Bad, Bad Chocolate

First of all, in almost 13 hours I should be on a plane heading back to the good ol' USA. I am really really looking forward to the vacation, I certainly need it. Today was a very busy day, I ended up doing all the last minute things you do before you go away. I did my laundry so I have clean underwear on my trip, I cleaned the apartment so that when I return everything will smell nice, Gayle came over and helped me pack so I didn't take anything unnecessary, I took out travel insurance from my health care provider just in case g-d forbid I need it and I made the phone calls to everyone I needed to say goodbye to. Like I said, necessary and busy.

Yesterday, I had a Dr.'s appointment in the afternoon and then met Jeff and Gayle for farewell coffee at the Aroma on Gordon Street. It was nice to schmooze and catch up, its been a while since I've gotten together with either of them. After that, I came home and made dinner for Buggy. I made an anti-pasta of grilled vegetables with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, minced garlic and black pepper, my Mother's famous macaroni and meat with chopped meat, onion, pasta noodles and marinara sauce, and a broccoli kugel. Now, Buggy and I are both watching our weight, and I had found this dark chocolate in the healthy corner of Supersol. The Belgian chocolate (Cavalier brand) said it has no sugar added, and I didn't really read the rest of the package when I brought it back to the apartment. We each had one serving (about 4 squares) for dessert. Not even a half an hour later, we were both feeling terribly nausiated and headachy. I went to sleep feeling like I was going to throw up, and Buggy complained of stomach issues. We both assumed that it was all the vegetables in the anti-pasta, since a lot of high fibre vegetables can do that to you.

So tonight, after I cleared out my fridge of everything perishable and gave some stuff away to Gayle, I sat down to dinner. For dessert, I decided to finish the chocolate bar from last night. This time, I helped myself to 8 squares. Nearly 15 minutes later, I felt awful again. This time, I was on the phone with my friend Shulamit who is a certified nutritionist. I told her what I had eaten and she suggested that I look to see if there was any sweetner in the chocolate that could have made me feel this way. I went to my fridge and looked at the bar and lo and behold, the back of the bar said the following:

Excessive consumption can have a laxative effect.

What, you may ask, do they consider excessive? Apparently, more than 4 squares.

So, I've been throwing up for the past hour. I'm taking a hydration break and then getting into the shower. I hope I feel okay when I get up tomorrow morning, otherwise, it's going to be a lousy plane ride.

Oh, and the worst part of this all is that the chocolate is Dairy and not Parve as I had initially thought. So, I basically served both of us treif and laxative chocolates.

I hope Buggy will forgive me.

OK, am off to the shower. Hopefully, the next time I blog I'll be in New York City!

Woohoo!