Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Caffeine



After an interesting conversation yesterday as we tried to determine whether or not we should serve caffeinated soft drinks at a Relief Society "Girls' Night Out" (we won't), caffeine has been on my mind (not literally).

I managed to kick my college-inspired Diet Coke (with a teaspoon of "imitation" vanilla added) habit several years ago when we moved to New Hampshire. My boss knew enough about Mormons to know that we didn't drink alcohol, coffee and Coke. It was too difficult to try to explain, so I just stopped drinking Diet Coke at work, even though the only non-caffeine beverage offered in the lunch room was Sprite and I hate Sprite. I drank water instead.

Since moving back to Utah, I've been either pregnant and/or nursing, so I haven't resumed the Diet Coke habit (and they even make my favorite Vanilla Diet Cokes now).

But there is something that I cannot give up--chocolate. Can't do it. Try not to eat too much (Ha!) but I believe strongly that there are not many desserts that the addition of chocolate chips can not improve (bacon and chocolate chips--love them both). And you know what? They sell chocolate on BYU campus. They put it in all the great BYU Creamery ice creams. That must mean something, right?

Out of curiosity, I looked up some information. Here are some interesting numbers (just for fun).

One bar of Hershey's Milk Chocolate -- 10 mg. of caffeine
One bar of Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate -- 31 mg. of caffeine
One can of Cola -- 34 mg. of caffeine
One cup of coffee -- 80-135 mg. of caffeine

So, if I stick to milk chocolate, I would have to eat three bars of chocolate to equal the amount of caffeine in a can of soda. I'm pretty sure I could do it.

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