Dr. Myrtle Wilhite has some good news she'd like to share with you. As co-owner of the Third Ward's A Woman's Touch Sexuality Resource Center, she has been researching how eating certain foods can help you relax, lower bad cholesterol, help your insulin system and quite effectively improve your ability to enjoy sexual pleasure.

And the news just keeps getting better; her number one food recommendation is chocolate.

Wilhite says that eating good, dark chocolate -- the stuff that is at least 70 percent cacao -- infuses a "love hormone" called PEA as well as the mood elevating theobromide into our blood stream for a light, positive buzz. She has also found that a diet rich in dark chocolate has direct positive effects on enhancing the flexibility and function of our small blood vessels.

"In a nutshell," she says, "sexual arousal depends upon two different things functioning: your nerves and your blood vessels. Chocolate has several different components which work in concert to reduce the inflammation preventing blood vessels from working in an 'arousing' way."

Curious to find out more?

On Saturday, Feb. 4 Wilhite and business partner Ellen Barnard are opening A Woman's Touch to an event that will introduce tips, share information and engage guests in a special tasting session to highlight the positive effects that dark chocolate has on the libido and general sexual functioning.

Starting at 1 p.m., Dr. Wilhite will share her article -- "Sex and Chocolate" -- which details just how dark chocolate works with our blood vessels to increase sexual arousal. Guests will learn about chocolate production, different types of chocolate, more about dark chocolate's effects and then participate in a blind taste test of samples from the private reserves of Madison chocolatier Gail Ambrosius.

"Certain diets -- particularly those high in brightly colors fruits and vegetables, chocolate and low in beef -- are 'sexier' than others," she explains. "Eating a balanced diet including dark chocolate helps our little vessels get cleared out to they can let fluids through and, thus, make sexual arousal easier, leading to more pleasure."

But what many people are wondering is how not to go overboard on chocolate consumption?

"I don't suggest that anyone ever eat milk chocolate or white chocolate -- those are both high-calorie abominations! But regular consumption of very dark chocolate actually suppresses the appetite, helps to control blood sugar, helps your body utilize the calories you're taking in and lowers your blood pressure."

This doctor's oh-so-tempting orders?

"Eating four ounces -- about one third of a dark chocolate bar -- a day is going to be a great support for the arousal of blood vessels. And you don't have to support mega-corporations when purchasing your chocolate. Shade-grown, sustainable-grown organic chocolate is much better tasting and much better for the environment."

Here's to a deliciously healthy lifestyle!

A Woman's Touch is located at 200 N. Jefferson Street, Suite 101. "Sex and Chocolate" is $9 and pre-registration is required. Call (414) 221-0400. Their Web site is a-womans-touch.com.