Chocolate The Dark Side

    Would you believe that chocolate is healthy?  Chocolate is originally native to Central America and it has been around since 1400 BC.

     The cacao ( kuh cow' ) bean or seed is the source of all chocolates around the world.  The Aztecs would take the cacao bean and brew it in water to produce a drink they called XOCOLaTL.  This name is actually made up of two words that mean bitter and water.  Kind of sounds like this ( zoh coh laht' ).

     Unprocessed dark cocoa powder has the highest anti-oxidant content of all fruits and vegetables. Even higher than strawberries, blueberries, and even grapes.  And it has ten times higher anti-oxidants
( flavanoids) than blueberries.  Anti-oxidants fall into many categories, one of which is Flavanoids.

     When the cacao bean is processed it has a fat content that is called cacao butter and sugar is used to make chocolate.  If milk is added it is called milk chocolate.  When you use only the cocoa butter minus the cocoa and then add milk and sugar, it makes white chocolate.

     Ninety-two percent of Americans prefer the chocolate known as milk chocolate this is not healthy chocolate.  It is only the dark chocolate that provides the health benefits to our body.  It does contain some magnesium, copper and iron.  However there is sugar and some calories involved.

     Dark Chocolate provides all of the following:

• essential fatty-acids, minerals, vitamins, and also fiber that's important for our overall diet.  
• It also helps us with depression - makes us feel better
• It is also an antihistamine that can help us stop allergies
• It contains Theobromide/Theophylline which helps us open up and breathe easier 
• It helps with memory
• It helps with Arthritis /Joint inflammation
• It Decreases Gum Disease/ Cavities
• It increases energy and helps create healthy skin
• It is higher in anti-oxidants than green tea and red wine in some cases

     Dark chocolate has more cacao and less sugar.  A chocolate bar has a cacao percentage or a number that indicates the amount of cacao in it.  And inversely the amount of sugar is the difference up to the number 100.  For example, if you have cacao bar and the content is 65% then the sugar content is 35%.  Or if the cacao bar percentage is 55% then the sugar content is 45%.  So therefore the higher the cacao content the higher the anti-oxidant level.
  
     Another sweet feature is that studies show that the anti-oxidants will stay elevated in the blood for about six hours after consuming a 40gm dark chocolate bar.  A big caveat is to only eat dark chocolate that is NOT processed with alkali.  If it is processed with alkali then the anti-oxidants are wasted during the process.  

     When the cacao bean is processed it has fat content and that is called cacao butter. When milk is added it is called milk chocolate.  When you use only the cocoa butter minus the cocoa powder and then add milk and sugar this will make white chocolate.
  
     On the other dark side chocolate has addictive properties. Their code names are sugar, caffeine, and theobromine ( which is a stimulant in the same category as caffeine ).  Chocolate is also a high calorie product.  And Americans consumes approximately 22 lbs of chocolate and candy each year  per person.

     Theobromine has been associated with acid-reflux because it relaxs the muscle from the stomach to the esophagus.  Which allows food to backup into the esophagus that causes that acid-reflux feeling.

     Plants have created their own natural pesticides, nicotine and caffeine, to keep bugs from eating them.  The cacao tree has an additional bit of armor and that is theobromine.  There is no living animal on Earth that will eat the raw cacao bean.

  

     Theobromine is deadly to horses, parrots, rodents, cats and dogs.  In horse racing theobromine is the "illegal" stimulant drug  because it would give that horse an unfair advantage for performance.

     As a warning to parents watch out for caffeine being added to the very popular candy bars and other candy products.  These new jacked up candy bars have a warning that states  (not recommended for children).  The manufacturers are adding approx. 60mg of caffeine to their products.  This is 75% of the amount in the popular energy drinks.    

     The USDA uses a test to determine the anti-oxidant content of fruits and vegetables known as ORAC. This is the  Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity of a food product.


Stay Healthy,


Keep it Rolling!

www.myganocafe.com/firststeps

Taking action is the key to improving YOU! Just do it!