Let Them Eat Cake

#4 Persuasive Essay: Let Them Eat Cake

            The alarm rings, you open bleary eyes.  The clock reads 6:30am, and it’s time to start a brand new day.  Rolling out of bed, you pad down to the kitchen in bare feet.  “What’s for breakfast?” you wonder.  Opening cupboards you see that options are limited.  Dry toast, cold cereal, or a three-day old bagel stare back at you.  The choices are underwhelming, and you wonder if you should just skip eating breakfast altogether.  Your new day isn’t off to a great start.  Later, after a long day of work and play, you settle down to finally relax with a plate of delicious, moist chocolate cake. “Why couldn’t I eat this chocolate cake for breakfast?” you ponder.  Chocolate cake should be eaten for breakfast!  In fact, as part of a balanced breakfast, chocolate cake is the ultimate breakfast food.

            Bill Cosby and his kids have the right idea.  In his 1982 comedy album, “Himself,” he shares a story of getting up early to make breakfast for his children.  When he first gets up, he is grumpy because he wishes to be in bed and not downstairs making bacon and eggs.  Then his four year old daughter comes downstairs and asks for the chocolate cake for breakfast.  Soon, all his children are downstairs eating chocolate cake and drinking grapefruit juice and enjoying a wonderful time!  The children sing praises to their father and everyone is happy.  All this is possible because of chocolate cake.

            The reason Cosby chooses to feed his children chocolate cake for breakfast is that the ingredients that make cake are good and wholesome.  Eggs are loaded with vitamins, minerals, protein and good fats.  Milk provides calcium for strong bones.  Many cakes are made with white flour that provides fuel for our bodies through easily digestible glucose, while others made with whole grain flour have the added benefits of fiber and B vitamins.  New research has found that even dark chocolate has healthy benefits, providing antioxidants and lowering the risk of heart diseases.  One might argue that the amount of sugar in chocolate cake negates all the healthy benefits of the other ingredients of the cake.  However, when compared with other traditional breakfast foods, such as cold cereals, bagels, donuts, or muffins, the chocolate cake contains sugar less or equal to these other breakfast items.  In the case of the blueberry muffin, the amount of sugar is over 3 times as much as our delightful chocolate cake!

            It’s not just the ingredients inside chocolate cake that have health benefits.  Chocolate cake is part of a complete breakfast when paired with other breakfast favorites.  Many nutritionist recommend the day be started with a large breakfast containing about 600 calories.  Eating this much jump starts the metabolism and helps people lose weight.  One can enjoy chocolate cake for breakfast paired with scrambled eggs with cheese, fresh fruit and orange juice or milk to create a balanced and nutritious breakfast.  Your mom always reminded you not to skip breakfast because it is the most important meal of the day.  Now, you can be healthy, eat your large breakfast, and have your cake, too!

            Savoring your cake early in the day provides other dietary benefits.  For many dieters, denying the foods they crave causes them to binge on those forbidden fruits later.  By enjoying normal amounts of those cravings periodically, we circumvent the need to excessively eat.  By savoring our chocolate cake at breakfast, we satisfy the need for the food, and there is no need to indulge in a late, unplanned dessert.  For those that watch their calorie intake so they can burn those calories off in daily exercise, they avoid the issue of eating too late in the day to have time to burn those unnecessary calories away.  Instead, they get to enjoy enticing chocolate cake, and still have plenty of time throughout the day to work it off.

            A new day is dawning, and once again, your alarm clock is ringing.  You bound out of bed and jaunt down to the kitchen.  There, waiting for you, is your delicious breakfast of chocolate cake.  Oh, what a wonderful start to the day!  No longer must you worry about melancholy, boring breakfast.  Now you are starting your day off right, jump starting your metabolism, and enjoying food to keep your cravings in check.  You’re ready to take on your day in a positive way.  All this is possible because you partake of chocolate cake, the ultimate breakfast food.