At bedtime, sleep is downright elusive.  You wonder why you’re wide awake since you’ve been on the go all day.

Here’s a thought – your sleeplessness might, in part, be due to all of the caffeine not just in your coffee (or tea) but in your chocolate, too.  There isn’t a huge amount of caffeine in chocolate, but perhaps enough – especially if you’re a chocoholic – to help tip the insomnia scales when it’s combined with a day’s worth of other caffeinated food and drinks.

Caffeine And Chocolate

We’ve all heard that some chocolate – the darker the better – might have some health benefits. But here are a few facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re working your way through some of those oversized bars or you’re stuffing in a bunch of fun-sized bars or chocolate Easter eggs.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 ounce) bars of milk chocolate to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 ounce cup of coffee. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar.  If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories for an 8 ounce cup (black, no sugar).

Dark chocolate has a higher caffeine content than milk chocolate, but it would still take four regular sized bars to get the same amount that you’d find in one cup of black coffee.

Something To Think About

If you have trouble sleeping, along with avoiding coffee before bed, you might want to think about the amount of chocolate you’re eating.

Something else to think about: getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween, Easter, and other chocolate heavy holidays might have a whole lot to do with both the sugar and the amount of caffeine in all of the chocolate candy.

How Much Caffeine?

Caffeine In Chocolate

• Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 oz:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 oz:  20 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces:  20 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar:  17 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar:  42 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar:  9 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar:  36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee:

• Coffee, generic brewed, 8 oz: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 oz, 266 mg caffeine)

• Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 oz:  206 mg caffeine

• Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 oz:  320 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic instant, 8 oz:  93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)

• Espresso, generic, 1 oz:  40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)

• Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 oz:  75 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 oz:  5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

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The post Can Your Chocolate Bar Be Keeping You Awake? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

You’ve finished dinner – perhaps you’re stuffed to the gills – and some chocolate along with the check.  It could be those squares nicely wrapped in shiny foil or it could be some chunks of the really dark stuff artfully arranged on a plate.

Somehow there magically seems to be some room for the chocolate to fit in your already full belly. And, just maybe, this chocolate follows a chocolate dessert that tasted so fantastic that you wanted to lick the bowl. All of that was washed down by a wonderful cup of coffee.

Then you get home and sleep is just downright elusive.  You wonder why you’re wide awake since you’ve been on the go all day.

Here’s a thought – it might be the caffeine found in coffee (or tea) and chocolate.  There isn’t a huge amount in chocolate, but perhaps enough – especially if you’re a chocoholic – to help tip the insomnia scales when it’s combined with a day’s worth of other caffeinated food and drinks.

Caffeine And Chocolate

Here are a couple of facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but — depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re working your way through some of those oversized bars or you’re a little kid stuffing in a bunch of fun-sized bars.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 oz) bars of milk chocolate to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 ounce cup of coffee. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar.  If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories for an 8 ounce cup (black, no sugar).

Dark chocolate has more caffeine content than milk chocolate. But it would still take four regularly sized bars to get the same amount that you’d find in one cup of black coffee.

Something To Think About

The next time you find yourself reaching for those foil wrapped chocolate squares after dinner (or the ones placed on your pillow in some hotels) you might consider the caffeine if you want a restful sleep.

It’s also worth it to remember that getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween, Easter, and other chocolate heavy holidays might have a whole lot to do with both the sugar and the amount of caffeine in the chocolate candy.

Caffeine In Chocolate

• Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 oz:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 oz:  20 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces:  20 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar:  17 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar:  42 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar:  9 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar:  36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee:

• Coffee, generic brewed, 8 oz: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 oz, 266 mg caffeine)

• Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 oz:  206 mg caffeine

• Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 oz:  320 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic instant, 8 oz:  93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)

• Espresso, generic, 1 oz:  40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)

• Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 oz:  75 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 oz:  5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

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The post Is It Coffee Or Chocolate That’s Keeping You Awake? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

I watched an almost four year old girl  (who has an incredible sweet tooth – especially for chocolate) wrap her little fist around as many as she could fit into her vice like grip – until her Father took notice and parsed out one — much to her dismay, or should I say, extreme annoyance.

Caffeine And Chocolate

Here are a couple of facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but, depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re a little kid stuffing in a couple of squares or a bunch of mini chocolate bars.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 oz) bars of milk chocolate to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 oz cup of java. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar.  If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories in an 8 oz cup of black coffee.

Dark chocolate, the kind now frequently found in those “after dinner along with the check foil wrapped squares,” has more caffeine content than milk chocolate. But, it would still take four regularly sized bars to get the same amount that you’d find in one cup of black coffee.

Something To Think About

The next time you find yourself reaching for those foil wrapped chocolate squares after dinner (or the ones placed on your pillow in some hotels) think a cautionary caffeine note if you want a restful sleep.

It’s also worth it to remember that getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween might have a whole lot to do with not just the sugar but also the amount of caffeine in the chocolate candy in trick or treat bags.

Caffeine In Chocolate

• Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 oz:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 oz:  20 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces:  20 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar:  17 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar:  42 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar:  9 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar:  36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee:

• Coffee, generic brewed, 8 oz: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 oz, 266 mg caffeine)

• Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 oz:  206 mg caffeine

• Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 oz:  320 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic instant, 8 oz:  93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)

• Espresso, generic, 1 oz:  40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)

• Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 oz:  75 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 oz:  5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

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