Eat Raw Chocolate

For those of you who like to be extremely healthy or eat only raw food, there is an alternative to artificial sweets and above all, there is an alternative to chocolate. As we all know, chocolate is made out of processed cocoa beans. What if, instead of eating the usual bar of chocolate you crave so much, you try something new? Like, for instance, the cacao nibs? The raw cacao nibs retain the minerals and substances lost in the processing of the beans and they can be combined with smoothies, sweets and fruit salads to which they give an electrifying texture. Plus they contain a lot of magnesium, which lacks in your usual diet and MAO (Monoamine oxidase) inhibitors, which has rejuvenation effects, suppresses appetite and elevates your mood.

But these are not the only advantages that raw cacao offers. Researchers have discovered that the raw beans named Theobroma, meaning "the food of the gods" contain substances that are related to the brain lipids anandamine (derived from the Sanskrit work ananda=bliss), and these substances, called N-acylethanolamines have a similar effect to that of some mild illegal drugs such as cannabis. However, don’t get your hopes up, cacao nibs will not get you high, but they will make you happy. Isn’t that what you were going for in the first place, but without the added fats and sugar, you secret chocolate lover?

There are also the endlessly discussed anti-oxidant effects, which are stronger in unprocessed beans. The substances called anthocyaninins, that can be found in generous quantities in raw cacao and that make the unfermented beans look purple, have tissue-regeneration and anti-inflammatory properties. They also help collagen formation and the microcirculation (that of the capillaries). All these positive effects make raw cacao look like the perfect medicine. If you need more reasons to try a raw chocolate diet, there are plenty on the food websites that strive to bring the best, rawest, most organic food to their clients.

Raw cacao may sound more boring than the infinite varieties of chocolates one can find in regular stores, as there are some that swear by chocolate with pralines, or nougat, or strawberry yoghurt or marzipan and don’t even give the milk chocolate a second thought. Not so fast. Even the raw products have their varieties.
There is chocolate cacao powder that you can sprinkle all over your pudding, or on your yoghurt to give it a more pungent taste.

There is also Goji berry cacao powder that you can mix with organic agave nectar in order to obtain a delicious smoothie. Goji is a Tibetan berry that tastes somewhere in between cranberry, cherry, raspberry and plum and it has positive effects on your mood. The Tibetans say that if you eat Goji in the morning, you will be happy the entire day. Give me some of those, pronto! If you mix Goji with cocoa, you can probably replace that Prozac from your bathroom. Can you imagine the happiness?

Also, there are the famed raw cacao nibs that come mostly from the premium criollo variety used by the finest chocolate makers. Criollo is one of the three main varieties of cacao beans and it’s by far the most aromatic and highest in quality, and it’s also the rarest and the most expensive due to the tree’s weak resistance to disease. These raw nibs are very high in magnesium content, and they also contain zinc, calcium, iron and copper. Looks like first-class vitamins to me. They make for a great shake if you mix them with maca powder.

If you’re not familiar yet with these no-additive treats, you should try them and let me know if you felt happier. Sites to enhance your knowledge of raw foods are
www.eatraw.com –right in Brooklyn
www.rawganique.com –um, this is more hemp oriented, but there is plenty of information
www.oneluckyduck.com – it’s ducky