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| Are all dark chocolates good for the heart? |
 ...remember:
everything in moderation! jm |
Chocolate makers are promoting dark chocolates to cash in on two different trends. One is a growing demand for “gourmet” chocolates, described in mouth-watering detail by food writer Bill Buford in his essay, “Extreme Chocolate,” in the October 29, 2007, New Yorker. The other trend has to do with the growing perception that chocolate improves blood flow through arteries nourishing the heart, brain, and other parts of the body. (in this respect consumption can apply to healthy skin, jm)
Chocolate’s artery-opening activity is attributed to compounds called flavanols that are abundant in cacao beans, as well as in onions, apples, berries, beans, and some types of tea. Flavanols are extremely important to healthy, smooth and beautiful complexions!
Just because cacao beans contain flavanols doesn’t mean that chocolate does. In fact, the bitter-tasting flavanols are traditionally removed. “Dutched” cocoa, which has been treated with alkali, has few active flavanols.
You can’t tell the flavanol content from the color of a chocolate bar or the percent cocoa it contains. “Specifically, what the world needs is a label on each package that describes the flavanol content of the chocolate,” writes Dr. Norman K. Hollenberg, a Harvard professor who has been studying the physiologic effects of chocolate since the mid-1990s, in an article in the November 20, 2007, Circulation.
Until that happens, look for the least-processed chocolate you can find. Skip those that have been treated with alkali. And keep in mind that you don’t need much. Studies showing the benefits of cocoa have used an ounce — sometimes less — of flavanol-rich chocolate. The tough part of this dietary “therapy” is stopping with a small piece. But stop you should. An ounce of dark chocolate delivers about 150 calories. Eat that much every day without cutting back elsewhere and the girth you gain would far outweigh any benefit from chocolate. Milk chocolate isn't even in the conversation: not a health food!
Healthy sweeteners from the Americas: for safe and beneficial substitutes for white sugar, try liquid or powdered Stevia (from South American mountains), Acai Berries or Syrups (from the Brazilian Amazon) and Aguave Syrup (from Mexico). These plant extracts and berries are powerful antioxidants as well and have been used for centuries in medicines and foods.
Oolong Tea quiets outbreaks of eczema. Japanese researchers reported that patients with a form of eczema improved after drinking a liter of oolong tea daily (Archives of Dermatology Jan. 2001). No American follow up studies have been found but anecdotal patient reporting of success trying this remedy for even the worst cases of eczema on scalp, face and body areas. Reports of results in 24 hours of tea consumption have been found in America.
We recommend The Body Ecology Diet, an important nutrition book by Donna Gates and YOU: On A Diet by Dr's Oz and Roisen, to understand the science of digestion in a fun, information way!
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