Chocolate health benefits

[rolandbeauregard]

I usually avoid sugar snacks but one of my daily snacks is Chocolate. This started after I read a number of articles (like this one http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/3464/) about the benefits of chocolate. The catch however is that the chocolate have a high cocoa content and you only consume about 1 ounce a day.
I eat a small amount with my lunch. I have found that this small amount seems to eliminate the food cravings that I used to have in the afternoon.

I have found a number of high quality bars (some organic and free trade) that I would recommend. I look for bars with at least 70% cocoa. Some of these are sweetened with organic cane sugar rather then white sugar.
My favorite is Green & Blacks ( http://www.greenandblacks.com/ ) Dark 70% bar.
I also like the Bat Bars another dark chocolate offered by the Endangered Species Chocolate Co. ( http://www.chocolatebar.com/ ).
Companies like Terranostra and Valrhona also offer fine products.
I have also aquired a taste for unsweetened chocolate that most people think is just gross.

I would like to hear how others feel about this food.

[Connie Brown]

As a sugar sensitive person I find chocolate to be unfriendly to a clean food program.

There's the sugar it comes packaged with (no unsweetened for me thanks)!
And it doesn't matter what kind of sugar, whether sucrose or cane juice - it is the *taste* of sweet that primes beta-endorphin causing me to want more and more. If not of the chocolate then something else later. It really sets up "jonesing."

I have never had 1 ounce of sweet chocolate make me feel better, or prevent later cravings, in my whole life. It's always either none or mega amounts.

I'll never forget this one time in the lunchroom at our engineering company. About 6 guys and only 2 of us girls. The other girl was feeling bad because she had been "really good" with a diet for a couple of weeks but had blown it with a candy bar. The guys were like, what's the big deal, a candy bar, just move on.

But I just caught her eye and we both laughed and rolled our eyes. None of the guys even imagined she was talking about the 2-pounder Hersheys and I just assumed it was. And it was. LOL

[rolandbeauregard]

About 25 years ago I had some stomach problems and decided I needed to change my diet. Almost every thing I eat is fresh and Organic. It took me 2 years to wean myself off white sugar. I eat very little sweets and my dentist says it does wonders for my checkups. I only started eating chocolate again after I read about the benefits and I looked for the best quality I could find.

Most people think I have great self-control because I can eat small amounts of chocolate. The truth is I enjoy the taste of the dark bitter chocolate but eating too much of anything sweet actually unsettles my stomach. To me it is a matter of quality over quantity.


PS. You have a really great web site.

[Coach Gostnell]

I'm with Roland on this one, which I think just illustrates that folks have different chemical things going on in their bodies. A long time ago I figured out that I don't care for most sweets, that a small amount of chocolate a day actually curbs some other cravings (I call it the CMDR - Chocolate Minimum Daily Requirement :D )

I can easily pass up or even have just one bite of ice cream, cake, pies, donuts, you-name-it, and although somewhere in my past, I did eat at one sitting a 2# Hershey's Chocolate Bar with Almonds - maybe more than once even during particularly stressful times - in general, I like a little chocolate after lunch, & a HEAPING tablespoon of Ben & Jerry's chocolate fudge brownie ice cream after dinner.

When I'm completely away from it, say on a field trip for a week, I don't miss it.

Haven't progressed to the unsweetened stuff, although I've thought about it. Roland can be my inspiration here.

My second favorite "substance" after chocolate is cinnamon - once again though, very hard to get without a lot of sugar involved too.

[Ryan Murdock]

As an aside, does anyone know of any research promoting the health benefits of ice cream? Or could someone please invent some?? Please :?: :?:

[Jrichardson]

I'll say this -- once you hit 85% cocoa, it doesn't taste sweet anymore (tastes more like a nice English stout).

70% can leave me still wanting more chocolate, but a couple squares of 85 is usually all it takes.

[Connie Brown]

As an aside, does anyone know of any research promoting the health benefits of ice cream? Or could someone please invent some?? Please :?: :?:
Ryan you made me laugh.

There was a hilarious series of "diets" published in Prevention magazine once. Might still be there. There was one for it seemed like each major category of addictive food: "the peanut butter diet," the "ice cream diet" and so on.

The premise was to eat just a little of your favorite thing (in moderation and controlled of course) as a planned cheat.

Not recommended by me for anyone who has already demonstrated to their own satisfaction that moderation is not an option! Plus not to get all technical but for sugar sensitive people out of balance, any food that hooks into the addictive biochemistry is not a friend.

Chocolate hits the Beta-endorphin system all by itself and the sugar boosts the effect.

[JasonE]

This may have something to do with why Ben&Jerry's Peanut-Butter and Chocolate ice cream with the mini peanut butter cups is one of my favorites... which I avoid whenever possible. (several months on the wagon now!)

If that stuff came in syringes, I'd have scars between my toes. :?

[Jrichardson]

Chocolate ice cream + chunky peanut butter = DANGEROUS!

I can't even believe how much of that combo I ate while in college... the homemade version is far more dicey than Ben & Jerry's, 'cause you can use froofy pure organic peanut butter and convince yourself that you're making it healthy. :)

[Scott Sonnon]

I can't imagine what I must have looked like in college since we are what we eat - something like the food fight scene from Animal House I guess. I know that I was lucky enough in competition in spite of my awful diet. I can't imagine where I would have been with sufficient, radiant fuel and building material for my body; not to mention the emotional control of balanced biochemistry I could have had compared to the tempest irrationality my 20 something diet wreaked on my performance and health. Sheesh. I DO know that it was the determining factor in taking my personal practice to greater depths, as well as increasing exuberant living all-around.

[Jarlo Ilano]

......but chocolate and ice cream tastes good!?!?! :? :lol:

[admin]

If its good chocolate you're looking for, this site has them all:
http://chocosphere.com/

(And they're in your neck of the woods, Connie!).

My favorite is Michel Cluizel's %85....they have a %95 percent, but that's only for the most afflicted addict.

-Michael, a confessed and unrepentent chocoholic

[Connie Brown]

(And they're in your neck of the woods, Connie!).
LOL thanks but no thanks, Michael. Good going down but I wouldn't be good company down the road if you know what I mean.

Connie, the confessed and unrepentant girl who used to cain't say no, just when she oughter say, nix

[Chuck Kechter]

Hi,

My name is Chuck and I am a chocoholic. . . :wink: :roll: :)

Michael, I love this:
-Michael, a confessed and unrepentent chocoholic

Change the name and it might become my new mantra. :wink: :D

[rolandbeauregard]

Thanks Michael for that link to chocosphere. That is a great site.

Coach you made a good point about you are what you eat. I cleaned up my diet a long time ago and I feel it made a big difference.

One thing I have found while dealing with natural/health food people is this fear of food. People saying this food is good, this food is bad etc... People avoiding places and people because of the food. I have fell into that trap myself. I think what we need to do with food is what Coach has done with exercise, experiment ,study,investigate and play. At some point your natural instincts will come into play and you will know what foods your body needs and what foods you body can do without. I think the biggest sin is eating too much (of anything). The key is quality vs quantity. .

[Connie Brown]

I agree Roland with one proviso: some substances are so disordering to some individuals that they don't allow your natural instincts to come into play, which you don't discover until you completely quit them.

So in a case like that part, of experimenting has to mean, allowing yourself to say "nada" to something instead of "some but moderation."

And there are ebbs and flows of sensitivity too. Someone could avoid a place at one time and be in a different strength another time and not have the same place bother them.

I know you didn't say "but everyone must always be moderate and tolerant" because that would be immoderately moderate LOL

[rolandbeauregard]

I should add that being open to feedback from others is an important also.

[Scott Sonnon]

At some point your natural instincts will come into play and you will know what foods your body needs and what foods you body can do without. I agree completely. Journaling to actually consciously see my type and volume of intake helped me differentiate my relationship to foods which made me feel balanced, and my relationship to foods which made me feel imbalanced. In other words, that "some point" when my intuition became a more lucid voice than my habitual patterning came after I learned how to journal.

[Scotty D.]

Hey there folks,

There is raw cacao available for those of you looking to do some dietary 'questioning'. If you would like to feel-out your relation to chocolate without the addition of sugar and adulterated fats, you can give the chocolate bean a try.

There is an article on cacao, history and nutrition, here: http://www.rawfood.com/cacao.html

This is also one of the websites offering raw cacao.

I am currently pursuing the Genefit Nutrition online-seminar, and cacao beans are one of the foods they mention in relation to the first research done on the alliesthesial response. Alliesthesial response relates to changes in sensation given by a stimulus in relation to the bio-chemical state of the body. So, if you need a vitamin that is high in cherries, they smell and taste ecstatic. When the body has reached the appropriate internal ratio of this vitamin, the taste changes, and eventually becomes unpleasant when there is an overload. Alliesthesial response can occur outside of the olfactory as well, such as a temperature being perceived as hot or cold depending on the body's current bio-chemical state. Now, in regards to chocolate, when eaten as 'a chocolate', i.e. processed chocolates, the taste will never change, as the irregular molecules are unrecognized by the body. Even with whole beans, though which were roasted, there was never an alliesthesial response. With natural and unheated cacao beans, however, the taste was like black chocolate when there was a need {ecstatic phase}, and they were extremely bitter when uneeded.

[Scott Sonnon]

Scott,

That's an interesting theory on satiety saturation. I'll have to read up on that. Thanks for sharing.

[Travis_McHugh]

Sorry to go back to the bad foods, but I saw J Richardon's post and had to reply.

In college, I used to eat Golden Grahams Cereal with chocolate syrup (breakfast smores) and then grab a Milky Way Dark candy bar on the way out of the door! I went to school in Savannah so I walked, biked or skateboarded everywhere, all year long. I guess that's what kept me at 145-150 lbs.

I am a self proclaimed chocoholic and certified Professional Chocolatier (semi-retired).

Regards,

[Connie Brown]

Much as I enjoy these bad food tales I have to say I'm a little uncomfortable at a light treatment of addiction a la "chocoholism."

Just so those of you who use it tongue-in-cheek understand that for some people it really is from the dark side. oops pun not intended.

[rolandbeauregard]

I started this topic to relate how I enjoyed a little chocolate every day. I didn't think it would generate so much interest.

I would like to point out an insight I had on sweets many years ago. I had changed my diet to be more healthful. Getting sweets out of my diet was a real problem till I realised why sweets were so desirable. As a young child I was often offered sweets as a reward for being good. Carrying that into my adult life, I was using sweets to reafirm that I was a good person. Whenever I had doubts or questions about my self, I craved something sweet. After that realization I just changed what I needed to do to reafirm myself. There were other rewards beside sweets. Things like meditation or exercise work just as well. Now, if I want something sweet , I find something of good quality and eat just a little.

[Scott Sonnon]

Roland,

I had similar but different emotional relationship to sugar. Coming from an impoverished area, abundance of food was considered not only success, but 'sweets' were considered a highly appreciated luxury. Even today, we must insulate our nuclear family when visiting our extended family, because it's an assault of good intentions from the second we hit the door. It's really dangerous considering that like myself, my family is hypoglycemic, sugar sensitive and borderline diabetic (obesity activated.)

We do have the occassional high percentage chocolate with Michael, the seasonal apple cider, and the holiday pumpkin pie slice, but we are fully aware of the repercussions biochemically and take necessary measures (like eating any sugar with protein at a 'padded' time of the day.)

But the emotional relationship is always there, even when we're not around our family... it's an inheritance we're hoping to NOT give our children. And it's equally challenging because we're trying to not create the opposite side of the spectrum - a reactionary fear of sugars - in our children.

Surprisingly enough, our daughter was at a birthday party and all of the kids were asked if they wanted cake. She said that she wanted to try some, so we let her. She didn't get by the first bite, and she ran over to my wife and said, "Don't like cake. Cheese stick please?"

[Jrichardson]

"Don't like cake. Cheese stick please?"

Awesome! :lol:

I don't mean to make light of chocolate. With me, I find the more sugar is in it, the more likely I am not to be satisfied (especially if the only stuff available is part of something else), but if I get it bitter enough, I get the satiety signals pretty quick. I also know that for some reason, chocolate and peanuts together gives me a nearly insatiable appetite for both chocolate AND peanuts. Interestingly, this effect does not happen with Reeses', or most "pre packaged solutions" of the type; I sort of have to mix it myself.

I'm not so sure how I feel about raw cacao. From what I remember, the roasting process gets out a lot of unpleasant toxic alkaloids.

[Scotty D.]

I'm not so sure how I feel about raw cacao. From what I remember, the roasting process gets out a lot of unpleasant toxic alkaloids.

Though there are certainly alkaloids present within cacao, they would not be removed by the roasting process. Exposure to heat will not remove most molecules from a substance; exposure to heat will change, or adulterate, molecules. So it may appear, under scientific observation, that certain alkaloids within cacao dissapear after roasting. However, all this means is that the substances making up that particular molecule have chemically rearranged, via heat, into a new molecule. I am quite confident that we would not be adapted to this new molecule, seeing as though the many different factors occuring within the processing of the cacao, roasting being one process, could result in totally unique molecules each time the processing was undertaken. To adapt to the new molecule, we would require it to be exactly the same, consistently, over a long period of time (thousands of years, most likely), so as to proceed through enough mutations of the gene pool to have reached an adapted circumstance.

All this said, I would be adverse to using cacao as a beneficial food for regular intake. I do feel though that unprocessed chocolate beans have some amazing features, such as exceptionally high levels of magnesium, to justify having it around for those times when it is desired.

[Mike Nash]

http://www.radicalhealth.com/issues/2004-12-29:new-years-resolution.html

The above is a great link if you're looking for nutrient rich foods and creative ways to go about satisfying your chocolate hungry demons.

A little hypnosis always helps -----
Just imagine... for whatever mysterious reason... you began to forget to remember... that chocolate existed... but knew there was something you wanted... so searched for it with wanton abandon... and found it... in the form of nutritional rich food that satisfied your every desire... what would you have found????

Let's face it people - we can talk talk chocolate 'til our teeth fall out but there are SO MANY alternatives. Can you be bothered to find them? And if you can't because it's too much like hard work, check out Chocolate Busters by Jason Vale - there are horrific stories in there of how the chocolate slave trade still exist and 5 year olds are put into cocao fields to work until they're physically exhausted (15/16 hour days). Some of the more popular brands may even be getting their supply from such sources. It may not make you eliminate it - because that's not the goal - the goal is to find better alternatives so it doesn't even concern you anymore. Check at that link above.

anyone for a snickers??

Mike Nash
www.rawathlete.com

[rolandbeauregard]

Did any one see that segment on Dateline last night about how French women stay thin while eating fattening food? I think the most important part is what Mireille Guiliano (author of “French Women Don't Get Fat.”) said. She said that French woman are not guilty about what they eat. They eat small amounts and enjoy what they eat while American woman are feeling guilty about every bite. Maybe the worst effect of bad food is the guilt and not the ingredients. Coach Sonnon called guilt one of the 3 poisens in his post http://circularstrengthmag.com/31/sonnon2.html on emotional poison.

My grand father lived to be 105. His health only started fading after his 105 birthday. His favorite foods were Big Macs and snicker bars. I couldn't live on his diet but he just enjoyed his food and didn't think about it. It may have contributed to his long life. I think if you keep on telling your body that something is bad, your body will react to it. If you accept food with a joyous attitude you body will accept it.

It is all just play. What you believe you will make real.

[Mike Nash]

Excellent post Roland - I couldn't agree more. Now, can you imagine what happens when you combine the finest nutrient rich food - that you love to eat - with an attitude like your grandfathers.

I think our generation have a huge battle with the almighty media. We are sometimes the victims of powerful marketing campaigns that get us to buy anything, believe anything and follow like sheep as corporate giants get rich in the process.

Fortunately at the same time, with a keen eye and a desire to be the very best we can be, we can drink from the fountain of choice and possibility that surrounds every moment. The unlimited source (via the internet) of information can help us create and design a future not only inspiring, but empowering.

...when all is said and done - although we separate nutrition out as a subject in its own right to study and master... there comes a time to forget about it and fuse it together with this beautiful thing called life - and enjoy!

[Connie Brown]

Mark Twain the American humorist and always good for the yin / yang:


The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.


Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.