HOLY ca-CAO!

Today I'm highlighting the health benefits of one of MOTHER NATURE's most beautiful, delicious, and medicinal gifts to us: the CACAO BEAN.

REAL chocolate from the cacao bean is BITTER but the health benefits are SWEET!  If you can get used to eating cacao beans or cacao powder with something naturally sweet like honey, dates or stevia you will get all of the benefits that it has to offer:

The cacao bean has the HIGHEST concentration of antioxidants of any food in the world.  David Wolfe says more than red wine, blueberries, acai, pomegranates and goji berries combined!  Antioxidants protect us from age related illnesses and protect our DNA from free radicals (free radicals are in the foods we eat, air we breathe, products we use and have been shown to cause cancer). 

Cacao beans are on the top of the list for the magnesium content.  Magnesium alkalines, supports the heart, increases brainpower,  relaxes muscles, helps build bone, increase flexibility and creates a healthy digestive system.  It is the most deficient major mineral in the Standard American Diet that appoximately 80% of North Americans are currently eating (and are therefore magnesium deficient). 

One 28 gram serving of cacao contains 314 percent of RDA of iron!  Iron is a crucial mineral that is part of the oxygen carrying protein, hemoglobin, that fights anemia and keeps blood healthy.

Cacao is high in the trace minerals manganese, zinc and chromium.  Nearly 80% of Americans are deficient in the trace mineral chromium.  Cacao contains enough chromium to reverse deficiencies in the mineral!

Cacao fights depression and mood!  It is rich in serotonin.  Serotonin is the primary neurotransmitterin human body and nearly all living things.  It builds our "stress defense shield" and keeps us feeling good.  It is also high in tryptophan, an essential amino acid that is a powerful mood enhancer.

Many people think that it has high levels of caffeine, but cacao only has about 1/20th the amount present in conentional coffee per serving.   Cacao contains 1% of the chemical relative of caffeine, theobromine.  It is not a nerous system stimulant like caffeine; rather it dialates the cardiovascular system and makes the hearts job easier.  This is why you may have heard that "chocolate is heart-healthy".

Enjoy cacao in the form of either cacao beans, cacao nibs, cacao powder or cacao butter but always make sure it is RAW and organic!   Most all health food stores will have one form of raw cacao for you to enjoy.  Raw bars such as Rawvolution are also sold that contain raw chocolate.  My friend Cara Theos, sells Aphrodites love chocolates that are raw and organic and made only with honey as a sweetener.  Check out her website at http://www.aphroditeslovechocolate.com/.  Also, be aware of the source you are buying from.  Fair trade is extremely important whenever possible, as there is a lot of cacao slave harvesting happening in Africa and other nations.  http://www.globalexchange.org/is a good place to educate yourself further.

How to enjoy cacao?

Swap out raw cacao powder with any commerical cocoa powder and cacao nibs for commerical chocolate chips (cacao nibs are mother nature's chocolate chips :)nothing added or removed)

Cacao shake:

Frozen banana (or if you don't have frozen use room temp and add ice)

A few dates soaked in water for a few hours (remove pits) or another natural sweetner like honey or stevia if you don't have dates around

Small handful of soaked almonds (soaking makes for a creamier shake do not add soaking water) - you can use a spoonful of almond butter or even peanut  butter if you'd like instead!

A small amount of coconut butter or coconut oil

cacao powder (as much/ little you want depending on how chocolate-y you want your shake)

Coconut water (as much/ little as you want depending on how thick you like your shake)

You can also add cacao nibs if you want a chocolate chip shake (you can omit the powder, add vanilla extract instead and add the nibs)  You can also make a mint chocolate chip shake or a mint chocolate shake by adding a small amount of peppermint extract :) Yummmmm AND, best of all you are doing AMAZING things for your body!  Taste buds and body say "thank you!"

The most AMAZING raw chocolate brownie taken from Gone Raw (http://www.goneraw.com/):

CARAMEL DREAM  BAR BROWNIES
This is a truly delicious, fun, easy dessert that looks like you’ve been in the kitchen for hours! I’ve been trying to replicate the Dream Bars I grew up on as a kid and this takes the cake, or “brownie” I should say! I’ve made this recipe like 10 times now it’s my hubbys favorite. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

CRUST
2 cup Almonds, soaked overnight
1 cup Dates
¼ cup Cocoa Powder
dash Salt
CARAMEL LAYER
½ cup Almond Butter
½ cup Coconut Oil
¼ cup Coconut Butter
½ cup Agave
1 tablespoon Vanilla
dash Salt
GARNISH
Cacoa Nibs
Coconut Flakes

Preparation: 

To form crust, process almonds, dates, cocoa powder, and salt in food processor. Press into glass pan.
To form caramel layer, process almond butter, agave, and coconut butter in food processor until smoothe. Spread on top of crust layer. Top immediately with dried shredded coconut and cacoa nibs, pressing them into the caramel layer so they stick. I pressed mine into a square 8×8 glass dish so I would get uniform square bite size brownies. Freeze until ready for serving.

Get in the kitchen with your own ideas and HAVE FUN with it!  There are thousands of ways to use raw chocolate and now you know that nutritionally, you can't go wrong :) ENJOY!