I’m so glad to have another Change For The Better to share tonight. This saves me from having to recount the hot vinyasa class that brought me, Caitlin, Kelly, and Jen—ok, so maybe not Jen—to our knees. I will just say that it was hot, it was sweaty, and it was ugly. Moving on.
So, changing…for the better. Everyday, or at least most days, I wake up and have this as my goal. Some days my change for the better (CFTB) is minute, others days the changes are profound. What I’ve noticed is at the crux of all my meaningful changes, is compelling knowledge. For example, knowing what I know now about Crystal Light, I have zero desire to ever drink it again. So many of my CFTBs have occurred because of the overwhelming cognitive dissonance brought about my increased knowledge. How’s that for a psychology class throw back? 
In the event you aren’t a psychology nerd 
like me, cognitive dissonance is the discomfort that comes when we hold to conflicting ideas. Most people try to reduce cognitive dissonance by any means possible. A perfect example, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie opens up the chocolate bar from Grandpa Joe it doesn’t have the golden ticket he wants so badly. To reduce cognitive dissonance, he says “I bet those Golden Tickets make the chocolate taste terrible”. He rationalizes to feel better about not finding the ticket.
Now, speaking of chocolate, I will share one way I reduce my cognitive dissonance when it comes to eating chocolate. This CFTB explores the ingredients in those “all American chocolate bars”. As I’ve eaten more dark chocolate, milk chocolate is less appealing anyway, but after learning about the ingredients in common chocolate bars, now I’m totally turned off.
In your basic Hershey Bar, you will find: SUGAR, CHOCOLATE, COCOA BUTTER, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, MILK FAT, LACTOSE, SOY LECITHIN, PGPR, VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, AND MILK.
Sounds fairly benign, right? Well the sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, and milk sound alright. Explore the other ingredients more closely, you will learn that vanill-IN is not to be confused with vanill-A. Vanillin comes from wood-pulp by-products. Gross. According to Wikipedia, PGBR is a emulsifier made from castor beans and is used along with the other “artificial ingredients” to create the chocolate flavor and consistency with the least amount of cocoa butter.
Although I do love my Hershey Kisses, I have to stop and wonder how much cocoa butter, a very expensive ingredient, is used since they only cost a few bucks and what is in its place.
I know we all want more for less, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. When Isaac and I toured the Theo Chocolate company, we learned a lot about what goes into making a chocolate bar and why it is worth paying more to consume something that is simply cocoa beans, sugar, and cocoa butter. Even though the actual bar costs more, it has a higher percentage of cocoa which is full of antioxidants and is not cut with chemicals that harm your body. 
My goal is not to vilify any one brand of chocolate. My goal is to encourage you to consider why something is so inexpensive and to read labels and research ingredients. When it comes to my beloved chocolate, I spend a few dollars more and get what I pay for. This way, I can have my chocolate and eat it too!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
oh my gosh nicole, i definitely had to leave the room. i seriously thought i was going to spontaneously combust – that room was insanely hot. SO fun seeing you guys there tonight.
and yummmmm high quality chocolate…
You are so hard core–I would have never known you were suffering. Good luck this weekend! I’m excited for you!!
I heart nerdy psychology you! More psych nerd talk please! Cognitive dissonance brought me back to my days as an undergrad psych major and my behavior change classes in grad school
I definitely prefer more upscale chocolate too. But I’m not going to lie. I’ve never been able to turn Hershey’s kisses down!
Yay! So glad someone likes my nerdy psychology talk. I have so much useless psychology knowledge that I could have a separate nerdy psychology blog!
Hershey kisses and Reese’s PB cups are the quasi-chocolates that I have a hard time turning down. I just have to remind myself that they are full of weird ingredients. It is amazing how wood-pulp by-products can taste so good.
Wow, I had no idea what was in VanillIN. Scary. I definitely tend to buy higher quality dark chocolate, but I’ve eaten my fair share of hershey’s kisses. And pb cups. And snickers bars. Those ingredients can’t be much better!
I’ve certainly eaten my share and someone else’s of those crappy products. Although I’m essentially proselytizing in this post, my ultimate goal is to encourage people to think about and research ingredients–since I began doing so, it has really opened my eyes and caused me to reconsider the industries I want to support. It pisses me off to learned how I thought I was buying chocolate when in fact I’m buying wood-pulp by-product–I resent that!
Ok, I’m off my soapbox now.