Health benefits of our Valentine’s indulgence
Our perception of chocolate has taken a complete 180-degree turn since my childhood, when my mom used to advise, “Don’t eat chocolate, your skin will break out.” As our collective awareness has progressed, we have come to understand that the ingredients that are often commercially mixed in with chocolate, like milk and refined sugar, are really the culprits that give chocolate a bad rap (including the stimulation of allergic-type reactions in the body). The cacao nut itself is really quite beneficial to our health in small doses.
The raw cacao nut, or chocolate, as it’s often referred, is high in antioxidants and minerals. When I give people chocolates I’ve made, I tell them it’s like taking a vitamin. You can ingest an abundance of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in one tiny bite.
Chocolate also contains flavonoids, phytochemicals whose antioxidant properties help the body thrive and help protect against a long list of diseases. For example, a Swedish study found that eating about two bars of dark chocolate per week led to a substantial 20% decrease in stroke risk among women. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, cacao contains a compound called pentameric procyanidin, which disrupts cancer cells’ ability to spread. Researchers from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University treated cancer cells with this pentamer and discovered that the proteins necessary for cancer growth were suppressed; the cells stopped dividing.
We now also have proof that cacao’s stellar chemical make-up isn’t only beneficial for building a healthy body, but also a sharp mind. Professor David Kennedy, director of the Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Center at Northumbria University in England reports that chocolate helps with mentally challenging tasks. This British psychologist found through his study of 800 participants that the flavanols found in chocolate helped people perform mental math tasks.
I’d like to qualify that not all chocolate is created equal. When I travel, I bring my own chocolate since the healthy chocolate I’m referring to here is not likely to be found in gas stations or airports. Even some of the higher quality dark chocolate bars in mainstream America still contain white sugar, which is not advisable. In fact, in South America where the cacao trees thrive, the locals drink their hot chocolate not as a sweet but as a bitter drink. Ayurvedic principles remind us of the importance of the bitter taste in our diets.
An important distinction to note is that chocolate should be consumed in small amounts. It’s a powerful substance, and needs to be recognized as such.
We all have our own metabolic variables. As yogis, we are aware of what works for us and what doesn’t. Chocolate, like wine, may support someone’s health and not others. The claims that have been made that chocolate is addictive or toxic for the liver and kidneys has not, to my knowledge, been substantiated with real scientific study; rather, it is based on the experience of individuals who may be allergic to it or have rare sensitivities. If someone has adrenal abnormalities or allergies to caffeine, chocolate may not be advisable. I have a friend who doesn’t assimilate copper well, so he can’t eat chocolate; another friend, a well-known raw chef, feels that chocolate is toxic, so she only uses carob.
For me, learning to prepare truly healthful chocolate treats has been a delightful experience that has provided for me the understanding that eating clean and pure doesn’t mean sacrificing the whimsical foods. Along these lines, one of the best things about cacao is that it blends well with so many other superfoods like maca, lucuma, goji berries and other superfruits, protein powder, nut and seed butters.
Almost everybody loves chocolate, and now you know it loves you too.
Blythe Metz is a raw food educator whose creative food and beauty recipes inspire health from the inside out. Her 30 minute show Blythe Raw Live is available to view on Hulu: www.hulu.com/blythe–raw–live. Red more of her recipes, view interviews, and find resources at:BlytheRaw.com
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