Hot Cocoa (Cacao) in the Raw

Sure, it's hot chocolate season and you should go ahead and indulge because chocolate is good for you.  You've probably heard that before, right?  Remember, though, when people say that chocolate is good for you, they're not talking about processed milk chocolate.  They are talking about dark chocolate (70%+ is the party line), or even better than that, raw chocolate.  Cacao comes from the nuts (the seed from the fruit) of the cacao tree.  Yep, chocolate grows on trees.

Raw chocolate (cocoa, cacao) is super-rich in antioxidant bioflavonoids (more than any other natural food tested so far), which can aid cancer prevention, boost immunity, and help maintain healthy blood flow (regulate BP).  Cacao is a great source of important minerals and vitamins including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, zinc, iron, potassium, manganese, and many B vitamins.  It's also a source of important amino acids and neurotransmitters (tryptophan, dopamine, and others), which promote positive mood and mental alertness, alleviate depression, and can postpone the onset of dementia.  Cacao has anti-inflammatory properties and has been shown to be an appetite suppressant.  But remember: eating processed milk chocolate is not the same thing.  You can sit down and eat a whole bag of mini-Snickers bars near Halloween and you just keep wanting more, but you wouldn't feel that same addictive need to eat a whole bag of raw chocolate.


So, by all means, have your hot cocoa, but this year DO IT RAW.  If you've been making your hot cocoa from packets or big tubs of cocoa mix, you are definitely not alone.  I think most people who make their cocoa this way do so because they think it's easier (instant!).  I'm here to tell you that making your hot cocoa from raw chocolate, natural sweetener, and your choice or milk or milk alternative is easy, fast, tasty, and so much better for you and your family. 

At the end of this post, I'll be leaving you with a recipe for making your own Raw Hot Chocolate with these ingredients: high-quality milk or unsweetened almond milk (for a dairy-free version), raw cacao powder, and 100% pure maple syrup.

But first, here are the ingredients lists for the Regular Hot Chocolate and No Added Sugar Hot Chocolate products from one of the most popular hot chocolate mixes on the market.

Regular Hot Chocolate Mix

11 Ingredients:

• sugar
• modified whey
• cocoa, processed with alkali
• hydrogenated coconut oil
• nonfat dry milk
• calcium carbonate
• salt
• dipotassium phosphate
• mono- and di-glycerides
• artificial flavors
• carrageenan

No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate Mix

14 Ingredients:

• modified whey
• nonfat dry milk
• cocoa, processed with alkali
• malodextrin
• hydrogenated coconut oil
• calcium carbonate
• salt
• dipotassium phosphate
• carrageenan
• acesulfame potassium
• sucralose
• artificial flavors
• polysorbate 60
• mono- and di-glycerides

Wow, that took up a lot of space!  And that was half my point.  You don't need all that in your hot cocoa, do you?  I don't have the space to go through each of the ingredients above, but I'll spotlight 3 of them and tell you a little bit about why they're good to avoid.

Cocoa, processed with alkali - Cocoa powder, great.  Processed with alkali, not so great.  Because it is alkaline (on the pH scale), alkali is added to cocoa powder in many processed products in order to neutralize the acidity of the raw cocoa.  The result is a milder, sweeter powder that mixes more easily with liquids.  That all sounds great, but processing cocoa with alkali also reduces the concentration of antioxidants (specifically, flavonols) in the cocoa, thus negating some of the biggest health benefits of drinking your cocoa.  That's no good.

Carrageenan - Carrageenan is a thickening agent derived from seaweed.  Hey, seaweed's great for you, so that doesn't sound so bad at first either.  The problem is that carrageenan in processed foods can easily degrade into poligeenan, which studies have linked to inflammation, gastrointestinal ulcerations, and cancer.  Why take that risk?

Hydrogenated coconut oil - Again, we start with the positive -- coconut oil is great (one of the only saturated fats that you should include in your diet).  But hydrogenated is BAD.  You always want to run, not walk, from hydrogenated oils.  If you don't already know it: whenever you see "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated", you're looking at a trans fat, the worst kind of fat to ingest.  Trans fats are not naturally occurring fats, rather they are created when hydrogen is added to naturally occurring oils.  Our bodies simply don't know what to do with these foreign substances -- it's kind of like eating plastic -- and trans fats (trans fatty acids) have been linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and much more.

Now, on to the good news.  Making your own Hot Cacao in the Raw is so easy and incredibly tasty.  Give it a try this Fall and Winter.  You can probably find raw cacao/cocoa powder at your local health food store.  If not, you can definitely buy it online -- this is one of my favorite online sources of raw cacao powder (and other herbs and spices), but you can also buy from Amazon using one of the links up top. 

Hot Cacao in the Raw

(less than 100 calories per serving, when using almond milk; ~150 calories with milk)

Ingredients:

• 8 fl oz milk (high-quality/organic/raw)
  or unsweetened almond milk (dairy-free alternative)
• 1 TBSP raw cacao powder
• 1-1/2 tsp - 1 TBSP maple syrup (to taste)

Making your Hot Cacao:

1. Heat most of your milk/almond milk in a saucepan on the stove to just about boiling.
2. Leave the rest of your milk/almond milk (~2 TBSP) in the mug and mix with cacao powder and maple syrup.  It may not fully dissolve in cold milk/a.m., but once you add hot liquid, it will dissolve just fine.
3. Add hot milk/a.m. to mug and mix to dissolve cacao and maple syrup.
4. Enjoy.

Alternatively, you can combine your milk and cacao in the saucepan, whisk to combine them while heating, and finally stir/whisk in your maple syrup -- you might find that your cocoa blends more easily with this approach.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well. 

Aspartame: New Name, Same Bad Thing.

For anyone out there who hasn’t been on board with the idea that Aspartame (the artificial sweetener marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, etc.) is not good for us, I ask you this: Why do companies usually rename popular products? Not to be cynical, but I’m thinking it’s because people stopped buying the product and the company wants to convince people once again that they do want this product. And that’s exactly what happened when Ajinomoto, the company that makes aspartame, recently branded the name of their artificial sweetener: AminoSweet – doesn’t that sound natural and healthy? I mean, amino acids are good, right? And we all like sweets! And that’s better than listing the product as aspartame, an additive that has been connected to cancers, endocrine disorders, severe allergies and asthma, headaches/migraines, insomnia, depression, heart palpitations, memory loss, joint pain, and weight gain (to name a few of the 90 different symptoms reported to the FDA).

In 1965, the sweet taste of aspartame was accidentally discovered by a chemist working on production of an anti-ulcer medication. A long history followed, including coercion, lobbying, and concealing evidence proving that aspartame is unsafe for human consumption. So, here we are today with a new name for this popular food additive and carcinogen … AminoSweet!

I am posting today to let you know about the branding of aspartame as AminoSweet. I want you to be aware that this has happened so that you can check your ingredients lists for both names. Don’t be fooled. Aspartame, or AminoSweet, is found in many diet beverages (sodas, teas, etc.), sugar-free gums, “light” yogurts, and so much more. Please read the ingredients list before buying any product!

I will write about the nutritional benefits of natural sweeteners in upcoming posts, but for now I’ll just show you the comparative calorie counts (which is often the reason people choose an artificial sweetener like NutraSweet over a natural sweetener) of a variety of sweeteners.

Compare calories per 1 tsp for these sweeteners:
NutraSweet (Aspartame, AminoSweet), 2 cal.
White Sugar, 15 cal.
Brown Sugar, 15 cal.

Raw Sugar, 11 cal.
Date Sugar, 12 cal.
*Brown Rice Syrup, 20 cal.
*Molasses, 20 cal.
*Honey, 20 cal.
*Real Maple Syrup, 21 cal.

So, given all the wonderful benefits of choosing natural sweeteners* (trust me for now & stay tuned) and the risks of choosing artificial sweeteners (read above), is it really worth cutting those 18 calories per teaspoon? I probably burned 18 calories just writing this post! Well, maybe not, but what about this? ... Just eat less sweetener in general, choose a natural sweetener when you do have one, and enjoy it.

Are you willing to read ingredients lists from now on AND replace some of the artificial sweetener in your world with a yummy natural sweetener?

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Sweeten Well.

The Science of Living a Healthy Life

Sunday’s New York Times Magazine (4/18/10) featured a collection of articles under the heading The Science of Living a Healthy Life. You can access these articles online and read about: (1) the importance of exercise for weight loss; (2) how the quality of your relationships can affect your physical health; (3) the effects of estrogen replacement therapy; and much more.

These are interesting articles, but as is always the case, it is important to read what these authors have to say and consider the information in the context of your own experiences. For instance, when reading “Weighing the Evidence on Exercise”, you may get the sense that there is a great range of responses to exercise in terms of its effects on weight loss, appetite, energy levels, and mood. This can be confusing, but it is not surprising because our responses to just about everything we experience in life can depend on our own unique collection of characteristics, including our gender, age, overall health history, diseases and medications, sleep patterns, and so much more. (By the way, read all the way through the “Weighing the Evidence on Exercise” article – I found the second half especially interesting.)

So then, what do we do when the information out there seems ambiguous? That’s when we need to read (or listen) mindfully, and to purposely not hold on to anything as “The Truth”. Take in what you read, consider how it relates to what you already know, and then listen to what your body and mind say is right for you.

What is true for you? ... What role does exercise play in your life?  Do you find that your relationships can affect your physical health?

Enjoy the day.  Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.