No sugar?

Today, I sampled one of the presents I received from one of my siblings. I say sampled because I received a can of Godiva's Dark Chocolate Cocoa. I have to admit, it's just shy of injecting liquid chocolate into the veins. Wow. Why dark chocolate, you ask?

Well, dark chocolate is closer to pure chocolate straight from cocoa beans. It's not diluted with cream to make it sweeter. There are claims that it retains more of the cocoa taste. I am no connoisseur, so I can only say that I like it for a simpler reason. Less sugar. It means I can rationalize eating (or in this case, drinking) more of it. *grin*

Besides, as I've grown older, I've gotten less sweeter. Uhhmm. Let me rephrase that. As I've gotten older, I've gotten less partial to sweets. There is a distinct acidic after taste when you ingest sugar. In fact, if you've ever gotten cottenmouth, it's likely because you ate or drank something sweet a while ago. I really don't like getting cotton mouth. To avoid this, I eat less sugary things. It's not to say that I won't eat that glazed, frosting covered, sugar filled, soft chewy candy. I just avoid eating sugary things if it isn't what I am craving.

Heck, I drink my coffee with a touch of milk and no sugar. Everytime I order it this way, I always get asked, "No sugar?" I then have to repeat myself. When I first started drinking coffee, my family used to joke that I drank a little coffee with my sugar. I've become accustomed to bitter drinks. (Is this the reason I am bitter now instead of sweet? Nah.) Besides, if you purchase gourmet coffee, sugar completely destroys or masks much of the fragile and gentle flavors that the coffee bean may contain. I'm not ready to drink it black just yet. Now, that would be a truly bitter draught.

Best of all, the dentist likes me because my teeth have much less evidence of decay. Which shortens my visits and I like that. So there are some benefits to eating less sugar. Granted, that is more of a pratical concern, but it also means less pain, and I'm all for that.

I've often wondered what people used to eat for sweets before sugar cane was discovered. Or drink in the mornings for that matter before the coffee bean was discovered. Caffinated tea? Perhaps I will go find out one of these days.