I Knew It! (IknewitIknewitIknewit)

I am not one of those human beings who honestly thinks that “everything good is bad for you.”

Nope. I am more in the “all things in moderation” camp. As in, if I want to eat an egg every day, or if I think that a lovely small piece of dark chocolate has a great and positive impact on my daily mental health, or if I think a glass of red twice a week adds flavor and warmth to my dinner, or if I find that an excellent cup of daily java literally adds quality and meaning to my everyday life, then by all means I think it’s probably just fine for me. In moderation, that is.

Well, guess what: it has now been discovered that dark chocolate might be very helpful in the fight against skin damage from the sun, including skin cancer.  And it turns out that coffee has also proven to be beneficial in fighting several types of cancers, including skin cancer.

Please excuse me for several moments of crowingly-loud shouts of “I KNEW IT!”

I swear that the human body, generally speaking, fights hard to live and protect itself. For example, I have long been certain that the almost universal craving of Western women for various forms of chocolate probably signified some as-yet-undiscovered health benefits.

If the human body is generally well-cared for with a nutritious diet, healthy exercise, enough sleep, and normal good health, I think its cravings should be listened to.

Now I’m not saying that when my body announces it desperately wants a 27th black licorice jelly bean in the space of less than 15 minutes that I should just think it’s a necessary biological craving in order to cover some nutritional deficiency.

No, I’m not saying that (although it would surely be nice if I did believe that). Rather, I’m saying that the body’s cravings can and should be taken seriously, even if we don’t always understand why or have the research to support it. For example, I find when I’m running harder and longer during some seasons of the year, I crave some foods more than others (bananas among them). I try to follow those cravings if possible.

Now if we could just find some “research” that would support an almost universal female love of gooey, sweet desserts, I would be in heaven.

But until then, at least I can now enjoy my dark chocolate and my mood-making java in guilt-free peace.

(You can read a brief summary of the study information here.)