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Friday, October 24, 2008
What Is Xocolatl Chocolate
Chocolate.
So rich!
So divine!
So healthy? That depends.
Perhaps the Aztec's knew something we don't as they sat down for a nice hot xocolatl chocolate drink.
What is xocolatl you ask?
Glad you asked. Without research I didn't know the answer. With research I found out…
Xocolatl:
Pronounced [sho koh laht uhl], Xocolatl is from the Aztec language Nuahatl [nah waht uhl], meaning “bitter water”.
Further, I discovered that xocolatl comes from cacao beans grown in Chiapas, Mexico.
3 natural ingredients combine to make the end result of xocolatl. They are…
· Organic cacao mass
· Evaporated cane juice
· Organic cacao butter
"Organic" refers to the way agricultural products - including foods and fibers such as cotton - are grown and processed. The closer one gets to natural processes the greater the associated health of a product would most likely be.
According to Webster cacoa is the dried partly fermented fatty seeds of a South American evergreen tree that are used in making cocoa, chocolate, and cocoa butter. These seeds have been proven to be quite healthy when added to a person's diet.
That's the good news. Unfortunately most of your over the counter chocolate available on the market contains little to none of these ingredients.
Why?
Simple. Healthy chocolate is much more expensive than what they can afford to produce. Yes, money is once again the bottom line for poor health, sad to say.
Fortunately, that's not the end of the story today as there are companies like Xocai tm whose focus is to bring healthy chocolate to market through ways that will help people both with their health and with their finances.
What does all this mean?
Nothing more than you really are able to enjoy chocolate while improving your health at the same time. All you have to do is link up with companies like Xocai tm that specialize in xocolatl chocolate.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Is Chocolate Healthy?
Chocolate. Is it healthy for you to eat?
Some say that answer would be no while others would say yes.
The actual answer to the question "is chocolate healthy?" definitely depends on what you mean by the word chocolate.
If I were going to purpose that store bought milk chocolate is healthy, then you would have reason to be concerned with my opinions.
But then there is dark chocolate. Here is a post I found on WebMD from their October 23, 2008 release.
"It's the best medical news in ages. Studies in two prestigious scientific journals say dark chocolate -- but not white chocolate or milk chocolate -- is good for you."
Simply put, dark chocolate without milk in any form is a wonderful antioxidant.
Webster tells us that an antioxidant is…
"A substance (such as cocoa) that inhibits oxidation or reactions promoted by oxygen, peroxides, or free radicals."
Wouldn't it be wonderful if this could be found within chocolate? Yet it would.
Good news.
This is exactly what dark chocolate provides.
Even better, some known benefits of the cocoa bean include…
* Slowing down hair loss
* Decrease bad coughs
* Help with water retention
* Fight against rheumatism
* Moisten lips
* Aid in healing burns and wounds
And that is just the start of the benefits available from the cocoa bean when it is in the form of dark chocolate with all milk products removed.
Therefore, next time you find yourself wondering "is chocolate healthy"? Rest asurd in knowing that it absolutely does benefit your health as long as it is in the dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate forms. Like many other things in our culture today, it's not the item that leads to poor health but rather what you do with it. So you really can enjoy chocolate while living a healthier more balanced life.
