A recent “Pickles” cartoon featured a conversation that struck a little too close to home. The husband tells his wife, “You know what, Opal? You are a chocoholic.”

She answers, “That’s not true. I could live without chocolate. I could get along just fine without chocolate. Everybody around me would suffer, but I’d be fine!”

For some reason Hubby found that cartoon hilarious. I have to say, he knows me all too well. Early in our courtship I told him not to waste money on flowers. One can’t eat flowers. Chocolate, however . . .

Frankly, I’ve always been a little suspicious of people who claim they don’t like chocolate. Either they’re lying or aliens from another planet. Even the great botanist, Carl Linnaeus recognized chocolate’s divinity when, in 1753, he designated the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, which translates to “cacao, food of the gods.” If chocolate is the food of the gods, who am I to argue with its supremacy in the world of us mortals?

As if we needed more justification for our love of chocolate, science has come to the rescue. Studies have confirmed what I’ve always known: chocolate is a health food. A 100-gram serving of milk chocolate is an EXCELLENT SOURCE (over 19% of the Daily Value, DV) of riboflavin, vitamin B12 and the dietary minerals, manganese, phosphorus and zinc. It also contains calcium, magnesium, and iron—all good reasons to keep a chocolate stash handy.

In addition, here are proven health benefits of dark chocolate from Healthline:

Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients that can positively affect your health. A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with 70–85% cocoa contains 11 grams of fiber, 67% of the RDI for iron, 58% of the RDI for magnesium, 89% of the RDI for copper, 98% of the RDI for manganese. It also has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.

And the benefits don’t stop there. Dark chocolate is:

1. One of the best sources of antioxidants on the planet.
2. Shown to improve blood flow and lower blood pressure.
3. Capable of raising HDL (good cholesterol) and protects LDL (bad cholesterol) from oxidation.
4. Associated with a reduced risk of heart disease in observational studies.
5. A brain booster—thanks to its ability to improve circulation and provide natural simulants like caffeine and theobromine.

So, now that I’ve pointed out how important chocolate is to our health, welfare, and being, people would be crazy not to indulge. Seriously, it’s far more enjoyable than Romaine lettuce, and we are unlikely to get Listeriosis from eating chocolate. In case you are still skeptical, here are 21 proverbs about the food of the gods:

1. Chocolate doesn’t ask silly questions. Chocolate understands.
2. When life gives you lemons, throw it back and ask for chocolate.
3. When life gives you chocolate, eat it all and tell no one.
4. Chocolate comes from cocoa, which is a tree. That makes it a plant. Chocolate is a salad.
5. Chocolate is great. It gives you energy, which can be used to go buy more chocolate.
6. I make chocolate disappear. What’s your superpower?
7. Chocolate is the Answer. Who cares what the Question is?
8. Chocolate is nature’s way of making up for Mondays.
9. I’m a woman of many moods and they all require chocolate.
10. For some there’s therapy. For the rest of us, there’s chocolate.
11. Chocolate is my new health food. I eat it because I feel like I might die if I don’t.
12. Life is short. Eat chocolate.
13. Give me the chocolate and nobody gets hurt.
14. Forget love. I’d rather fall in chocolate.
15. Stop trying to make everybody happy. You’re not chocolate.
16. Save the planet. It’s the only one with chocolate.
17. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, unless it’s chocolate.
18. A chocolate a day keeps the bad moods away.
19. There is no “we” in chocolate.
20. You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy chocolate. And that’s kind of the same thing.
21. And my favorite: I could give up chocolate, but I’m not a quitter.