were found in organic products.15 This complicates the popular advice “the darker, the better”. While dark chocolate offers more antioxidants, it can also contain more heavy metals (that’s good news for you milk chocolate lovers). to eat or not to eat? As with many things, chocolate is too varied to categorise as simply healthy or unhealthy. Happily, there is evidence that supports that in the right form and amount, chocolate can be beneficial for your heart health and mental state. But these benefits come with caveats, particularly when chocolate is highly processed or contains high levels of sugar or heavy metals. This Easter, as rising prices force many of us to think twice before tossing expensive blocks and bunnies into the trolley, it’s worth remembering that health has many pillars. As dietitian Alice Bleathman explains: “Health isn’t just about physical health. It’s about social health, emotional health, spiritual health and mental health . . . Some foods like chocolate are healthy because they make us feel good and are used as celebratory foods. The same thing with ice-cream. If we have ice-cream at the end of dinner every time we go to our grandma’s house, ice-cream in that situation is actually kind of healthy. But if you’re having it every single night while watching TV, it might not necessarily be the most healthy option.” Easter has always held restraint and celebration together. Rising chocolate prices might be frustrating, but when something costs us more, we’re invited into a slower, more intentional kind of enjoyment. So, skimp on the carrots this Easter. Buy your favourite chocolate, share it generously and savour it slowly. You can think about where to categorise it later. Zanita Fletcher is a life coach and assistant editor for Signs of the Times South Pacific. She writes from the Gold Coast, Queensland. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Colmenero de Ledesma, Antonio. Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke. Translated by James Wadsworth, 1652. 6.Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Including Poor Richard’s Almanac. New York: Bantam Books, 1996. 7. 8. Auguste Saint-Arroman, Coffee, Tea and Chocolate: Their Influence upon the Health, the Intellect, and the Moral Nature of Man, 1846 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. . If, like us, you love eating, check out six foods you must try in 2026: