Chocolate
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Written by Laurel Sherer
Why is it that so many people crave chocolate? Are there any types of chocolate that are actually good for us to eat? This section of the nutrition course will present a unique and natural approach to chocolate consumption that may be new to you or others in your life. The wonderful news about this approach is that chocolate can be wonderful for one’s health!
Many people today know chocolate in the forms of candy bars, cookies, brownies, and other types of candy. All of these forms of chocolate are highly processed with many added ingredients. Professor Tom Sanders says that as such, chocolate contains high amounts of fats and sugars, including hydrogenated vegetable fats (trans fatty acids), which have been linked to heart disease (www.chocolate.org.uk/choclove/women.html). According to David Wolfe and Shazzie in Naked Chocolate (2005), the powered milk in many types of chocolate furthermore blocks the healing antioxidant properties of the natural chocolate.
During World War II, advertisements in the United States linked nutrition and chocolate. Mars bars, for example, advertised “there was a ‘whole meal’ in a bar to ‘nourish, energize, and sustain.’” (www.chocolate.org.uk/choclove/women.html) People have become addicted to chocolate. The sugar and caffeine give a quick burst of energy. If you or someone you know loves chocolate, but also wants to be at a high level of health, cacao may be the answer.
Uncooked, unprocessed chocolate is called cacao. It is a seed of the fruit from a cacao tree, which is a small evergreen tree that grows in South America and the West Indies. The scientific name of the cacao tree’s fruit is “Theobroma Cacao,” meaning “food of the gods.” (www.alivefoods.com)
Cacao has been used by humans for 5,000 to 15,000 years. The Mayans used cacao as currency. The Aztecs used cacao in rituals, including marriage (Naked Chocolate, 2005). While cacao was prized as a food of the gods by some cultures, it is now available for any of us to buy from Nature’s First Law and other sources.
Cacao beans naturally have high quality fat and no sugar. Cacao beans also have many healing qualities because they are so full of minerals. According to David Wolfe and Shazzie in Naked Chocolate (2005), “The key to chocolate’s super qualities seems to be eating it in its raw, natural state as a cacao bean!” (5) Cacao has high amounts of magnesium, sulfur, phenylethylamine (PEA), and anandamide. According to www.alivefoods.com cacao is the number one source of magnesium of any food. This is why women crave chocolate during our menstrual cycles, a time when women are susceptible to magnesium deficiency. Magnesium builds bones, balances brain chemistry, and helps create happiness. “Magnesium is the most deficient major mineral on the Standard American Diet (SAD)—over 80% of Americans are chronically deficient in magnesium.” (http://www.alivefoods.com)
Sulfur is another mineral that is present in high amounts in cacao. Sulfur is a beauty mineral. It helps the body to build strong nails, create shiny skin and hair, detoxify the liver, and support healthy pancreas functioning. Cacao also detoxifies any mercury in the body because its sulfur levels are so high.
Cacao contains phenylethylamine (PEA), which is also released by the brain when we’re in love. The “bliss chemical”—anandamide—is found in cacao and is also released when we’re feeling happy. Taking in consideration all of the minerals that cacao has, it is not surprising that cacao has been used from ancient culture to today. It can help us to become healthier and feel blissful and energized.
Cacao tastes wonderful if natural sweeteners (such as honey, dates, and maple syrup) are added. It comes in the form of pieces of the cacao bean, which can then be added to a smoothie, turned into healthy brownies, or eaten by itself.
Cacao offers chocolate lovers a pure form of chocolate. Otherwise, if you eat processed chocolate in candy bars, cookies, etc. moderation can be a helpful tool. According to www.betterhealth.vic, “While there may be some healthy things in chocolate, it does have other components that are not good for you when you have too much of them in your diet—like fat and sugar.” Alexander von Humboldt, a German scientist, states that cacao “is a phenomenon, for nowhere else has nature concentrated such a wealth of valuable nourishment in so small a space.” (Naked Chocolate, 2005: 91)