Healthy Chocolate 3 Ways....

Today's post: Thursday, 6-26-2008

First, chocolate is now known to have significant heath benefits.

The main benefits are all closely related. Dark chocolate, shortly after you eat it and possibly after that also, has been shown to reliably produce improved blood vessel health & responsiveness. This effect is strong enough, your blood flow improves -- & if your blood pressure is high, your blood pressure goes down. It may even stay down to that level if you eat dark chocolate just a few times each week.

(Note: Milk reduces this effect a lot, which is why dark chocolate is better for you. And, sugar has some reverse effects that reduce it somewhat. Below we describe several ways to get the kind with the most effective health benefits.)

Second, many people find that chocolate itself – NOT the sugar is sometimes comes with -- is a mood improver almost strong enough to qualify as an antidepressant that works. (There are very few of those.) And the effect happens in seconds. It doesn’t take hours, days, or weeks.

Third, between the different kinds of bad news currently going on, it’s nice to have something that reminds us life is worth living,

Here are three sources for the healthier kinds of chocolate:

1. The kind with the most health benefits is hot chocolate made ONLY with unsweetened cocoa. And, the kind I’ve found in most grocery stores is Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa.

Be warned however NOT to buy their other cocoa & hot chocolate products as the ones I’ve seen recently still contain hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans fats.) Ouch !!

Their unsweetened cocoa not only has no sugar & no trans fats, it also costs less than their bad for you offerings.

For some reason, they do NOT seem to offer it for sale on their website.

Whole Foods carries several kinds of unsweetened cocoa. And, I think they all carry Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa.

2. Dagoba also makes an unsweetened cocoa. Sometimes my local Whole Foods has Dagoba unsweetened cocoa in stock; & sometimes it does not.

But Dagoba chocolate is health oriented & makes its chocolate available online at:

http://www.dagobachocolate.com/

“Dagoba crafts chocolate using organic ingredients and sustainable methods.”

They have a full line of chocolate products & two of the best ones for health are Unsweetened Hot Chocolate & Cocoa Nibs --- 100% pure cacao.

Their unsweetened cocoa costs more than the Ghirardelli; but my wife says for her it gives her more of a lift than the Ghirardelli. (I find them about the same.)

The cocoa nibs are a bit expensive but are quite literally pure dark chocolate. They make great snacks as they have a nutty flavor in addition to the dark chocolate mood elevation. And, they likely have as much health benefits as a good bit more regular dark chocolate.

3. Some people are allergic to tree nuts. And, many people are allergic to peanuts.

These allergies can be life threatening. The dangerous amounts can be surprisingly tiny. And, since many, if not most, companies that make chocolates make some with nuts or peanuts in them, the straight chocolates made in their facilities are often unsafe for these people to eat.

A mom in Vermont loved fancy chocolates; & her son developed a bad case of peanut allergy.

So, she found out how to get the ingredients for the fancy chocolates she liked to make that had no peanuts or nuts in them at all.

Since, she was a good cook too, this soon became a business.

They are doubly pricey since they not only have extra costs to ensure their chocolate has no nuts or peanuts even in tiny amounts; & they also currently only carry fancy chocolates & no cocoa or regular dark chocolate candy bars.

However, my daughter once gave me a few of their chocolate hearts. They seemed a bit harder than I prefer chocolate at first. Then I realized they tasted good. Then I realized they had the most feel-good kick of any chocolate I’d ever eaten. Wow !!

Unfortunately, by then the few chocolate hearts were all gone.

Their website is: http://www.vermontnutfree.com/

Their toll free phone number is: 1-888-468-8373.

And, they say this on their website: “We make peanut free and tree nut free chocolate candy exclusively. Our entire product line is safe for those with a peanut allergy or a tree nut allergy.”