The Health Benefits of Chocolate

Well go ahead, skip the salad and go for the chocolate...you can barely feel guilty, since chocolate is the number one antioxidant food in the world.

WAIT A SECOND – that is not entirely true. Let me rephrase that - not chocolate, but cacao, the bean. If your chocolate indulgence is in cake, you might just want that salad – and make it a big one!

Well...that is not really the case, since all chocolate is not created equal.


You want cacao, not cocoa

What's the difference?

Cacao is the pure fruit, generally referring to the bean, and the raw powder that is cold-pressed from this whole bean. Cocoa refers to the powder that is heated at high temperatures in processing, losing many of it's nutrients in the process. It is separated from the cacao liquor, and potassium salts are added to alkalize it, to help it mix better with water.

Most dark chocolate is made with cocoa, with many other filler ingredients, making it only slightly better than candy or milk chocolate.

So forget about that dark chocolate Mars bar, the sugar content is through the roof. That’s besides all the unhealthy oil, wax and other chemical ingredients that might be in it. You’ll be packing on the pounds, not the antioxidants!

To truly benefit and experience the magic and wonder of chocolate's antioxidant and health potential, it must be raw. Raw unadulterated, un-processed cacao. Once you taste raw chocolate, you realize what you have been missing. Click here to learn how to make your own tantalizing recipes.

Like anything, the dark chocolate antioxidant health fad is going to be used and abused by some clever companies. Don’t be fooled! The health benefits of chocolate only apply to the right kind of chocolate.

What counteracts the health benefits of chocolate:

• Fermentation,

• Roasting,

• High sustained temperatures,

• and Alkalizing (adding potassium salts)

of the cacao beans...these process are all typical of standard chocolate factories.

So even when you buy a container of typical cocoa powder (even organic), guess what – it has still undergone this process.

On top of that, a standard chocolate bar contains sugar, wax (yes wax), and some other "filler" like hydrogenated oil, milk powder, etc. These strongly counteract any antioxidants in chocolate.

The scope of cacao’s health benefits is very broad – because it’s one of the most chemically complex foods on earth! To truly benefit from it's medicinal poperties, you must get chocolate which is made with only the purest raw cacao.