Is Raw Chocolate Healthy Or Even Raw?
Dear Friend,

First of all I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year. I look forward to sharing lots of powerful new information with you in 2006.

Have you been convinced that raw cacao is some kind of superfood or food of the gods? Below I'm going to share with you a number of resources that thoroughly discuss this issue. That way you can better make up your own mind.

I have tried raw chocolate or cacao nibs. From the first one I ate, I immediately felt a sense of stimulation. Stimulants like caffeine, drugs and even vitamin supplements are not things that promote health.

If you are being stimulated, your body is at the same time being enervated. A stimulant is simply a toxin to your body. The reason you feel the extra energy is because your body goes into a heightened elimination mode. You're body requires extra energy to eliminate this toxin and it releases reserve sugar into your bloodstream to provide it with the extra energy to eliminate the toxin.

** You Don't Get Energy from Caffeine and Stimulants, You Actually Lose Energy **

With caffeine for instance, the body is able to completely rid itself of the caffeine within two hours of ingesting it. All the extra energy you feel is literally robbing you of minerals, nutrients and energy so that you're body can eliminate this very toxic substance as quickly as it can.

This is the problem with so many claims to the health benefits of certain foods. These superfoods, may have some valuable nutrients in them, but their overall effect on your health might be more negative than positive. You always have to look to the overall effect of a food on your health, not just to a few nutrients in the food.

In my research of the nutrients in chocolate, there is no valuable nutrient in it, that isn't easily available in a variety fruits and vegetables. Remember, raw fruits and vegetables are the real superfoods for humans.

You can confirm this for yourself by using this great nutritional website:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/index.html

You can put in any nutrient and it will tell you which foods are highest in that nutrient. Plus so much more.

*** Is Raw Chocolate Even Raw? ***

This is an interesting topic that has been highly debated. There are some experts who claim there is no way to make cacao taste like chocolate unless it is heated to cooking temperatures. This even goes for those so-called raw cacao companies that ferment their cacao beans. Supposedly they still have to heat the beans in order for them to taste any good at all.

I've read about this from several sources. Here's a post by Dr. Douglas Graham about this topic.

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From: Dr. Doug Graham (DrGraham.vegsource.com)

Subject: Chocolate

Date: June 7, 2005 at 3:49 am PST

In Reply to: Naked Chocolate posted by Jamie Clark on June 5, 2005 at 5:35 pm:

Briefly, ever so briefly,

First, there is no raw chocolate being sold, anywhere. In order to taste like chocolate, cacao beans must be heated. I have lived in the tropics and have tried to bring out the chocolate taste in other ways, it simply cannot be done. There is no such thing as raw chocolate.

Even the chocolate that is fermented so said to be raw is eventually heated, and high enough to be cooked.

I am sure you know that heating the proteins in chocolate denatures them and causes them to become carcinogenic. I assume you are aware that heating the carbohydrates caramelizes them, adversely affecting their GI rating and also creating carcinogens. It made worldwide headlines three years ago that heating fats, even the fats in chocolate, results in the production of carcinogens, so that is no news to you, I am sure. It also results in the production of enzyme resistant protein bonds that are a causative agent in conditions ranging from arthritis to allergies, leaky gut, and many others. The double bonds of the fats in chocolate become triple bonds under the influence of heat making them physiologically nonviable for humans and adversely impacting upon our cholesterol levels.

As far as the components of chocolate, essentially it is a cocktail of toxic chemicals and drugs.

Cacao beans contain:

methylxanthines such as the stimulant drugs known as caffeine, theobromine, and theophyllin, all of which are known to produce permanent degenerative alterations in cellular protoplasm.

More tannin than tea.

Oxalic acid

Cannabinoids

Aflatoxins

There is not the time to go into the toxic impact of each of this drugs, but if you want such information I can supply it via a consultation. I am sure you can do a search on these substances to find their debilitating effects on human health.

So, chocolate is not raw, is defintely not health food, and cannot be considered a superfood. There is nothing about marketing chocolate that can be considered a positive except for the possible bottom line profits that it may offer.

Hope this helps,

Dr D

Here's the direct link to his post:

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/raw/messages/15852.html

This is a very informative post:

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/raw/messages/15839.html

For the whole discussion, you can continue reading here:

http://www.vegsource.com/talk/raw/messages/15830.html

From Another Forum:

http://snipurl.com/l6nq

Plus if you'll discover proof that a major raw food author plagiarized his first book.

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*** Is Raw Chocolate Healthy? ***

Raw Cacao: another stimulant disguised as a healthy food

by Frédéric Patenaude

Many of my readers have been asking me what I think of the whole raw cacao craze. For those who don't know, raw cacao beans are now sold by different raw-food companies as the latest "superfood." Cacao beans are traditionally roasted and used to make chocolate. Now, raw-foodists have found a raw version of the beloved bean and are apparently using it for its magical properties.

First, let me start by explaining what my own personal use of cacao is. I've known for a long time that cacao is a stimulant. Not as strong as coffee, but its stimulating "qualities" are easy to spot when your body is not used to eating such foods. Because of this, I often used carob powder in my recipes. Carob powder is made from a fruit and has a taste that reminds of chocolate. It is naturally sweet. Instead of being a stimulant, carob is a mineral rich food and has a calming effect. So, like most raw-foodists, I used carob powder in my recipes. But, then one day, I decided to use cacao powder. I figured: if I'm going to make something that tastes like chocolate, why not use the real thing? I've noticed that cacao has a stimulating effect, but since I was using it occasionally (i.e. less than once a month) and just for fun in some recipes, I was not too bothered by that little indiscretion. However, I never considered it to be a health food.

Now, cacao beans are sold to us at an exorbitant price under the assumption that it's one of the best things we could ever eat. I couldn't disagree more.

First of all, cacao beans are not really food. If you found them in nature, you wouldn't eat the seeds. You would eat the fruit, which is apparently delicious, and throw away the seeds. Even if you wanted to eat the seeds, they would not taste like chocolate. In order for the cacao seeds to taste like chocolate and become the cacao beans that we know, they have to be fermented first. They are fairly bitter, indicating the presence of a poison. And when I say a "poison," I'm not making this up. Just do a little research and you'll discover that cacao contains many chemicals with a stimulating effects, such as theobromine and caffeine.

Frederic Patenaude has a free weekly e-newsletter filled with unique nutrition tips, informative articles and exclusive interviews for you.

A popular article on raw cacao beans claims that cacao "increase(s) your focus and alertness and contains nutrients to keep you happy."

My answer to that is the same as has been said and is being said about coffee. The fact is that what people actually confuse with "alertness" is actually an adrenal response to the stress that the body has to deal with when eliminating the toxins found in cacao beans. What you get is NOT energy. What you experience as energy is actually your body working hard to establish balance (homeostasis) again! It's like whipping a horse. Eventually, it will fall down.

Here's an excerpt from Neal Barnard's book, "Breaking the Food Seduction":

"Researchers at the University of Michigan brought out the truth about chocolate. In a research study, they gave 26 volunteers a drug called 'noxalone.' They then offered them a tray filled with Snicker's Bars, M&Ms, chocolate chip cookies, and Oreos. Normally, these snacks would have quickly disappeared. But, the drug knocked out the desire for chocolate. A candy bar was not much more exciting than a crust of dry bread.

“Noxalone is an opiate blocker. That is, it stops heroin, morphine, and other narcotics from affecting the brain. And, it blocks the effects of chocolate, too. This research study showed that chocolate's appeal does not come from its creamy texture or deep brown color. Chocolate stimulates the same part of the brain that morphine acts on. For all intents and purposes, chocolate is a drug - not necessarily a bad one and not a terribly strong one, but strong enough, nonetheless, to keep us coming back for more."

Many people would argue that when cacao is not cooked, these chemicals do not have the same effect on the body. But yet, those same people who say that actually admit to eating cacao beans for their stimulating effect! Many people have reported not being able to fall asleep if they eat cacao beans late at night and that they are still looking for the "best" time of the day to eat them. Others tell me that when they eat cacao beans, they get so much energy, but then have a "down" later on. Does that remind you of something?

If you like the taste, you could use some cacao once in a while in a recipe. But don't fool yourself into thinking that there's somehow something really good about this. Personally, I would consider using cacao when making a special desert for a special occasion. I don't recommend eating cacao otherwise. I don't find anything special in it. I don't buy the whole raw cacao craze and I don't think it is worth the price that is charged for it.

Remember: A rose by any other name is ... just as thorny. Have fun! ;-)

Frédéric Patenaude has written several great books on the raw food diet and is the publisher of a great weekly ezine called "Pure Health and Nutrition." To learn more about what Frédéric has to offer, please visit his website with the link below.

http://www.howtogoraw.com/RawSensations.html

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I hope you've found this information helpful to you. I'm sorry if I burst your bubble about so-called raw chocolate or cacao. You can still eat it (I'd only do it occasionally if at all.) but at least now you know what you are getting yourself into.

To Your Radiant Health, Happiness and Fitness, Roger Haeske

P.S. Which Common, No-Equipment Exercise, Can Give You Explosive Speed, Marathon Endurance And Sculpted Muscular Legs, That You Can Do While Watching TV?

http://www.howtogoraw.com/fitness.html for more info.

- posted by Roger Haeske @ 5:42 PM 0 comments

 
Is Juicing Worth The Effort?
By Roger Haeske

For many years now, juicing has been promoted as a miracle cure and a way to get super nutrition, above and beyond what you could get from whole foods. In this article, I'm going to analyze this theory and give you my findings.

** Why Juice?

People juice because they feel they aren't getting enough vital nutrients in their diets. The theory is that by juicing, you remove the fiber and therefore your body can easily absorb much higher levels of nutrients directly into the bloodstream.

This may indeed be true. But there are some problems with doing this. If you juice foods that are high in sugar content like fruits and carrots, by removing the fiber, you will get a high spike in your blood sugar levels.

Habitual juicing of sweet fruits and carrots is definitely not a healthy thing to do, regardless of the fact if some nutrients become more absorbable. These super high spikes in blood sugar are not healthy. You always have to look at the overall effect of eating a food on your health, not just how many nutrients a food has.

Many times these so-called super foods also have high levels of toxins in them which make the result of eating them, less than ideal for your health. Garlic is a perfect example of that. In addition, garlic isn't really a food but a condiment.

That is a whole long story that I won't get into here, but I do discuss it in my 31-Day Course to Raw Food Diet Success which you can get here if you didn't already get sign up for it.

http://www.howtogoraw.com/31daycourse1.htm

Many experts agree with me that juicing sweet foods isn't the wisest thing to do, but they promote juicing dark leafy greens instead. The good news is if you do this you won't get a high spike in blood sugar levels and you may indeed absorb more of certain kinds of nutrients.

But this can cause several problems as well. Your nutrient levels will become imbalanced. Just as getting too few nutrients is bad for you, so is getting too many.

When you have excess nutrients in your bloodstream, your body has to get rid of them or store them in your fat cells. This causes the body extra work and therefore, you're body has less energy and time to heal and repair itself.

Our bodies have a limited capacity for nutrients. There is only so much it can absorb. anything above that amount becomes an overload and is actually toxic. This actually happened to me when I used to take this super powerful supplement. I started getting pains in my side. As soon as I stopped taking the supplement the pains went away.

There's also another serious flaw in the whole juicing theory. What is removed during juicing is also a vital nutrient. Fiber is removed during the juicing process and as we all know fiber is an important nutrient, which helps in the digestion process.

Another interesting point about fiber is that the most nutritious part of a food is often in the fiber. Many of the nutrients in food are actually found in the fiber. An example of this is an orange. The albedo or the white skin of an orange is loaded with phytonutrients. That healthy fiber is removed in the juicing process.

In my opinion, juicing makes a food less nutritious, not more nutritious. I personally know some people who started getting constipation when they started juicing. It's no wonder since they are removing the fiber from the food.

A raw food diet is great because it's very high in fiber, why remove that fiber by juicing?

** My Results With Juicing:

The most juicing I ever did was before I ever went on a 100% raw food diet. I can tell you that extensive juicing did little if anything to improve my health. I was as depressed and miserable as ever.

But going raw made quick and dramatic improvements in many areas of my health. There is no comparison. There is so much more to health than just vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

** What You Don't Eat, Is More Important Than What You Do Eat:

One of the most important aspects of going 100% raw is what you don't eat. Because when you stop eating toxic: cooked, processed and chemical laden foods, you lower your intake of toxins dramatically.

This is actually much more important than the nutrients you take in. Because most people have enough nutrients and in many cases they have an overload of nutrients.

Everyone wants to believe they can take a magic pill or juice and their health will all of a sudden become better. But their nutrient levels are probably alright to begin with. On a health scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest, for most people, nutrients only count as a 1 to 3 in importance to their overall health.

But lowering your toxic load by eating raw, is at least an 8-10 in importance for most people. So if you could sell a supplement that could truly lower your toxic load then that indeed would be the magic pill.

But there is no such supplement, although many supplements manufacturers try to make that claim. The only way to ideal health is to eat a 100% raw food diet, which also happens to be made up of the true superfoods for humans, raw fruits and vegetables.

The other big problem with juicing is how time consuming and expensive it is. You have to buy so much extra food to turn it into a decent amount of juice. You have to use about 8 to 12 carrots for a large glass of juice.

What I hated the most was all the preparation and clean up time. Making juices took a long time because all the foods had to be cleaned and cut into small pieces. Then the cleanup took another 15 minutes or more. It's a true waste of time and money and you get an inferior product as a result.

** A Powerful Alternative To Juicing:

I like to blend my foods with a high-powered blender like the Vita-Mix 5000. The great thing about using the Vita-Mix is that you can make whole food juices. That way all the nutrients are in the food including the fiber. It's a whole food.

It's the ultimate kitchen tool for the raw foodist. So many of us use a Vita-Mix many times a day to quickly make delicious meals. There are several reasons I can think of why owning a Vita-Mix will help you to succeed at going raw. For one thing it makes eating raw even more delicious.

Let's say you want to eat breakfast. Maybe you're bored of just eating mono meals of bananas and other fruits. You can quickly and easily make delicious raw smoothies. (Note you can do this with a regular blender as well, but preparation time and clean up time is a bit longer with a regular blender.)

A favorite of smoothie of mine is wild blueberry / banana. It tastes unbelievably good when you use really ripe bananas with just the right amount of wild blueberries. Regular blueberries also taste pretty good, but the wild ones taste even better to me and their antioxidant levels are much higher.

What about making a strawberry / banana smoothie? It tastes great as well and is a surprisingly compatible food combination. Normally it's not recommended to eat acid fruits and sweet fruits together.

So a Vita-Mix can help you to add variety and improve the flavors of your raw foods. It helps you to stay raw because you can make so many great tasting raw food recipes with it.

But it also does something else. It helps you to eat more food. For some of you that is a problem, when you go raw you just don’t eat enough calories, you're not used to stretching out your stomach and so you can get really skinny and lack energy.

By making smoothies you'll find it easier to eat more bananas than without smoothies. Therefore, it can help you to get enough calories during the day. For some reason it's just easier to eat more when the bananas are in the form of a smoothie.

This is a good trick for people who become underweight on a raw diet.

Another great thing about the Vita-Mix is the ability to make big blended salads. There are four big advantages with making blended salads.

1. You don’t have to make a salad dressing. The whole salad becomes like a thick or thin soup depending on how you make it.

2. It again allows you to get down more greens. I sometimes eat more than a large head of romaine in a day, plus lots of tomatoes, cucumber and celery with the use of my Vita-Mix. It has a large 64 oz container so that I can make a big blended salad in one shot. Normal blenders I'd have to make two blended salads instead of one because they have much smaller containers. Plus they are much slower and I can't put in harder ingredients like carrots.

3. It saves time as well. Eating a large regular salad takes me at least 45 minutes to eat because I chew my salads thoroughly. The Vita-Mix has done all of my chewing for me. Now I just need to eat a mouthful and swish it around in my mouth a few seconds to let my salivary juices flow and help in the digestion process.

I can eat this big blended salad in ten minutes.

4. The final benefit is similar to what juicing claims to do. There are some people in the Natural Hygiene movement who believe that by making blended salads we can actually absorb more nutrients from the salads.

I don't know if that is true or not, but I know I can definitely eat more greens because of making blended salads and this will of course increase my nutrient absorption.

In my blended salads, I also add carrots. This something a regular blender can't do because it doesn't have enough power. Just one carrot and you've got a full day's supply of vitamin A. Plus carrots are a great thickener and flavor enhancer. You can use them to make low-fat raw pâtés.

If you want to make raw pâtés, you need a high-powered blender like the Vita-Mix. A regular blender doesn't generate enough power to make these pâtés. You can also grind flax seed or any seeds into a fine powder or flower.

For a summer treat, you can make the most delicious, low fat, raw ice creams. This is a powerful tool for the aspiring raw foodist. I highly recommend you get one for yourself. It makes raw eating more fun than ever.

If you are interested in getting your own Vita-Mix with a 7-year warranty (which you can't get if you buy it from eBay), then please visit this page. I've added some super bonuses if you order from my link.

Just follow the directions at this page:

http://www.howtogoraw.com/Vita-MixBonuses.html

To Your Radiant Health, Happiness and Fitness, Roger Haeske
- posted by Roger Haeske @ 2:17 PM 0 comments