Day 74: Raw Cacao (Chocolate), Carob, & Coffee
Cacao: Food of the Gods, Naked Chocolate, Carob, and Coffee
“The beverage of the gods was Ambrosia; that of man is chocolate. Both increase the length of life in a prodigious manner.”
– Louis Lewin, M.D., Phantastica
“Chocolate is a divine, celestial drink, the sweat of the stars, the vital seed, divine nectar, the drink of the gods, panacea and universal medicine.”
– Geronimo Piperni
Welcome to Day 74!
(ca·cao. Pronounced [ka-kow]. Rhymes with “cow.”)
Hello! How are your goals coming today? One of our goals is to have more goals than we will ever be able to accomplish! That way, the number of goals that we do see to fruition will also be huge, creating a rich pallette of life. We esspecially like simple goals, like “I am going to eat a mango on the beach” or “today I am going to re-bound for ten minutes. Little goals add to create possibility for big goals!
Today we are going to discuss a few things that you can get excited about using after you have finished your beautiful goal of doing a juice feast: Raw Cacao and Raw Carob!
David Wolfe, author of Naked Chocolate, has said that this is THE FOOD which we will use to help heal the planet, because everyone likes chocolate. Cacao is not suitable for consumption during a cleansing process, but afterwards, ENJOY!
About the Book Naked Chocolate
Fans of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are already familiar with the Oompa-Loompas’ cravings for cacao (cocoa) beans. In his new book, Naked Chocolate, David Wolfe thoroughly investigates the secrets surrounding these nutritionally packed beans – the key ingredient that all chocolate is made from! In a fun, informative Technicolor presentation, Wolfe breaks down the origins of chocolate, its unique history among various cultures – including its employment as both currency and medicine – and its specific scientific and alchemic properties. Readers will learn how this ‘food of the gods’ is the richest source of magnesium of any food, has ten times more antioxidants than blueberries (and twenty times more than red wine), and is nature’s number one appetite suppressant. When chocolate is consumed in its natural, unprocessed state, the health benefits are superior to those of dark chocolate. Complementary culinary companions to chocolate are discussed including carob, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, coconut, goji berries, honey, bee pollen, maca, spirulina as well as many common favorites including almonds, cashews, mint, vanilla and others. Wolfe details the specific alchemic properties each of these foods adds when paired with chocolate. The book includes more than 60 healthy, original, 100 percent organic and dairy-free chocolate recipes including cakes, desserts, puddings, pies, ice cream and a variety of hot and cold beverages.
Naked Chocolate is sure to satisfy the chocoholic in all of us.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
David, Shazzie, Cacao’s Properties
Part I: Cacao
Legends of Cacao, Theobroma Cacao, A Brief History of Chocolate, Money Does Grow On Trees
Part II: Scientific Properties of Chocolate
Chemical Composition of Cacao, Magnesium, Antioxidants, Methylxanthines: Theobromine and Caffeine, Phenylethylamine, Anandamide (the Bliss Chemical), Neurotransmitter Modulating Agents, Tryptophan
Part III: Exotic Properties of Chocolate
Aphrodisia, Nobility, Nature’s Prozac (Anti-Depressant Properties of Cacao), Tryptamines, Phenylalanines, Lactones and Cannabinoids, Chocolate as Medicine, Chocolate and Pregnancy, Chocolate Yoga, Overcoming Chocolate Addictions
Part IV: Chocolate Alchemy
Curing by Contraries, Naked Chocolate, Organic Food, The Ancient Chocolate Drink, Cacao’s Best Friends, Other Old and New Friends of Cacao, What to do with Cacao Beans, The New Cacao Beverage, The Recipes
Appendices
Chocolate for the Skin, The Chocolate Religion, Finding the Best Chocolate, A Secret History of Chocolate
The Last Bits
References, Credits, Shazzie’s Projects and Resources, David Wolfe’s Projects and Resources, About the Authors
About the Authors:
David Wolfe is the leading authority on raw-food nutrition – a diet and lifestyle that has swept through Hollywood and far beyond. The author of Eating for Beauty and the Sunfood Diet Success System, Wolfe is personal coach to several Hollywood celebrities and one of the most sought after health and personal success speakers in the world today. He has provided commentary for numerous media outlets including Newsweek, CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°,” InStyle, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press.
Shazzie, co-author of Naked Chocolate, is the UK’s most progressive health educator. Naked Chocolate is Shazzie’s third book and follows the successful Detox Your World and Detox Delights.
“Cacao D’Arco Rain” by David Rainoshek – To Be Enjoyed After the Juice Feast
I made a half-gallon of this drink at a time and did many an all-nighter with it while I was completing my M.A. in Nutrition and creating the 92-Day Juice Feasting Program.
I was lucid all night, and right through the next day.
I credit this drink with enabling me to get a significant portion of the files for this site created, updated, and completed in early 2006. This beverage energizes, mineralizes, is anti-fungal, anti-cancer, an aphrodisiac, and sharpens the mind immensely.
THAT BEING SAID, if you have adrenal fatigue, inflammatory issues, blood sugar imbalances (hypoglycemia or diabetes), this drink is not advised. With that said, here we go:
Ingredients:
Good Earth Original Tea, 2-4 bags
Pau D’Arco Tea, 2-4 bags
1.5 quarts water
1 ¼ cups total of a mix of: Sesame Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Almonds, Brazil Nuts, and Pumpkin Seeds
¼ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Cinnamon
1 Vanilla Bean or 1tsp Vanilla Extract
1 heaping T Maca
1 T Bee Pollen Granules
1 T Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
1 T Raw Carob Powder
8 T Ground Raw Cacao!
1-3 Bananas, to taste
Directions:
Make a tea using nearly 2 quarts of water with 2 bags of Good Earth Original tea and 2 bags of Pau D’Arco tea.
Turn off the water after it boils, and allow all the tea to steep in the water as it cools to a slightly warm temp for 4+ hours. Remove the tea bags.
To a Vitamix container, add 1 cup of nuts or seeds. My favorites for this cacao recipe are sesame, hemp seed, and pumkin seed.
Pour the slightly warm tea into the Vitamix. Blend and then strain to make nut mylk.
Pour the delicious Good Earth/Pau D’Arco nut mylk back into the Vitamix, and add:
¼ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Cinnamon
1 Vanilla Bean or 1tsp Vanilla Extract
1 heaping T Maca
1 T Bee Pollen Granules
1 T Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
1 T Raw Carob Powder
8 T Ground Raw Cacao!
1-3 Bananas, to taste
Blend well and drink slightly warm in a small bowl. To go further, drink this beverage with a bowl of Durian! This drink, combined with Durian, really will fill you with joy and love, clear and open your mind, focus your concentration, and make all your friends and loved ones irresistibly curious about nutrient dense raw food nutrition.
Coffee and Your Brain/Mind: Does It Help with Alertness, Learning, and Creativity?
The very aroma of hot coffee brewing stimulates our senses and perks up the neurons in our brain. But does this mean we can use coffee specifically to enhance HyperLearning, and if so, how? In what ways does it benefit short-term memory? Long-term memory? Physical Health?
We will break this section down into:
Short-Term Memory, Long-Term Memory, Physical Health Effects, and Skillful Use of Coffee
Short-Term Memory
We all know that coffee can be quick pick-me-up, and though long term reliance on caffeine can contribute to imbalances that would ultimately have a negative effect on learning, research shows that when used infrequently, caffeine can offer a boost to our short term memory.
In a study that was presented at an annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, researchers demonstrated that caffeine modulates short-term working memory, allowing participants in the study to make correct replies to simple questions about what they had been presented with.
Finally on short-term memory research and coffee, it has been found that while multitasking on multiple unrelated items and drinking coffee, mental performance is diminished. What does this mean?
Coffee works best for short-term memory when not used everyday, and when you drink it, do so in the context of no distractions so you can focus on the one task at hand. THEN you will find coffee helps with information processing, recall, creativity, and mental focus for a good 45 minute burst of learning, research, creativity, or productivity.
Long-Term Memory
There is mixed research on coffee in the long term. Some studies suggest that it may have benefits and others suppose the opposite. If you are looking for a good place to start finding out more about the long-term effects that coffee can have on cognition, you can start here:
Does Coffee Boost Brain and Cognitive Functions Over Time?
Physical Health Effects
I have a huge file on this topic, which you can access in today’s Downloads.
The long and short of it is that regular use of coffee beyond a cup 2-3 days a week for healthy people who are not pregnant… is not advisable. Overuse of coffee to get you going is both a symptom of underlying health conditions (such as low thyroid function, unstable blood sugar, dehydration) and a contributing factor of health challenges (arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, kidney disorders, hypothyroidism, candidiasis, cardiovascular disease).
That being said, in the context of a healthy diet and lifestyle, coffee can be enjoyable and skillfully used to enhance short-term learning.
Skillful Use of Coffee
For many people reading this, your Coffee consumption could probably stand to be reduced. The power that a cup a coffee can have to aid you in really focusing on a project with incredible intensity, is greatly diminished by consistent or habitual use.
For the great majority of my clients, I advise to have coffee every blue moon as a wonderful elixir, but to otherwise leave it aside for the benefit of your health: blood sugar, inflammatory markers, adrenal health, hormone balance, and sleeeeeep.
See you in The Green Room!
Theme Music: “Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano, originally by The Doors.
If you can't imagine life without chocolate, you're lucky you weren't born before the 16th century.
Until then, chocolate only existed as a bitter, foamy drink in Mesoamerica. So how did we get from a bitter beverage to the chocolate bars of today?
Trailer: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
How to Eat Cacao & Make Healthy Chocolate. Evita Ochel shares a tutorial for understanding cacao and chocolate.
Today’s Downloads
Cacao
by David Rainoshek, M.A.
David Wolfe, co-author of “Naked Chocolate,” has said that this is THE FOOD which we will use to help heal the planet, because everyone likes chocolate. Cacao is not suitable for consumption during a cleansing process, but afterwards, ENJOY!!
Carob
by David Rainoshek, M.A.
We love raw cacao, and in the past David has been able to consume large quantities of it with very good results such as heightened metal clarity and focus, heart opening, and high energy. Katrina has never done well with cacao, and has to take it in very small doses. If she over does it on cacao, she feels strung out, over stimulated, and then has an energy crash and feels hung over. What is interesting is that back in her cooked food days, she did ok with chocolate. Sure it was stimulating, but nothing compared to what cacao does to her now clean and sensitive raw body.
After almost five years of eating live foods and doing over 450 days of Juice Feasting, David has also noticed that cacao does not affect him so positively at high, high levels any more, and he experiences something similar to what Katrina does if he over does it on cacao.
So, we have integrated the joys of carob. It may not be as exciting and stimulating as cacao, but it is definitely a lot smoother of a ride for us, and we do enjoy it.
Coffee
by David Rainoshek, M.A.
Should we drink it? What is the effect on the body? Can it help with alertness? Creativity? Learning? Get the lowdown on this ubiquitous and ancient drink to learn more about the place of coffee in a healthy, integrated life.
THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH COFFEE STUDIES is that they do not specify which kind of coffee was used in the study – and most coffees are sub-par, conventionally-grown, and MOLDY (CONTAINS MYCOTOXINS).
It would be like doing a study on the benefits of orange juice and using only fermented, spoiled juice to determine the effects of OJ on your body.
The research is showing that good, single-origin Arabica coffee, fresh ground and properly prepared is behind reduced Alzheimer’s, lower risk of Type-2 Diabetes, improved insulin sensitivity, reduced prostate cancer risk, reduced depression, lower stroke risk, and lower breast cancer risk.
Coffee is a high source of antioxidants, improves fat loss, and increases power output in exercise – both aerobic and anaerobic.
Yet, there are counter-indications, so read this file carefully.
Online Articles
Original cacao is ancient treasure of chocolate from the Ecuadorian rainforest
Coffee: 5 Reasons You Can Perform Better and 10 Ways to Live Longer by Dave Asprey
Coffee will kill you. At least that’s what some caffeine-deprived people have come to believe. Coffee gets a bad reputation for causing jitters, stomach discomfort, even cancer.
3 Steps to Finding the Highest Performance Coffee in Your City by Dave Asprey
If you want to stay bulletproof while partaking of one of life’s greatest pleasures, coffee, it’s really important to learn how to avoid getting a cupful of potent neuroactive mycotoxins along with your caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline.
Why Bad Coffee Makes You Weak by Dave Asprey
Good coffee is magic.
It can promote brain function, memory, and energy levels. It can serve as a massive source of antioxidants and is associated with all sorts of positive health outcomes. Coffee can even effect your body and mind like Chi Gong exercises. It can even help you build muscle without exercising. However, the wrong coffee can sap your health and hurt your performance.
Addicted to Coffee? You May Be Dopamine Deficient by PF Louis
Many of us depend on an early morning “Jo” to get us on the go. Some of us need refills as the day progresses.
Still others use coffee to get over depression or anxiety, even though caffeine can create more fight or flight hormones and tax our adrenal glands by pumping us with adrenaline. The adrenaline rushes lead to more retention of cortisol, leading to a vicious cycle of more stress and anxiety.
Great Books
by David Wolfe
With the mission to “lay naked before the world the true meaning of chocolate,” David Wolfe and Shazzie present a spirited and unconventional history, materia medica, and recipe book for the world’s most pleasurable food: chocolate. This book describes the wonders of cacao–where it comes from, how it is processed, its three varieties, and its origins and role in pre-Columbian cultures of the Americas. It explains the scientific properties and health benefits of chocolate, and elaborates how you will lose weight, soothe your heart, double your joy, increase your sensuality, nourish your intellect, and attract prosperity by eating it!In contrast to most books about chocolate, this one focuses on the raw cacao bean, or “naked” chocolate. Of course, this chocolate manual wouldn’t be complete without a step-by-step guide on what to do with the cacao beans, and over sixty original and mouthwatering chocolate recipes guaranteed to enhance your life.
by Sophie Coe
This delightful and best-selling tale of one of the world’s favorite foods draws upon botany, archaeology, and culinary history to present a complete and accurate history of chocolate.
The story begins some 3,000 years ago in the jungles of Mexico and Central America with the chocolate tree, Theobroma Cacao, and the complex processes necessary to transform its bitter seeds into what is now known as chocolate. This was centuries before chocolate was consumed in generally unsweetened liquid form and used as currency by the Maya, and the Aztecs after them. The Spanish conquest of Central America introduced chocolate to Europe, where it first became the drink of kings and aristocrats and then was popularized in coffeehouses. Industrialization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries made chocolate a food for the masses, and now, in our own time, it has become once again a luxury item.
The second edition draws on recent research and genetic analysis to update the information on the origins of the chocolate tree and early use by the Maya and others, and there is a new section on the medical and nutritional benefits of chocolate. 100 illustrations, 15 in color
by Meredith L. Dreiss
Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods takes readers on a journey through 3,000 years of the history of chocolate. It is a trip filled with surprises. And it is a beautifully illustrated tour, featuring 132 vibrant color photographs and a captivating sixty-minute DVD documentary. Along the way, readers learn about the mystical allure of chocolate for the peoples of Mesoamerica, who were the first to make it and who still incorporate it into their lives and ceremonies today.
Although it didn’t receive its Western scientific name, Theobroma cacao—“food of the gods”—until the eighteenth century, the cacao tree has been at the center of Mesoamerican mythology for thousands of years. Not only did this “chocolate tree” produce the actual seeds from which chocolate was extracted but it was also symbolically endowed with cosmic powers that enabled a dialogue between humans and their gods. From the pre-Columbian images included in this sumptuous book, we are able to see for ourselves the importance of chocolate to the Maya, Aztecs, Olmecs, Mixtecs, and Zapotecs who grew, produced, traded, and fought over the prized substance.
Through archaeological and other ethnohistoric research, the authors of this fascinating book document the significance of chocolate—to gods, kings, and everyday people—over several millennia. The illustrations allow us to envision the many ancient uses of this magical elixir: in divination ceremonies, in human sacrifices, and even in ball games. And as mythological connections between cacao trees, primordial rainforests, and biodiversity are unveiled, our own quest for ecological balance is reignited. In demonstrating the extraordinary value of chocolate in Mesoamerica, the authors provide new reasons—if any are needed—to celebrate this wondrous concoction.
by Roald Dahl
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, along with Roald Dahl’s other tales for younger readers, make him a true star of children’s literature. Dahl seems to know just how far to go with his oddball fantasies; in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, nasty Violet Beauregarde blows up into a blueberry from sneaking forbidden chewing gum, and bratty Augustus Gloop is carried away on the river of chocolate he wouldn’t resist. In fact, all manner of disasters can happen to the most obnoxiously deserving of children because Dahl portrays each incident with such resourcefulness and humor.
by Laura Esquivel
The number one bestseller in Mexico and America for almost two years, and subsequently a bestseller around the world, “Like Water For Chocolate” is a romantic, poignant tale, touched with moments of magic, graphic earthiness, bittersweet wit – and recipes. A sumptuous feast of a novel, it relates the bizarre history of the all-female De La Garza family.
Tita, the youngest daughter of the house, has been forbidden to marry, condemned by Mexican tradition to look after her mother until she dies. But Tita falls in love with Pedro, and he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. In desperation, Pedro marries her sister Rosaura so that he can stay close to her. For the next twenty-two years, Tita and Pedro are forced to circle each other in unconsummated passion. Only a freakish chain of tragedies, bad luck and fate finally reunite them against all the odds.
Media, Films, & Documentaries
Tree to Bar | How to Make Chocolate Every Step
Tree to Bar || How to Make Chocolate Every Step. In this video is shown every step to making dark chocolate from cacao tree to chocolate bar. There is roughly 7 step to making chocolate so sit back and enjoy.
The Dark Side of Chocolate | Documentary
Just so you are aware.... Please do buy chocolate products that are not from the major mass-marketed industrial companies. Ensure Fair Trade or Local small-trade is the source of your cacao!
While we enjoy the sweet taste of chocolate, the reality is strikingly different for African children. The Dark Side of Chocolate is a documentary film about the exploitation and slavetrading of African children to harvest chocolate still occurring nearly ten years after the cocoa industry pledged to end it.