I have a cautionary tale for you. A few weeks ago I was merrily strolling through Bentleigh, and decided to see what they had in the discount supermarket place. To my delight they had some very cheap Cadbury breakfast bars. Ah, the goodness of muesli combined with the deliciousness of chocolate. Okay, so slightly past their Best Before date, but what difference could that make? 5 for $2, thank you very much — a rather splendid morning tea snack at a bargain price.

I ate one per working day for the next week.

The week after that, I got a massive pimple. So big it cast its own shadow. And just my luck, it was present one afternoon when I had to talk to Channel 10 about crowded trains. Yes, my pimple got broadcast on statewide television.

Sigh.

Of course it’s not just the acne that thrives on excess chocolate. There is the odd case of Diabetes in my family, and I noted last time I gave blood that my weight is creeping up — 77Kg, where I used to be about 75. So while some (principally the chocolate industry, I’m betting) like to push chocolate as being healthy, I can’t help feeling that it wouldn’t kill me to cut it from my diet totally.

So not only have I vowed not to buy any more Cadbury breakfast bars, I’ve stopped buying chocolate altogether. Well, almost. I’ve set myself a maximum of one small bar a week, and that’s only if colleagues are selling them for fundraising, Charlie Bucket-style, and I’ll still have the occasional hot chocolate (because there’s nothing I like better as a hot beverage when out).

Since then, no more big pimples. Touch wood.

(Oh damn, there’s a small one on my nose. There goes that theory.)