Q: Chocolate is good for you. Right?
This is something I hear often. There’s a super easy answer to this:
A: Over 80% Cacao chocolate is good for you. Read that again… Cacao, not Cocoa.
CACAO is the amazing bean itself found in the upper Amazon of South America (Peru, Brazil, Equador, Columbia, Venezuala)
The beans are then ground down- still Cacao
Once we treat it and add sugar to it, it becomes Cocoa!
That sugar takes away the superpowers of the Cacao. The sugar confuses our human bodies and kicks up an immune response. Hello inflammation!
So the less sugar.. the more CACAO and huge benefits for your body! Add sugar, and maybe even milk… you’ve just severely downgraded your cacao and created a struggle for your body. This can be tricky, so read slowly:
80% dark chocolate is not the same as 80% cacao. For a lean body you want cacao, not dark chocolate.
Keep it simple! Buy raw cacao products. Stuff like:
Cacao powder:
Ingredients should say exactly: “certified organic cacao powder”
Dark Choc bars- Scroll down for my favorites. ALWAYS look for over 80% cacao OR “over 80% dark” Ingredients should read Organic Cacao Beans + organic cane sugar OR coconut sugar OR raw honey.
My favs chocolate treats are:
#1: Healthy Hot Cacao
Healthy Hot Cacao – serves 2
- 2 tbsp coconut fat – thick white cream at the top of a can of Full Fat Coconut milk
- 2.5 cups almond milk
- 2.5 tbsp raw cacao powder
- 1.5 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Combine all ingredients in a pot over med/high heat, whisk well and serve warm.
I love this because the sweetener is RAW HONEY.
#3 fav = TAZA Wicked Dark, 95 % dark
You will not be able to find any chocolate bar without ANY sweetener in it, if you do- you will most likely hate the taste.. hence the sweeteners.
CLICK read more – for Cacao science & how much to enjoy weekly