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Chocolate, Sinful Or Medicine?
Lena Sanchez
No I'm not going to preach to you, but chocolate
season is upon us and you may feel Guilty
when eating the sweets your sweet brought you.
Is it sinful or medicine? Should you feel guilty?
When people think of chocolate, they usually think of the
sweet shop and high calorie chocolate bars. It may come
as a surprise that chocolate was originally used as a
medicine and is still being used as a medicine today.
It is good for us? It's only been in the 19th century that
chocolate's status changed from medicine to magnificent
confection. The Latin name for chocolate "Theombroma
cacao" translates to "food of the Gods". The cacoa bean
itself - that chocolate comes from - has some great
properties to lift the mood, fight fatigue, bolster libido,
and ... even aid in weight loss. A recipe for you own
chocolate weight loss healing tonic below.
Native to Central and Latin America, the fruits of the
chocolate tree have been used by indigenous people to
treat depression, fatigue, weight gain, and poor sex
drive for thousands of years. Indeed, when the
Europeans first arrived in the Americas looking a little
worse for the wear, they were presented with a tonic
beverage made out of cocoa beans.
Is using chocolate as a medicine a strange idea? Maybe
Not!
When do people eat chocolate? When they are
depressed, frustrated, angry, and irritated. Does it work? If
it didn't, people in the world would not consume millions
of pounds of chocolate each year! Chocolate works. But
what does the scientific community have to say about
chocolate. Is there anything to it? Let's look at its different
uses, one at a time.
Sex
Chocolate has long been used as an aphrodisiac in the
Latin Americas. What does a suitor bring a date? A box of
Chocolates! What does a husband bring a wife when he
has been behaving badly? A box of chocolates. Chocolate
and love go hand in hand.
Is there anything to it being an aphrodisiac? To begin
with, chocolate contains valeric acid, a sedative
and tranquilizer. Indeed, it is termed an "anti-hysteric".
It also contains the neurotransmitter dopamine, which
acts as a relaxant. Chocolate relaxes and love tends
to flourish in a relaxed setting.
Moreover, chocolate contains phytosterols that may, in
some way, mimic human sex hormones. Research into
the hormone side of chocolate is in its infancy, but
women can tell you they crave chocolate at certain times
of the month. This may be because it provides them with
something they need. Some researchers feel chocolate's
activity may go beyond hormonal and approach the
pheromonal level. Pheromones are the compounds our
bodies produce, which make us attractive to the opposite sex.
Exhaustion
People that are tired all of the time often reach for a
chocolate bar, seemingly with good reason. Chocolate has
been shown to act as a gentle stimulant. Firstly, it contains
the stimulant theobromine, a substance related to caffeine.
Research has shown that like caffeine, theobromine
stimulates nerve function but it does not have the negative
side effects associated with caffeine. Could theobromine
make a person jittery? Probably not. Chocolate also contains
the relaxant valeric acid and the anti-anxiety compound
glutamic acid which counter balances the stimulant effect
of theobromine!
Weight Gain
Research has shown that when you eat your brain releases
happy chemicals and you feel happier. For this reason some
people over eat when they are feeling down. The problem
being, if you are depressed and you put on weight you
get even more depressed.
Can chocolate help those people who eat to make
themselves feel better? Maybe. First of all, it contains
a list of anti-depressant compounds that address the
fundamental problem with comfort eaters. Beyond this,
theobromine, the stimulant found in chocolate, has been
determined to act as an "anorexic". Anorexics are
substances that make you less hungry! Chocolate acts
as an appetite suppressant and antidepressant all in one.
It also contains compounds that speed the metabolism,
which means you burn more fat while using it.
Depression
A lot of people eat chocolate when they are feeling a little
blue and it would seem that this is not a bad idea.
Chocolate beans contain amino acids, many of which have
been shown to have an antidepressant activity. The list of
anti-depressant amino acids includes tryptophan,
phenylalanine, and tyrosine. Fascinatingly, tryptophan has
been shown to increase the body’s production of serotonin.
Serotonin is our bodies self produced antidepressant.
"Along with chocolate's many wonderful attributes comes
its calories and fat, but you can get the benefits of chocolate
without hurting your heart or waistline."
I found this fantastic beverage that Planet Botanic
http://www.planetbotanic.com/ uses made from cacao
beans to
treat mild depression, exhaustion, and poor sex drive. Also
used in weight loss plans to help wean people off
chocolate-bar addiction.
1. Take 24 raw cacao beans (available in Latin American
grocery stores- notice the spelling) and place them in a
pan on the stove. Heat them on low, stirring constantly,
for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan to cool.
2. Once beans cool, grind them into a fine powder in an
electric coffee grinder or VitaMixer.
3. Add the powder to 3 1/2 cups boiling water and boil
5 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. While cooling, sweeten to taste. Any sweetener you
enjoy will be fine except for Sweet ‘n Low
or any other aspartame sweetener.
The result - 3 cups genuine cocoa. You can drink it
hot or cold. Store in the refrigerator no more than
one week.
Note: If you cannot find the beans, buy organic
cacao powder from your health food store. Three
teaspoonfuls in 3 cups water make the equivalent of
the above recipe made from beans.
How to use the Chocolate Tonic:
*For energy: Drink 1 cup 3 x day
*To curb appetite: Drink 1 cup 3 x day
*Revving up romance: Drink 1-1/2 cup one-half
hour before romancing.
*To wean off chocolate bars:
Have 1 cup when the urge hits (Max 3 cups a day)
Warnings: Even though cacao beans are considered to be
safe, they're not recommended, in large quantity, for
pregnant or nursing women, anyone with kidney stones,
those with acid reflux problems, or migraine sufferers.
Eating an excess of chocolate is detrimental to ALL!
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