The last thing an addict like me needs is an excuse to indulge her addiction.

Well, now I have an excuse for mine.

Recent studies have shown that chocolate is, in fact, good for you. Hallelujah! (Yes, that’s right, I’ll admit it – I’m a chocoholic.)

Okay, so… granted, not ALL kinds of chocolate have been found to be &uot;good for you,&uot; but some are better than none, right?

An article in a cooking magazine revealed new studies on the substance, which list the many benefits of chocolate consumption.

Chocolate has been found to contain powerful disease-fighting substances. Some kinds can even lower blood pressure and help prevent heart disease.

So Kudos to Hershey’s!

Go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!

Indulge happily, fellow chocoholics, for your salvation is at hand!

(If only it were that easy, huh?)

Unfortunately, regardless of its now-uncovered healthy properties, the fact of the matter remains that a standard chocolate bar is still way too high in calories and fat to be included in a normal daily diet.

Moderation is (again, unfortunately) the key.

Dark chocolates, which are high in antioxidants, are the &uot;healthiest&uot; kind. To me, it’s also the kind that tastes a bit like… well, tree bark.

Thankfully, the wonderful scientists at Hershey came up with a special milk chocolate bar high in antioxidants.

It only contains about half of the amount than a dark chocolate bar does, but to me the added taste is worth the sacrifice in nutritional value.

Yet a whole 1.5-ounce Hershey’s chocolate bar is too high in saturated fat to be effective in lowering blood pressure if eaten daily.

Instead, one study found that 3.5 ounces eaten over the course of two weeks is what is most effective in becoming more healthy.

That’s a pretty small amount of chocolate each day; it amounts to 1/6 of a standard-size chocolate bar, or just two squares of a Hershey bar.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but two tiny squares of chocolate is just enough to get me wanting more!

Therefore, I came up with my own personal regimen for regulating chocolate intake.

Keep in mind that the following information is purely for fun and is not intended as an actual diet.

(Day One, breakfast) – Drink one cup of hot chocolate with a bowl of Cocoa Krispies. Throw in a banana to add more nutritional value. (Mid-afternoon snack) – Consume half of a Crunch bar and some Oreos. Eat a normal lunch and dinner.

Maybe polish off the rest of the Crunch bar for dessert.

(Day Two, breakfast) – Two bowls of Cocoa Puffs and a glass of Instant Breakfast, the Rich Milk Chocolate kind, of course. Eat normal lunch, dinner and snack. (Dessert) – Eat a bowl of Double Fudge Delight ice cream. Top with chocolate syrup.

(Day Three, breakfast) – Eat a bowl of Cookie Crisp and drink a whole container of Nesquick. (Lunch) – Garden salad with a hot fudge sundae on the side. (Snack) – Two pieces of fudge. (Dinner) – Grandma’s homemade devil’s food cake. (Dessert) – Jello chocolate pudding.

If necessary, repeat diet until you are completely sick of anything chocolate. Then you will be able to go a week or so without a craving, and by the time the craving returns you will no doubt be able to limit yourself to the recommended two squares per day.

Of course, by that point you may have gained more than a few pounds, but that’s a whole other can of worms.

Enjoy!