Francis Garcia | Week 15: Chocolatey Goodness


Photo Credit: JoCooks

Chocolate is so good. And that’s a fact.

It all started from when I was born in Dubai. My dad would always come home to my family’s little apartment with a bag of chocolate, whether Hershey’s, KitKat, or M&Ms. It was definitely one of the many ways my dad and I would bond, and my love for chocolate grew to become an obsession as I continued thirsting for this sweet and bitter goodness. Also, it didn’t help that Dubai has a whole Hershey’s Chocolate World store in the Dubai Mall where my family and their friends would usually go to hang out.

I believe that we all had our experiences with chocolate, and most of our first few experiences happened to be positive. I mean, you can’t go wrong with the classic milk chocolate that is usually introduced to a child at a young age, and often, dark chocolate is more appreciated as that child matures. Nonetheless, chocolate is definitely something worth savoring.

However, such a sweet treat does have its consequences towards someone’s health, both good and bad. While chocolate releases some feel-good neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine to alleviate stress and increase enjoyment, it also contains its own levels of sugar and fat depending on how much sugar and cacao is utilized to create the chocolate being eaten. This emphasizes the need to regulate consumption of this treat to ensure that we don’t get spikes in blood sugar and experience high frequencies of mood swings and levels of fatigue. This would also call for diversifying the types of chocolate we ingest, given that chocolate of higher levels of cacao content is linked to improved brain function, mood, and overall performance. Straying away from the popular milk chocolate for more healthier options like dark chocolate can be beneficial for our bodies and even well-enjoyed when combined with toppings such as almonds and pistachio.

Chocolate can be both beneficial and detrimental to our health, but you can’t change the fact that it is so good regardless of the flavor and the additional toppings. And that’s a fact.


Comments

  1. NishithaApril 22, 2025 at 3:13 PM

    Hi Francis! Your blog made me really hungry, so I’m drinking a mocha frappe with extra chocolate sauce while writing this. I absolutely loved your writing this week, and like always, I thought it was incredibly sweet and personal while also being very playful. Starting off with your childhood memories in Dubai and your first experiences with chocolate made your blog feel extremely nostalgic. Like you, I also cherish the memory of my first time eating chocolate, and ironically, my dad was the one who first introduced it to me too! I especially liked that you acknowledged the limitations of chocolate, particularly when it comes to the detrimental health effects of consuming a lot of it. It was admirable that you recognized both the good and bad, and I thought that you did it extremely well since you were still able to maintain your warm and comforting tone. I also loved that you suggested exploring healthier alternatives to chocolate without taking away from the wonderful enjoyment of eating it!

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  2. Durga KurupathApril 28, 2025 at 8:43 PM

    Hey Francis! OMG, I totally forgot you were born in Dubai!!! What a unique fact! Second of all, you grabbed my attention just by the image (I don't necessarily find the Dubai chocolate appetizing, but it's chocolate nonetheless). Chocolate is definitely a highlight of everyone's day. Whether it be a nice mocha frappe on a busy school day like what Nishitha ordered, Halloween candy, the small Hershey Kisses a kid would find in the Dollar Tree store, or a nice chocolate ice cream binge-eating session after a heartbreak, chocolate has the power to completely change moods. It's there to comfort so many people on holidays, workplaces, and even at cultural excursions. It's everywhere! I also find chocolate to be equally as comforting as I would remember my grandpa taking me out to try the Cadbury brand (which was really bitter and I didn't like it one bit). I even got to see the real chocolate process in Costa Rica in the local manufacturing areas where the cacao nut that looks disgusting at first, transforms into a sweet delicacy. It shows that nature has provided us with all the things we really need, placing chocolate at a top! Due to this, it makes sense why chocolate can have health benefits but also be dangerous when subjected to overconsumption. This is such a fun topic and I can't wait to see your next blog!

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  3. Mridula AnandApril 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM

    Hello Francis,
    It is so cool that you were born in Dubai, and I love how your picture kind of represents your identity of being born in Dubai. Other than that, I also really like how your blog is about chocolate, something that represents the childhood of most of us here. Chocolate is a summary of our childhood, and the fact is that chocolate represents our desires even today, kind of showing how each of us still have a part of our childhood with us right now. Adding onto your blog, I also kind of believe that it is interesting how, like you said, people go from loving milk chocolate during their childhood and hating dark chocolate, but when they become an adult, they come to prefer dark chocolate. I think that as you said, health concerns related to chocolate should also be focused on, but I think this also relates to the milk chocolate and dark chocolate discussion. When we are children, there are not that many concerns about diabetes and such, so milk chocolate is fine. However, as we grow older, there are more concerns about diabetes, which is why milk chocolate is bad. As I said before, many adults do prefer dark chocolate, and dark chocolate actually has a lot of health benefits, which is extremely interesting if you look at it like chocolate is growing up with us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nichelle RodriguezApril 30, 2025 at 9:18 PM

    Hi Francis! I always seem to be learning new things about you from these blogs! It is so cool that you were born in Dubai, and I loved that you choose to center your blog on a very popular food. I, for one, have an insane sweet tooth, so many of my childhood memories are linked to sneaking out an extra cookie after already exceeding the limit my mother had set for me. I really liked how your last paragraph cast a more mature viewpoint on chocolate, written from the mind of a person who has grown to understand that every thing delicious must be enjoyed in moderation. Thank you for this lovely read!

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  5. Caleb TrunehApril 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM

    Hi Francis!
    I think I have already known from one of your past blogs that you were born in Dubai and I still to this day think that that's super cool. Its influence on your identify and strong connection to who you are today is incredibly interesting. Obviously, as someone who is on social media I have heard a lot about Dubai Chocolates but I have never took the time to research and understand what exactly it is. This blog allowed me to learn so much more about it. I loved how you explained that while it tastes good, chocolate is not the healthiest snack. Also, you're tone shift in the final paragraph to show the effects of chocolate was a great addition to your blog in my opinion. Overall, I truly enjoyed reading your blog this week and I look forward to reading what you have to write next week!

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