer. This is based on the fact that chocolate is jam-packed with heart-healthy polyphenols, which lower the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Funny… they didn’t even ask me to participate in this study, and I’d have gladly made the sacrifice in the name of science! I mean, it’s HARVARD, for crying out loud!

Yet maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t study me. I don’t know a thing about the guy (you KNOW it was a guy!) who created the definition of a “modest amount.” Does this limitation even take into consideration the month of February? And the fact that holiday at the middle of the month is my all-time favorite “reason” to indulge in COPIOUS amounts of dark sweet chocolate? Hhmm?

Well, at least I’m sticking with the highest cocoa percentage. No futzing around with that milquetoast milk chocolate, so much higher in the bad stuff and lower in the good stuff, no sirree… It’s dark sweet chocolate or nothing at all! And according to Harvard—HARVARD, mind you—my heart life may very well depend on it!

That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it. Now pass those chocolates in my direction, and there better be some of my favorites still left in the box!