Nutrition
There is nothing in the world quite like chocolate. It is delightful, luxurious, sensuous, passionate, sexual and exciting to all the senses.
Chocolate is the number one food craved by women, (according to popular research). No wonder chocolate plays such a big part of the Valentine’s Day ritual.
For year’s we have been told that chocolate is “junk food”. Recently, however, research has told us that some chocolate is good for you. So what is it?
Most people know that the chocolate in a typical inexpensive chocolate bar is the junk food chocolate, cheap chocolate that has been processed with chemicals, additives and hydrogenated oils that make the chocolate taste more like tin than what true chocolate is supposed to taste like.
The natural raw cacao bean, the raw material, is full of compounds that help neutralize free radicals. Raw, unprocessed chocolate contains hundreds of healthy properties including significant amounts of magnesium, antioxidants and tryptophan.
Most of the western world is deficient in magnesium. Yet magnesium supports the heart, increases brainpower, eases constipation, soothes menstruation, relaxes muscles and builds bones.
According to research cited in The New York Times, raw cacao beans are super-rich in antioxidant flavonols, 10 grams per 100 grams, a 10% antioxidant concentration level. This is much higher than blueberries or pomegranates.
Raw cacao also contains significant amounts of tryptophan, an essential amino acid which is a powerful mood-enhancing nutrient.
More appropriate for the season, is raw chocolates’ aphrodisiac qualities that make chocolate truly a food for the heart. Cacao opens the heart, and as we approach Valentine’s Day, an open heart is a very good thing to have.
Joanne
Registered Nutritionist
pHChefs
Chocolate is the number one food craved by women, (according to popular research). No wonder chocolate plays such a big part of the Valentine’s Day ritual.
For year’s we have been told that chocolate is “junk food”. Recently, however, research has told us that some chocolate is good for you. So what is it?
Most people know that the chocolate in a typical inexpensive chocolate bar is the junk food chocolate, cheap chocolate that has been processed with chemicals, additives and hydrogenated oils that make the chocolate taste more like tin than what true chocolate is supposed to taste like.
The natural raw cacao bean, the raw material, is full of compounds that help neutralize free radicals. Raw, unprocessed chocolate contains hundreds of healthy properties including significant amounts of magnesium, antioxidants and tryptophan.
Most of the western world is deficient in magnesium. Yet magnesium supports the heart, increases brainpower, eases constipation, soothes menstruation, relaxes muscles and builds bones.
According to research cited in The New York Times, raw cacao beans are super-rich in antioxidant flavonols, 10 grams per 100 grams, a 10% antioxidant concentration level. This is much higher than blueberries or pomegranates.
Raw cacao also contains significant amounts of tryptophan, an essential amino acid which is a powerful mood-enhancing nutrient.
More appropriate for the season, is raw chocolates’ aphrodisiac qualities that make chocolate truly a food for the heart. Cacao opens the heart, and as we approach Valentine’s Day, an open heart is a very good thing to have.
Joanne
Registered Nutritionist
pHChefs
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Posted on 03 Feb 2009 by Joanne Levesque pH Chefs
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