If you've been reading my newsletters for a while, you know that I LOVE chocolate, and I love finding healthy ways to enjoy it without packing on the pounds. In fact, you might have even tried my healthy fat-burning chocolate pudding recipe, or my famous healthy chocolate fudge recipe, which are not what you might think, but always get raving reviews!
But today, I wanted to share a great article with you that shows just how powerful cocoa and dark chocolate can be for your health, and some more ideas on how to enjoy them in the healthiest way possible. It's from my good friend and nutrition expert, Kiwi Chris, and I think you'll love it!
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Dark Chocolate, Cheat Meals, Cocoa, and Your Metabolism
by Chris the Kiwi
Hey mate
I hope this finds you better than ever and absolutely rocking in your own focus on health and happiness.
Today I wanted to give you my take on my favorite low guilt, high benefit CHEAT MEAL FOOD... chocolate!
A double espresso over ice, and my current favorite chocolate bar, the Endangered Species 88%. This is the one to beat in my opinion.
This particular food is so good that women's magazines and ex-girlfriends have been caught reporting that chocolate can be better than sex.
Regardless of your thoughts on that comment � chocolate is YUMMY, and for reasons some of us can't explain, eating it makes you FEEL good.
Perhaps you did not know is that done right, it is also extremely good for you.
So good that we have a super high-spec high polyphenol cocoa extract in Athletic Greens. It is one of my favorite ingredients (and one of the most potent) in Athletic Greens.
So let's start with the active ingredient in my favorite cheat meal food, DARK CHOCOLATE, and then we will cover how to EAT it.
Dark Chocolate, and Cocoa
Theobroma Cacao, (theobroma is a Greek derived word which translates to Food of the Gods�) or cocoa as we commonly call it, has been around for a while, originating in the tropical parts of Central and south America.
Originally used by Mesoamerican peoples (the original cultivators thought to be the Aztecs, though I think many would have used cocoa) for both its taste enhancing benefits and for its stimulating properties (theobromine is in the methylxanthines family, which includes a more famous cousin, caffeine), they also apparently liked it for its mood enhancing effects.
Wooohoooo!
Fast forward a year or five hundred since the Europeans first tasted this puppy and chocolate� is a major industry all of its own.
When we are referring to cocoa, we are referring to what comes out of the cocoa beans.
Despite what Nestle's marketing department probably hopes you would think, the terms chocolate� and cocoa� are not in fact interchangeable, and is an important point to remember when thinking health benefits.
- Cocoa is fermented and finely ground up cocoa beans, subsequently used in the production of the likes of chocolate via chocolate liquor or cocoa butter. (Cocoa is considered the non-fat part of cocoa liquor).
- Chocolate refers to the finished, generally solid food product made up of cocao, cocoa butter, sugar, milk, emulsifiers etc
- The processing of some types of cocoa can remove a large amount of the polyphenol (anti-oxidant) content, and render a lot of the health benefits null and void.
- Milk chocolate has a very low ratio of cocoa solids (the good stuff) and generally is more heavily processed.
Further, milk chocolate is, quite simply, bad for you, and fattening; it is full of sugar and generally comes with some nasty emulsifiers and additives, and has nearly none of the good stuff (cocoa) and a lot of things that are bad for you.
If you want even the remotest of health benefits, milk chocolates and white chocolates are out. Sorry.
Dark Chocolate, specifically high cocoa content dark chocolates of 80-85% cocoa or more, with their higher ratios of cocoa and lower ratios of sugar (and no dairy!) are IN.
Here is why we love cocoa!
NOTE: a bit of science below, hopefully it is not tough reading. If you want to skip to the good stuff, the how to eat chocolate� part, feel free to skip down a little. I marked the page like this.
Here we go:
Active Ingredients
The active ingredients in cocoa include methylxanthines � caffeine, theophylline and theobromine (with theobromine being by far the dominant stimulant in cocoa), dopamine, serotonin (as well as tryptophan), anandamide and phenethylamine.
That is all before we even discuss the amazing antioxidant content, dominated by flavonoids and the flavanols epicatechin and catechin (like those in green tea) and oligomeric pro-anthocyanidins (OPC's, stronger in cocoa than in grape-seed extract) in particular.
Known Benefits of Cocoa (when I say known it means the literature backs this up)
Of the many health benefits reported in the scientific literature, the most commonly mentioned are anti-hypertensive and anti-thrombotic effects and overall cardio vascular benefits, thought to be attributed to the anti-oxidant effects of the flavanols and procyanidin content. These include directly lowering of blood pressure, reduction in hypertension, increase in HDL (good cholesterol), decrease in LDL, and improved endothelial function (the functioning of the lining of blood vessels).
All good stuff. There is more�.
Diabetes: Proanthocyanidins in cocoa appear to combat the effects of diabetes mellitus, including the reducing the progress of diabetes induced cataracts, and in one study even showed a dose dependent effect on the prevention of hyperglycemia in obese mice.
Mice are mice, people are people, and we all know that we can avoid type two diabetes by smart eating choices but still, all good stuff. And yes, there is more�.
Perhaps most exciting to me, being in the I hate chronic inflammation� camp, are some recent studies suggesting potent anti-inflammatory effects of cocoa, again thought to be by the sexy procyanidins content, which have also been shown to modulate immune response.
Cocoa extracts have further been shown to repress inflammatory responses in the brain while improving blood oxygenation to the brain � which shows interesting potential for cocoa flavanols to be used for neuro protective benefits with maladies such as dementia and strokes. Yes, still more�..
Sooo...between heart health benefits, immune benefits, and anti-inflammation benefits, it should be obvious that the anti-oxidants pack a pretty serious punch in cocoa extract, above and beyond fighting free radicals. The anti-oxidant content of cocoa is awesome, and the cocoa extract used in Athletic Greens provides a nice chunk of the anti-oxidant punch in that product. (It also adds to the taste)
Yay for cocoa! It should be noted that studies have shown that the processing of some types of cocoa can trash the anti-oxidant content so pick your source wisely.
There also seems to be good early indication that the antioxidant effects of the polyphenols might be directly linked to cancer prevention, as they seem to selectively inhibit growth of cancer cells in in vitro studies� .
For the antidepressant effect, similarly, there is indication polyphenols are responsible for the effects, but it is not yet clear how.
I have my thoughts.
Stimulation, Mood, and I Feel Happy When I Eat Chocolate�
As mentioned above, cocoa has a mild stimulatory effect. While cocoa does have caffeine in it, it is there in tiny tiny amounts compared to theobromine (it is nearly 8 to 1 theobromine to caffeine).
So it is the theobromine that is giving the stimulant boosting effect found with cocoa, or specifically, cocoa heavy dark chocolate. Yes, dark chocolate can wake you up, if taken in sufficient amounts.
When it comes to the mood enhancing benefits, it is where the research is a bit of a mine field.
While some of the polyphenols now seem likely, many of the mood-enhancing benefits were originally thought to be attributable to the phenethylamine content.
I used to think so too, especially since I can't even pronounce phenethylamine, so it seemed the obvious intelligent answer.
However, it has now been shown that orally ingested phenethylamine barely makes it past the gut, and results only in tiny increases in brain levels of this mood enhancer (which we can make ourselves too, by the way). So while this surely plays a part, there must be something else to it.
My thought is pretty simple. It does make people feel better. So whether the mechanism is the mild stimulant effect, some chemical effect that has yet to be conclusively proven, or the endorphins released when you eat chocolate from the taste and the pleasure, of well, eating chocolate are what cause people to feel happy when eating chocolate... the cause is a moot point.
If you feel happier when eating chocolate, and you can do so on occasion without crapping on your health, then eat it and enjoy!
Next...
There are enough positives shown from the cocoa content to more than justify the inclusion of this food in your diet in the form of dark chocolate.
Dark, Cocoa Laden Chocolate, which had no anti-nutrients or auto-immune problem causing ingredients like dairy, and other than the small amounts of sugar is generally not nearly as bad for you as it tastes, being so wonderfully delicious to eat.
Which brings us to the fun part... Eating it.
The HOW To Eat Chocolate
If you have skipped down to here, welcome back!
Number 1: always always always make it dark chocolate
Number 2: darker is better. The higher the cocoa content, not only is there less room for crap (generally sugar if avoiding milk chocolate, which we are doing) there is more goodness from the higher cocoa content. Start at 70% if you have to, but aim to get over 85% as soon as you can
Number 3: organic is better, cleaner, less likely to be contaminated. If you can get it, go for fair trade too
Number 4: since poor processing of the cocoa can destroy the majority of the anti-oxidants, be careful in who you select for your dark chocolate fix. We were super careful with our cocoa extract in Athletic Greens for exactly this reason
I give my current favorite chocolate bar a bit further below (see pic).
Though you may think that you will find it bitter, and it is bitter compared to the sugar laden milk chocolate varieties, you will be surprised how much your taste buds move or have already moved after a period of clean eating such as following my Food for Fat Loss guidelines .
If, however, you still think you will find it too bitter, and don't want to eat dark chocolate by itself, try playing with it as follows (fun for taste too, even if you are already a dark chocolate fan).
As a contrast to bitterness or big flavors:
- With a glass of red wine � I find the big bold reds the best wine companions, (such as shiraz or cabernet sav). I have no idea why these taste so good together but they do
- With some super strong green or black tea � similar to the espresso, this contrast is excellent, you are also going to be in anti-oxidant heaven.
As a contrast to sweetness:
- Eat your chocolate with a bowl of berries
- Eat it with some ice-cream (on your cheat day only, and only if ok with dairy). I know this Kiwi guy who has been known to use dark chocolate pieces as a scoop with his full fat ice cream, on occasion.
- Melt some dark chocolate down on low heat and pour it over some strawberries, then put the lot in the fridge for a few hours. Bring these out at a party and I guarantee you extreme social points. These are also a great way to slowly bring the family over to dark chocolate-ness
The WHEN:
Post workout is an ideal time for eating your dark chocolate, with the improved nutrient partitioning effects post exercise helping minimize the impact of the sugar.
People who are already lean, if you have a piece or two a few times a week, it doesn't concern me in the least, especially so if you do it post workout.
Cheat meals � Sorry, the sugar content is still there, so if chasing fat loss, I recommend cheat days only. Bear in mind that the calorie content of dark chocolate is high, and concentrated. I am more worried about the sugar than the calories, unless you are doing it often.
This however, makes it awesome for an overfeeding event, or for going large on a cheat day, where you will feel satisfied, probably quite happily sick if you really get stuck in, and not do too much damage to yourself.
NOTE: if you wake up feeling a bit down and depressed, I have found a wake up stack of acetyl-l-carnitine, a double espresso, two pieces of dark chocolate, and the all important walk outdoors in the sun can do wonders. Not suggesting you swap in a regimen of stimulants and chocolate, nor am I recommending a replacement for aggressively going after happiness in all elements of your life, but your neurotransmitters and endorphin levels will thank you.
For its inherent goodness via the cocoa content and the limit with high cocoa content chocolate on things that are bad for you, dark chocolate gets two Kiwi thumbs up.
A comment on life and eating cleanly:
Feel like you are absolutely going to go off the rails with your eating? Whether you are lean or not I would MUCH rather you went off the rails intelligently and had some Dark Chocolate, than went wild with something that was going to tear your gut into pieces, or cause your insulin levels to go beserk. (Just remember to get back on the clean eating bike afterwards).
In fact, I encourage you to do so. Dark chocolate is yummy, and if the cocoa content is high enough, it is surprisingly good for you.
So get out there, and enjoy.
For my dark chocolate lovers, my current favorite dark chocolate is the Endangered Species 88%, though I also really love some of the Theo chocolates (I also love their mission and approach, if you are in Seattle, well worth a factory tour visit).
If you are starting someone else off with a push towards dark chocolate, then I recommend you make it 70% for the newbies, and build up towards 85% plus from there.
So... What is your favorite dark chocolate bar at the moment? And what is your favorite way to eat it?
100% Focus on Happiness�
That is my mantra, and it starts with phenomenal health.
Best,
Chris the Kiwi�
ps. The high polyphenol cocoa extract used in Athletic Greens is just one of over 70 ingredients in Athletic Greens that have been handpicked to improve your health in just 27 seconds a day. Athletic Greens is formulated to fight inflammation in your body, boost your metabolism, and provides loads of unique antioxidants and micro-nutrients for a strong immune system and energy throughout the day.
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Thanks Chris! love this article!
Also, make sure to try Chris' Athletic Greens, as not only is it the most complete greens drink on the market with the highest quality ingredients (over 70 superfood ingredients in 1 drink), but it also tastes amazing! I use it every single day, and all of my friends that I've had try it (who thought it wouldn't taste good) were blown away at how great it tastes. Give it a try here and I bet you'll be hooked.
By the way, Chris also has one of the highest quality fish oil products on the market as well, which I also take every day for the high concentration of DHA and EPA.
I hope you enjoyed today's article on chocolate and cocoa and this delicious way to improve your health!
Fwd this email on to any of your chocolate-loving friends and family.
Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
www.keralites.net          |
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