Not All Dark Chocolate Is Healthy Chocolate

“I thought all dark chocolate was healthy?”

It isn’t. The bad news is there are several companies attempting to sell their sugar and additive filled dark chocolate as something that will cure what ails you. But the truth is that without sugar and additives, cocoa that is dutched or heat processed does not have the nutrients to meet the benefits of real healthy chocolate.

Studies have now proven that chocolate is good for you. It is rich in antioxidants and has many health benefits, including lowering blood sugar and cholesterol.

Cocoa comes from the Theobromo cacao plant. Half of the cocoa bean is made of fat in the form of cocoa butter. Cocoa powder is the edible non-fat part of the cacao bean.

Cocoa has one of the highest concentration antioxidants of any foods, in the form of the flavonoids: catechin and epicatechin.

ORAC scores are used to measure the level of antioxidant properties in foods. This oxygen radical absorbance capacity test rates raw and unprocessed or raw cocoa higher than most foods, including green tea or red wine.

Studies have shown that dark chocolate decreases blood pressure. This function may be attributed to cocoa's action as a renin-angiotension enzyme inhibitor, the same mechanism addressed by blood pressure medication.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2003 reported on a German study of 13 people between the ages of 5 and 64 who had blood pressure numbers of 153 over 84. The group was divided into two groups. One group ate a 100-gram bar of white chocolate daily and the other group ate a dark chocolate bar. Those who ate the dark chocolate showed lower blood pressure, but alas for white chocolate lovers, this candy bar did not show any health benefits. The benefits were attributed to the cocoa phenols that are present in the dark cocoa powder from the cocoa bean.

The closer to raw the cocoa is, the more health benefits it will provide.

The cocoa bean also contains insoluble fiber, which helps lower cholesterol levels. The fiber in chocolate has also been shown to reduce the rate of colorectal cancer, and to reduce constipation.
Dark chocolate contains magnesium, which helps soothe the nervous system, relax muscles, reduce PMS and build teeth and bones. Dark chocolate also contains the mineral copper, which is needed in many metabolic functions in the body.

Dark chocolate may even slow dementia. Cocoa's content of antioxidants aids in memory, along with the nutrients vitamin E and vitamin B. By increasing nitric oxide intake, cocoa has been shown to help stimulate insulin to uptake blood sugar, thereby stopping the insulin resistance that can lead to diabetes. And cocoa has even been shown to repair liver cells after alcohol consumption.

As an antidepressant, chocolate really shines. The "love chemical" phenylethylamine helps to raise the serotonin and dopamine levels. This curbs appetite, stimulates the nervous system, and even raises libido.

These are all great reasons for me to bring healthy dark chocolate into my diet as a supplement instead of the after dinner dessert it has been for years.    

So why am I so hyped up about healthy dark chocolate?

Because I found a way to bring it to you in it’s purest form possible without any aftertaste. And it wasn’t something I found today and decided to just put out there and in your face.

I had been playing around with making raw chocolates this past month. 

And I thought I was doing well enough to bring some to a couple of top notch health food stores in my area. The A-Market in Manchester and Natural Choice Market in Hooksett,NH are good starts for any raw food product that just came to life. Except that when I started to figure out the kitchen rental, package design and creation, machinery, and distribution , my head began to hurt.

With more research of similar ingredient combinations like mine, I came across one that was almost exactly the same. This unprocessed cocoa with the addition of blueberry and acai powder is sweetened with unprocessed cane juice that has been crystallized to give it a low glycemic value. Mine had virgin coconut oil and agave as sweeteners.

When I asked for some samples, the lady on the phone, Julie, said no problem and sent them off. The taste is incredible and without an aftertaste. I let Julie know what I had planned to do and she said if I liked this product well enough, I could distribute it in my area. Already packaged with all the legalese completed for me and as good as I was making in health properties, not a bad idea. So what I have challenged myself to do, before I can claim their health benefits are true, is to test the product myself for 30 days and post the results in my posts that follow this one.

Personally I love a challenge and this one is big because I intend to cure my diabetes and obesity through super foods, internal kung-fu, and healthy eating; a goal I made in the first post.

So here is how my 30 day test will work:

1. Reduce my metformin / metaformin by half.
2. My first morning blood sugar reading was 169. I intend to have a reading of 120 to 140 at the end of the test.
3. I don’t know how much I weigh but my jeans are size 44-46 and my intention is to be a size 40 in one month.
4. I will eat the recommended servings of one bar or nugget 30 minutes before each meal (3x/day) with a glass of water.

Are these goals too high?

No, not if the claims on the healthy dark chocolate (which are not claims from the company but those who have used the product) are really true. I should see results at least 90% as good.

And what happens if it does nothing?

I finish the amount I purchased and the idea for this particular dark chocolate goes away. This is why I don’t want you to try it right now. I means it’s not going to hurt you. It’s chocolate and it tastes great. I have used it three days and I sleep better and have better energy with no sugar shocks or drops to put me to sleep.  So far so good but tomorrow is my first blood sugar reading and I hope it shows some good news.

Oh one last question, would you get sick of chocolate if you ate it every day three times per day?

Thanks for reading,

Bill

Comments

[Elle]

This is great information, thanks so much!