EcoSalon | Conscious Culture and Fashion » wellness

Strike Overwhelmed from Your Vocabulary

Danielle LaPorte — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:00:50 +0000

It’s time to get whelmed instead.

Your plate is full, right?
You’ve been at this for a while.
Life is your kind of kuh-raz-eee.

And then it gets fuller, and the time has come, or there’s a curve-ball, and things get well n’ truly wild.

And you could say, because it’s your right to, that you’re feeling “overwhelmed”. But don’t. Don’t go there. Stay with me, on the light side of change and bursting creativity; on the front end of pressure, and greatness, and the best and worst kinds of challenges.

Back away from overwhelm. Because when you just utter that word, you cast doubt on your capacity to rise. You let angst flop on your couch. You fret that you might not have the resources to surmount obstacles or to seal the deal on your dream.

Let’s make a pact. If you slip and use the o-word, I’ll refuse to believe you. I’m going to act like you didn’t even say it, and I’m going to remind you that

: you put everything on your plate with intention, and you have a huge say in creating your reality.

: you’ve been watering your dreams for years and you’re going to get what you ask for and allow (ya!)

: tragic circumstances or a circus of success — you’ve got what it takes to meet life with more giving.

Ban “overwhelmed” from your vocabulary. Refuse it entry to your psyche. You’re bigger than that.

Just be, you know, whelmed (this is best said with a Jewish, Brooklyn accent.)

Whelmed. Not at full capacity, rather, full of capacity.

Whelmed. Sounds full of potential, doesn’t it?

Editor’s Note: Danielle LaPorte is the creator of WhiteHotTruth.com, which has been called “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality.” She is the author of The Fire Starter Sessions: A Digital Experience for Entrepreneurs, an inspirational speaker, former think tank exec, and news show commentator. You can read all of Danielle’s EcoSalon guest articles here, and find her on Twitter @daniellelaporte.

Image: uggboy

10 Benefits of Sunshine

Katherine Butler — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:47:11 +0000

Some lesser-known benefits of safely sitting in the sun.

I’m walking on sunshine, and don’t it feel good? Or so say the lyrics of peppy 1980s ditty by Katrina and the Waves. Turns out, awesome 80s pop music got it right. I live in sunny Southern California, but I spend much of my time in a writing cave populated by social media clicks and a chipped coffee mug I sometimes bang against the window pane at the outside world. When this happens, I just step outside to soak up the sun.

Why am I doing this? It turns out that that sunlight can have some great health benefits. So here’s ten lesser-known reasons to make sure you get some safe time in the sun.

Sunshine puts us in a better mood.
When you step outside and suddenly feel like smiling, odds are that the sun is smiling down on you. David Strohmetz is a psychologist at Monmouth University. As he told Psychology Today, “nice days put us in a good mood, which engenders helping and generosity. When we’re in a good mood, we want to maintain that mood.” This even makes us better tippers.

Sunshine helps you heal.
A 2007 study found that not getting enough direct sunlight could increase our chances of cancer by at least 70%. However, sitting in too much sun without protection can cause skin cancer. Happy mediums for all!

Sunshine influences the stock market for the better.
The stock market is three times as likely to go up if the city of the exchange is having a sunny day. No word on if traders have figured out a way to beam sunlight onto the floors of the New York Stock Exchange.

Sunshine helps you smoke less.
Psychology Today points out that on cloudy days, we “compensate artificially.” This means that those who smoke, drink, and do whatever else makes them feel “good,” really lay it on thick. Note to self: stop doing rain dances.

We eat less chocolate on sunny days.
Chocolate makes us happy, so we need less of it when the sun is shining. Because we’re already happy! But is this really a benefit? Only if you’re watching your weight.

If you are applying to college, you have a better chance of getting in with lesser grades on a sunny day.
Uri Simonsohn is the behavioral economist at the University of California at San Diego who conducted a study of the science of sun. As he told Psychology Today, “Applicants who are strong academically are more likely to be admitted on cloudy days, whereas candidates who are strong socially are more likely to be admitted on sunny ones. Cloudy days call to mind thoughts of staying inside to read or study.” No word on what snowy days say about academics.

Sunshine can influence your cholesterol.
Our bodies make Vitamin D from sunlight, which is necessary for a whole host of important health issues. Your body converts a type of cholesterol into Vitamin D.

Sunshine helps you sleep better.
If you get a lot of natural light during the day, your circadian rhythms will align. Natural light also increases melatonin which increases sleep. So good night, sweet sun.

Sunshine makes you play more.
In the sun, you feel better and want to get active. Consequently, you have more of an urge to frolic under the sun like wood nymphs in a Shakespearean comedy.

Sunshine can help clear up acne, eczema, psoriasis, athlete’s foot and more.
Some experts urge that getting moderate amounts of sun can help clear up skin disorders. And even still, sun may improve your digestion and metabolism.

*And as always, don’t overdo it, keep your sunblock handy, and talk to a medical professional before treating major ailments with sunshine.

Images: wanko, johncohen, 33498942@N04, XLordashX, Cara Photography

The Insider’s Guide to Life: I’m Good at This

Sara Ost — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:35:24 +0000

ColumnBe you.

I am not an athletically inclined person. While I love hiking and yoga and dancing all up in da club now and again, I am resiliently unmotivated to “push” my body in ways that I deem boring or annoying. I do not thrill to bun-burning stair runs, whether they be in Santa Monica or on Lyon Street in San Francisco, although I’m clearly good at taking up residence near them (if only to snub them). I don’t enjoy running, I openly despise biking, and pilates, well, that branch of fitness seems like a great way to micro-manage everything good about yoga right out of it. I often marvel in detached wonderment at the many denizens of the Bay Area who love these things and love them hard, and then I judge their fleece vests.

All of this explains why, despite growing up in Washington State where outdoor recreational opportunities abound, I have never skied. Telling people this invariably gets one of two responses: “But you’re so NorCal!” and “But you’re so NorCal!” Turns out, I’m actually not so NorCal, and when a couple of friends invited me to go skiing in Tahoe this holiday weekend, I decided it was high time to address this deficiency.

This is the part of the column where things get real. Standing in line at REI the night before the trip, laden with a rent check’s worth of gear, I wasn’t just apprehensive – I was fully resigned to the stone certainty that I would be terrible at this, and go home with my uncoordinated tail between my legs. Self, better hang on to the receipt, I told myself. I was scared. I opted for two days of beginner snowboarding lessons to offset the impending humiliation as much as I could, and I was relieved to find that the High Camp bunny hill at Squaw was satisfactorily out of eyesight of the other runs where my peers without athletic neuroses looked to be flinging themselves willingly at rocks and trees and each other.

I had the entire storyline signed, sealed and sent to press: Never Particularly Athletic, Clumsy City Girl Begged Not to Return by Ski Instructor.

And then something funny happened. No, not the first day where I crashed my way down the bunny slope all afternoon. All of five minutes into day two, I got my legs. And it turns out, to my disbelief and delight: They’re good legs. Really good. I’m…good at this. Yes, Self, you can go faster. Yep, you can finish the run first, and get on that lift and do it again. You can even stop (most of the time).

It was a memorable weekend, and not just because I spent significantly less time on my backside than I’d anticipated. I was with good friends and made new friends, too. The last night, in a big dinner mashup of multiple entrees (including a “salad off”) with our party and another group of friends who were there, will go down as one of the funniest meals of my life. Let’s just say anesthesiologists have some quality stories. Highly recommend.

All weekend, my friends had been trying to help me come up with this week’s column topic. “What about ways that ski resorts are going green?” Cheng. “How about green ski products?” Michelle. “Getting out into nature?” Jeff. All good, but in the end – or rather, at the top – I had my topic. Cliche, but true: There’s nothing like being fully immersed in the present moment, using your body, to experience the proverbial epiphany. Sliding off the lift for the third or fourth time on that beautiful day, banking to look at sparkling Lake Tahoe, I had mine. The confidence that comes with taking joy in oneself, whether that’s keeping your own company or reaching out to someone else or achieving something new (such as not falling down the slope). As perfectionists, as activists, as go-getters, as people who generally strive to do well, better, best, we can get so caught up in grading ourselves, we forget to delight in simply being ourselves. To give ourselves an A for showing up, because that’s the real test to be aced.

This weekend I remembered that when it comes to me being me, I’m good at this. And so are you.

This is the third in your editor’s new column for 2011, The Insider’s Guide to Life, exploring topics such as media, culture, sex, politics, and style. If she’s got the strength for it, there will be more to come. Cheers and spellcheck!

Image: jurvetson

7 Foods for Eating Your Way to Healthy, Radiant Skin

Katherine Butler — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:26:22 +0000

You are what you eat – or so we’ve heard over and over again until it makes us want to run out and eat a Big Mac. But there’s a reason celebrities like Angelina Jolie or Gwyneth Paltrow seem to obsess over their macrobiotic-vegan-fermenty things. (All in that order, most likely.) If you eat well, you’re going to look well.

The most obvious place all those good nutrients are going to manifest is in your skin. Samantha Heller, a clinical nutritionist at NYU Medical Center in New York City, says: “Everything you eat becomes a part of not only your inner being, but the outer fabric of your body as well. The healthier the foods are that you consume, the better your skin will look.” So considering throwing these seven food items on your taste buds.

1. Low-Fat Milk

Vitamin A is essential to healthy skin, and dairy products have it in abundance. Experts also recommend low-fat yogurt for its vitamin A and live bacteria cultures. Acidophilus is great for digestive health, which experts think has a big impact on skin.

2. Salmon

Omega 3 essential fatty acids are great because they concentrate in the walls of your skin cells to hold in moisture. Salmon is about as good as it’s going to get for a fantastic source of Omega 3. This fish contains properties to help you battle the dangers of excessive sunlight.

3. Carrots

Carrots work well for your skin for many reasons. They manage to balance the ph levels of your skin by making it slightly acidic. This helps fend off bacteria. Carrots are also loaded in beta-carotene, which nestles into your skin to give it a more even tone.

4. Whole Wheat Bread

Whole wheat bread is high in the mineral selenium, which is key to protecting the skin against sun damage. At least two clinical trials show that when people had high levels of selenium, their skin cells were less likely to suffer the kind of oxidative damage that can increase the risk of cancer.

5. Green Tea

Green tea can’t be beat for skin health. Nutrition expert Liz Lipski says: “It has anti-inflammatory properties, and it’s protective to the cell membrane. It may even help prevent or reduce the risk of skin cancer.” Green tea is also extremely high in catechins, which are powerful antioxidants that fight skin damage.

6. Water

Different experts have different opinions on exactly how much water you should drink a day. But no one disagrees that it is a great way to keep your skin hydrated. The reason is simple – if you are dehydrated, you will have drier skin. So drink up!

7. Blueberries

Think your skin is sagging? Pick up some blueberries at your local market and start popping them like vitamins. Blueberries contain polyphenols. Polyphenols strengthen collagen in your skin and improves its elasticity.

Photo credits: Girl; Milk; Salmon; Carrots; Water; Bread; Green tea; Blueberries. All from Flickr, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons.

‘Double Dipping Will Kill You’ and Other Strange Myths About Food

Katherine Butler — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:56:28 +0000

Did you know that if you swallow your gum, it will hang out in your stomach forever? Such are the legends of childhood burned in our brain. But what’s truth, what’s myth, and what’s there simply to scare us into good behavior? After all, aren’t all the best nursery rhymes really about avoiding bubonic plague and possibly flesh-craving wolves?

But not all food is so frightening. We decided to debunk some of our strangest myths about food – check out what we found!

Double dipping your food is dangerous.

This is TRUE. Yes, many of us all familiar with George Constanza and his double-dipped chip. (And if you are not, click here immediately.) But will the double-dipped chip really make you sick? Yes, it turns out that it could. Experts say that double dipping a chip can transfer about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the dip. So if you at a party, that means 50 to 100 bacteria can travel from one mouth to another, courtesy of the dip. And sure, we like our friends. But do we really like them that much?

If you drop food on the ground, you have five seconds before it is contaminated.

And yet, this is FALSE. First of all, nasty bacteria such as Salmonella (which causes food poisoning) can live on surfaces for over four weeks. If you drop a piece of bologna on tile, 99 percent of the bacteria will practically instantly adhere to the cold cut. If you drop it on wood, around 68 percent of the bacteria moves onto the sandwich meat. If it is on a carpet, .5 percent of bacteria makes bologna its new home. And it all happens instantly. Still want to eat it?

Fresh fruits and veggies are more nutritious than frozen ones.

This is FALSE, and score for the refrigerator set. (Like the jet set, but cooler.) Some of this has to do with fruits and veggies high carbon footprint. Fruit and veggies are at their best nutritional levels right after they are picked from the vine. So the farther they have to travel to your mouth, the more time they have to degrade. When you properly freeze something, you are essentially halting its degradation. But look for clumping in your frozen bag of goodies – if there’s clumping, it is likely the food thawed on travel.

Eating at night makes you gain weight.

This is FALSE and is really a matter of word play. And yes, before Oprah and her minions set upon me; allow me to introduce the science behind it. The time of day of consumption does not reflect on how much weight you will gain. The reason you gain weight is because you consume more calories than you burn. If you have consumed less calories during the day and have a larger meal at night, you’re not going to gain weight. Does that mean you should pig out right before bed time? Heck no, because if you want to maintain your weight, you should always budget your calories .

You can cure a hangover with food.

This is FALSE but man, I wish this were true. Now that I am older and learned, I drink less. (More emphasis on the older and less on the learned, but still.) But “back in the day” (I’m also holding an ear horn to my head right now) I used to party like it was 1999 for about eight years running. So I became well acquainted with epically-bad hangovers.

And I swore that slices of plain, whole wheat bread were the key to lessening my barf-marathon. But in actuality, they weren’t. You have a hangover because you drank too much and are dehydrated. (So, yes, drink a lot of water. But you’ll still going to feel terrible until the excessive alcohol is out of your system.) You’ve also over-taxed your liver, which is less able to supply glucose to all the needed parts and causing all these yucky feelings. The only true cure to a hangover is not to drink so much alcohol in the first place.

Image: Triple Tri

Annie Leonard’s The Story of Cosmetics: Essential News About Your Beauty Products

Katherine Butler — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:43:01 +0000

Did you know that the cosmetics industry is largely self-regulated? Did you know that lead is found in two-thirds of all top-selling lipsticks? Did you know the FDA has only banned eight of the 12,000 chemicals used in cosmetics and that they don’t require all ingredients be listed on the labels? Did you know that you could learn enough infuriating facts about the cosmetics industry to the point of wanting to don a haz-mat suit every time you step into the shower?

Okay, so the last question may be my own. But a new short from documentarian Annie Leonard has the beauty world talking – and this time, it’s not about who got what lip or breast implants. Leonard is the author The Story of Stuff, where she takes a good hard look at what we’re putting into our bodies every time we use beauty products. Check out her short here.

The good news? Congress has come up with legislation that may change all this. The Campaign of Safe Cosmetic just announced that Congress has introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. sponsored the bill which ”gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients. Existing law, passed in 1938, granted decision-making about ingredient safety to the cosmetics industry.” This law, among other acts, will phase out ingredients linked to cancer, birth defects and more. It will adequately fund the FDA and require full transparency of ingredients of products for users and beauty workers.

So what can you do in the meantime? As always, be vigilant about reading labels. A good rule of thumb is to look for Sodium Lauryl Sulfates (SLS), parabens, and phthalates. Check out our resources for some of the most toxic products. We have covered a ton of products here at EcoSalon, so scroll down to learn about various natural and/or organic beauty products.

Baby Shampoo
Eye shadow
Deodorant
Shampoo
Conditioner
Makeup Labels
Blush
Kids Nail Polish
Facial Scrubs
Mascara
Moisturizer

Image: idhren

Why High Heels Are the Shoes of Satan

Katherine Butler — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:56:15 +0000

Can you walk in high heels? I can’t. Okay, sure, I have been known to use them to get from Point A to Point B (usually at a wedding), but do I enjoy the experience? Do any of us? These are the questions that plague womanity – or at least the ones who get to include “surviving high heels” in their lives instead of “surviving starvation and catastrophe.” Although when the Big One hits Los Angeles, it is possible I may be using my high heels as weapons in a properly recycled manner.

Why am I ranting about the high heel? Mostly because I have a closet full of them that look absolutely adorable in the store, but five steps out I’m falling off them for flats. Some of us are total wimps when it comes to foot pain. But it turns out, there’s reason for it. NPR reports on a new study showing that women who wear high heels dramatically alter their leg muscles. And they do so to the point that they can no longer stand barefoot without pain. Everyone say it with me – ouch!

According to this British study, women who wear high heels daily eventually develop shorter calf muscles and thicker Achilles tendons. In fact, calf muscles are shortened by as much as 13 percent. Marco Narici is the study’s lead author. As NPR writes, Narici “compares the effect to muscle atrophy that strikes people confined to their beds for a long time. Bed rest keeps muscles in a fixed position, causing some muscle fibers to become shorter.” Yes, we are atrophying our legs by wearing high heels. Stay with me, people – ew!

So what’s the solution? Obviously, it would be not to wear high heels. But are we really going to hang up our sassy kicks? Obviously not. On a recent Bridesmaid Adventure (because that’s the only way they can be described) I asked the bride if she would mind if wore flats to her reception. She did. So I did not.

Also, I like fashion. I can’t help it. High heels do make our legs look longer and leaner. They are ingrained in our culture as sexy shoes, and you’re going to be hard-pressed to find someone under the age of 80 who is going to completely give them up. Our NPR doctors urge that you wear high heels in shorter increments, take them off when they hurt, and to keep the heels no taller than two inches.

Or you can just complain a lot, like me.

For further reading: Why High Heels Hurt Even After You Take Them Off

Image: FaceMePLS

The Diorama of Ordinary Life: A Meditation on the Need for Travel

Stiv Wilson — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:44:34 +0000

A view from sailing into Port At Fael, the Azores.

As I meet my middle thirties, I’m finding the lifelong, insatiable urge to see this world and be witness to new experience isn’t going away. When I’m home and the grass is long and the bathroom faucet is dripping, I start to feel as though the walls are closing in on me. I look at the objects around me, the possessions I’ve collected on the theme of “me” and I ponder how I got here.

If it’s been too long since I’ve traveled, I feel out of context even in the construct of my own design: this is not my house, this is not my beautiful wife. It’s not the old cliche about feeling imprisoned, but it is a bit like being fixed in a diorama I’ve built to suit my needs, my wishes and some of my desires. That’s the problem: it’s all me, me marinating in the thought of me.

We see these static dioramas in our lives every day. Like at cocktail parties. Conversations center around the health care debate, the relative greenness of bamboo flooring and what kind of Ikea furniture doesn’t look too Ikea.

And there’s always that one person at the party who just got back from backpacking in Bhutan or trekking in India. They are sharing a story of life off the beaten path and there is something about the passion of the story that makes us, just for a moment, deify that person because he or she “just did it.” For a moment, you fall out of yourself and let your imagination go wild as the yarn spins to the room. You experience life as an expression of navigation and let yourself become a character in the story being told. You dream of being wherever there is. You imagine how resourceful (or not) you’d be. You taste the chimichurri, you bathe your bottom in the bidet.

But when the story ends, you find yourself back in your diorama, happy wine buzz fading away with it. Yes, it’s hard to get away. It’s hard to button up the house, forget the hedge trimming and jump into an ecstatic mode of being in some foreign place. But don’t you want it?

Trust me, you do. Make a plan, set a date. Read Travels with Charley. Even the planning phase will begin to disentangle you from you. You’ll start thinking of different ways of thinking and how different people live different lives. And once you go, you’ll come back to your diorama and it won’t look the same. You’ll notice objects in your life that have been there for ages, but you never noticed them quite in the way you do now, with fresh eyes. Maybe they’ll even take on new meaning. You’ll think about the flavor of your tap water compared to where you were. You’ll think about the shape of your toilet, you’ll think about someone else’s health care debate and all of the sudden you’ll feel what all people who travel know: traveling makes you a better person in your home world.

17 Living Roofs: the High Tech Green Future of Architecture

Mike Sowden — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:32:21 +0000

We’ve always thought we had roofs covered. They had to be barren, hostile places the rain and the wildlife slid from before they could do any damage. Nature had no place on our roofs. Except…we couldn’t have been more wrong. A green roof may required a little extra engineering behind the scenes, but it’s far better than its non-living counterparts for regulating house temperature, filtering out pollutants, scrubbing the surrounding air, controlling stormwater run-off, absorbing sound and many more factors that impact our quality of life. A green roof is a healthy roof.

Green design is an enormously popular trend in modern architecture. Take a look at these 17 examples – some in place today, and others still on the drawing board. We may have got it wrong in the past, but we’re certainly making up for lost time…

ACROS Fukuoka, in Fukuoka City, Japan. 35,000 plants, 76 species – and the city’s best view from an office window.

Art and Exhibition Hall roof garden – Bonn, Germany.

Chicago City Hall – the coolest place to be, thanks to this $2.5 million rooftop garden (not open to the public – the 11-storey drop might have something to do with this).

California’s Academy of Sciences (SF) is covered in rolling hills – the perfect place for students to grab their lunch in the sun.

Looking like the ultimate vegan pizza, the Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Green Roof Research is a department that practices what it preaches.

Marriott Hotel, Victoria, BA. Keeping an underground car park cool in the summer, toasty-warm in the winter.

The forwarding link isn’t working, but this rooftop garden (wherever it is) found on This Girl’s Gone Green is an extraordinary achievement – it grows crops!

This design by architect Hoerr Shaudt graces the roof of 900 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago. A haven of natural tranquility, 10 floors up.

After a long, hard day in the School of Art Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), what more cathartic way to unwind than to walk all over it?

This idyllic spot may look terrestrial, but it’s a thing of the air, roofing Toronto’s Mountain Equipment Coop.

The Waldspirale in Darmstadt, Germany, is all about being unique. It doesn’t look like any building you’ve ever seen. Every one of its 1,000+ windows is different – ditto for all the doorhandles. And running along spiraling rooftop is a tree-lined garden (the wald or “wood” in its name).

Turfed roof near Gol, Norway. In days past, this sight would be grounds to condemn your neighbors as the laziest people on the planet. Now they’re obviously the cleverest (although we’re a little worried about that bowing roof).

Vancouver Public Library, Canada. Beautiful, useful, and definitely out of bounds – note the lack of protective barrier around the edge.

And now to more speculative matters. This proposed village for Heden, a sleepy cityblock in Sweden’s Gothenburg, has more than a touch of Hobbiton about it…

…as does this proposal by designer Friedenreich Hundertwasser.

Should green roofs be built to be scaled on foot? The designers of this proposal for the 2007 Fit City 2 conference in New York certainly think so – and there’s a good reason for thinking they’re right.

And finally – this example looks as speculative as they come. But it’s reality: the blueprint for the Vancouver Convention Center, currently expanding rapidly in time to host the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The 6-acre living roof will house a whopping 400,000 varieties of native plant life – Inhabitat has a closer look here.

More information: Green Roofs (what else?)

Images: hans s / metaefficient / Deutsche Telekom / NREL / California Academy of Sciences / Inhabitat / Treehugger / pnwra / food2gro / trendir / Nanyang Technological University / sookie / Hundertwasser / IGPOTY / Terri Meyer Boake / Kjellengren Kaminsky Architecture / Ecogeek / Archidose / Inhabitat.

From Cavity Care to Cold, Hard Cash: 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Chocolate

Mike Sowden — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:44:33 +0000

Chocolate’s a wonder. Recently elevated to superfood status, the world’s favorite luxury foodstuff (making up half the candy sold in the U.S.) is so complicated and versatile that we’ve barely scratched its surface. It’s a dessert? Tell that to anyone who puts dark chocolate in their chili. It’s unhealthy? In moderation, it’s good for your heart, your skin and your brain. If you think you know chocolate’s role in the world, here are 15 facts that might surprise you.

As Hard Cash

Once, money grew on trees in the form of cocoa beans. The Mayans (who are thought to have first discovered chocolate) used cocoa beans as a form of currency. The Aztecs did the same, even levying taxes in precious cacao…and of course producing the famous and no doubt expensive drink Xocolatl.

As Body Paint.

Now, obviously you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, not the merest clue. But there are people (other people, we’re talking about) who spread chocolate in all sorts of places in order to have all sorts of fun. Not that we’d know.

Swirled into Cheese

It’s old news that putting something sweet in cheese (cranberries, for example) lifts the flavor through the roof. But chocolate is too sweet, surely? British supermarket chain Tesco didn’t think so, rolling out the chocolate whirl (59% white Stilton, 11% Belgian chocolate) in 2007. The Michigan State University’s chocolate cheese confection goes for a more fudgy, cheesecakey consistency.

Wrapping Bacon.

I have to wonder how this dish originated, the same way I wonder how Cambodians discovered tarantulas are edible. No matter what it tastes like, the concept ranks alongside the Scottish deep-fried Mars Bar as a first-degree crime against food.

Unsuccessfully Cornering Escaped Hamsters

For 9 days, Fudgie the Hamster evaded Scottish firefighters equipped with a sophisticated array of hamster-luring equipment included a tiny camera drizzled in chocolate – and the scrappy rebel was only captured when hunger drove him back out into the open. Even chocolate has its limits.

Fighting Tooth Decay.

Say what? No, it’s true. An extract of cocoa has recently been found to be more effective than fluoride in keeping your teeth healthy.

Keeping Your Ticker Healthy.

Pick the dark chocolate and you have a dietary supplement that will improve your coronary circulation.

Keeping Your Skin Happy.

Cocoa butter is marvelous stuff – rich, smooth and with an aroma that will have everyone fighting to get near you. And since it’s chocolate, it’s technically edible – the way all skincare products should be.

Stop Your Tension Going Hyper

A study from the University Hospital of Cologne found a link between polyphenol-rich (dark) chocolate and lowered blood pressure. A heavenly reason to eat chocolate when you’re stressed – as long as it’s the right kind, of course.

Feeding Your Car (or Airship)?

Escherichia coli bacteria have a sweet tooth – and when they gorge on surplus chocolate, they produce hydrogen that can be used as a clean source of power. Speculating wildly, could waste chocolate power the zero-emissions vehicle of tomorrow?

Making You Smarter

Dark chocolate is rich in flavanols that improve the circulation of blood around your body, including the brain – fighting mental fatigue, making you more alert and generally making you a more efficient thinker. For this reason, chocolate is one of the smartest foods we know.

As Spa Treatments

Chocolate contains antioxidants (the less processed the better) so used correctly, it’s good for the skin. Hershey – recent newcomer to the organic market – has a hotel where you can indulge in cocoa-rich treatments ranging from chocolate milk baths and a cocoa bean polish to the hour-long chocolate fondue wrap. Can you imagine the chocolate high?

As Perfume

Rather obvious when you think about it. Chocolate is one of those smells, like coffee and fresh-baked bread, that seems to weakens everyone’s knees even if they don’t like the product itself. However, this perfume claims the aroma is a male aphrodisiac that makes you thin. Riiight.

Lifting Your Mood

Reaching for the chocolate when you’re feeling glum has become a cultural cliché, and since eating chocolate appears to have similar physiological effects to kissing, it’s not hard to see why. (Dean Ornich, M.D. describes the sensation for Newsweek). Since it improves the circulation, is a mild stimulant and makes you euphoric, chocolate seems perfectly suited to lift you out the doldrums…but not everyone agrees.

Not Feeding Your Pets

Here’s why dog chocolates were invented. Human chocolate contains theobromine – harmless to us but highly toxic to our four-legged friends. So ignore even the most imploring look…in case your kindness kills.

Useful links: Chocolate World; CocoaJava

Images: miss karen, cstrom, uncommon scents, profumo, Dennis Wong, MSN, dotbenjamin, bingbing, mynameisharsha, jpockele, seyed mostafa zamani, kyz, jurvetson, Liz Henry and ?Blackangel?