To use Hot Chocolate as my main drink instead of coffee?

23g of sugar in a "serving" of cadburys hot chocolate (200ml), serving sizes are always small so you can easily add an extra 50% to that.
So 34g of sugar, 3 times a day = 102g

That's a fair whack of sugar, for context - a teaspoon is 4g.
So it's the equivalent of someone having 12-25 cups of coffee/tea (in terms of sugar, assuming they add it)

In short - it's not great

I used to do this when I was young and I didn’t care. Boy I lost a lot of weight when I stopped.

I think it's the sugar keeping you alert. You're going from sugar high to sugar high. If you want a kick that's not from sugar you need something like this...

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/301956733?srsltid=AfmBOoqFic9qpIU_AbnCuFRloWKHNrwYw-ph0VrFCHFDfP68iAKfQm67

As others have said, multiple coffees doesn’t equal as many calories as multiple hot chocolates! By a factor of around 10! I give it to the kids occasionally as a treat, I don’t think you should have lots every day. Mind you, when I was little my parents gave me hot ribena (before the low sugar version was available!) a lot, so who am I to talk 🤣

If you can wean yourself off the sugary hot chocolates and make one with proper cacao powder and milk it is much better and tastes amazing

It'll be the sugar that's doing anything. An energy rush or peak followed by a crash. It's just standard blood sugar ups and downs because of how sugary her hot chocolates are.

That’s really unhealthy.

I don’t drink coffee and I might have one black tea a week. I don’t feel
the need for a hot drink, but if I drank hot chocolate it would be as a rare thing as I’d be concerned about the sugar spikes. And my weight.

I love hot chocolate to drink but it's definitely a 'treat' (calories, fat from milk etc). Also, powdered instant chocolate drinks just don't cut it for me. I don't think either you or your DH relying on caffeine to make you feel alert is a great idea.

May as well have a Snickers four times a day.

Sugar bomb!

For people saying it’s not worse than people having super sweet coffees from Costa etc. You’re right but I’d be saying the same thing if she was having multiple Starbucks chai lattes/pumpkin spice and caramel lattes etc. All are leading to sugar overload and come in at around 300 calories +

I remember seeing in an article there’s one especially calorie laden Christmas drink from Starbucks or something that’s around 500 calories.

OP, so yes I’d be concerned about the high sugar intake. It sounds like it’s the sugar keeping you awake rather than the caffeine.

I used to have one hot chocolate a day but it was homemade in a pot using oat milk, water,
cacao powder and a tiny bit of blended dates
and cinnamon. It probably came in at least 200+ calories though - it’s not something I have every night nowadays. More like once a week!

Try a low fat mocha coffee ?
I am not overly keen on hot chocolate I drink 2 cups of coffee a day , I make or buy a flat white with skim milk and I don’t get any syrups added or sugars.
Or Try different teas 🤔

I'd check the sugar content as I'd worry that it is probably a lot of sugar so I'd stick to one a day. But I have hot chocolate in place of coffee too for similar reasons and agree it does perk me up - cocoa has caffeine content so it does have a stimulant effect other than the sugar. But I do think multiple a day is probably not great due to sugar content.

If it works for you who cares what anyone else thinks ! Small amounts of caffeine in chocolate and sugar will be what's working but if you're not worried about that then go for it

I don’t think it’s any more unreasonable than all sorts of things people do.

is it good for you…? Probably not

I know a lot of people claim not to be able to function without coffee - but really one can! Are getting enough quality sleep? Is your blood sugar ok? My concern would be that drinking high sugar drinks would spike your energy and then slump - and you could get into quite a negative cycle.

good sleep and a bit of brisk outdoor activity probably a better option.

but if it works for you the crack on. You don’t need permission.

You aren't using hot chocolate as a way to stay alert, you are using sugar, in the same way as eating a chocolate bar every couple of hours will perk you up temporarily. You may also have got yourself into a bit of a sugar addiction type situation, where you are actually craving it now, I find the more chocolate/sweet stuff you have the more your body wants it! Every now and again I have to go cold turkey on sweet stuff and chocolate to stop me wanting it, after about two one to two weeks you won't crave it anymore.

I hate coffee, so anyone saying try this coffee, try that coffee etc.. it doesn't take away from the base coffee taste, which if you don't like it you don't like it, I drink tea as an alternative with the odd hot chocolate, but if someone even stirs my tea with a spoon that has stirred coffee I can taste it and have to grimace to drink it.

So unless you like things like fruit tea, or something like that, I'd just try and cut down on how many hot chocolates you have.

If you like hot chocolate then drink it. He thinks you shouldn't drink hot chocolate because he doesn't believe it has the same effect as coffee.

That is one of the most ridiculous things I've read. You're not asking him to drink it.

If you are having these types of hot chocolates several times a day… You’re likely getting half of your daily recommended calories from hot chocolate! It’s a huge amount of calories and sugar.

It doesn’t matter about the alertness, it may give it or not, but it’s a huge health hazard. Similar to other sugary creamy hot drinks.

Black sugar free coffees are different, as is sugar free tea, other drinks should only be had as treats every now and then.

An option would be to have it made with water and sweetener. With a little milk added.

Op, I absolutely do this - but with 75% dark hot chcolate (from gails).

However, I realised i was using milk as my main protein source and about 2 months ago apparently became lactose intolerant. So now on oat milk ones.

Taking a cup of chcoclate is very common in Portugal and Spain- dark, strong and energising

Try loads of different flavours of tea? You can even get ones with a vanilla or chocolate hint to them. I actually drink hot water and really enjoy it. It’s warming and cheap! I don’t think you should have 3 hot chocolates a day, sounds very unhealthy!

I voted YABU, not because it's unreasonable to choose to drink whatever you'd like, but because I'm assuming the spirit of the question is more "isn't this just the same as having a couple/a few coffees or teas per day?" The answer to that is no, it isn't. You're likely to make yourself quite poorly or at least run down and crap-feeling drinking multiple hot chocolates a day, of the type you go for.

It's like eating a chocolate bar multiple times a day. Not a good idea.

It's a huge amount of calories: and through mostly fat & sugar