THURSDAY: Health Issues and Ideas

I’ve always been a skeptic to research suggesting chocolate will improve your health.  I don’t care much for it, and have assumed most people will use the information as an excuse to cut back on veggies and add more chocolate!  HOWEVER…. I may be changing my tune:

My father-in-law has Macular Degeneration.  He is about 99.5% blind, and has been for more than 30 years.  Recently during a doctor’s visit he asked for advice for keeping his memory.  His doctor suggested some patients were trying dark chocolate.  So for two weeks he ate dark chocolate every day. At this point he told us for the first time in over 30 years the spot in front of his eyes preventing him from seeing anything was starting to shrink!  I will definitely keep you updated if anything comes from this, but it was enough to make me look into it a lit further.

According to David Grotto’s new book 101 Foods that Can Save Your Life, Chocolate can:

• Give you healthier skin (increased hydration and decreased roughness and scaling)..this dispels a common myth.
• Flavonoids in cocoa beans can combat diarrhea (who wants kids with diarrhea?)
• Improves heart health by reducing LDL and lowering blood pressure.
• Improved insulun sensitivity (vital for diabetics)
• Theobromine (found in chocolate) was nearly a third more effective in stopping coughs compared to codeine!!!
• One antioxidant found in cocoa may be effective in supressing genes that trigger colon cancer cell growth.
• Verbal and visual memory were significantly higher in subjects who consumed milk chocolate!

Are you as surprised as I am?  Clearly the antioxidants in cocoa are responsible for the benefits.  With most of the chocolate we eat, there is a small amount of cocoa, and a large amount of milk, sugars, and fats.   The so-called dark choclate bars that claim 70% cocoa are expensive too. 

Solution:  How many of you have a tub of baking cocoa in your cupboards?  Mine is 100% cocoa!  Use that in your next recipe or smoothie.

For Recipe ideas using 100% baking cocoa, go here. 

 Last day to enter to win some free Peanut Butter Coupons.