Welcome to a most informative and inspiring show about the amazing ancient superfood of cacao!

This episode will give you everything you need to know about its remarkable health benefits, healing properties, and how to choose the most sustainable, eco-friendly, fair-trade bean-to-bar products. You will learn about the fascinating history of cacao as a sacred food, currency, and medicine, why it remains one of the most highly regarded superfoods on the planet, and how the food industry took this extraordinary raw material, stripped out everything useful, and transformed it into little more than a heavily sugared version of the original.

Along the way, I explain the science in plain English—from the powerful polyphenols that support your heart, brain, blood pressure, gut microbiome, metabolism, and mood, to why cacao may be the single most antioxidant-rich food you can eat.

I also reveal the disturbing reality behind much of today's commercial chocolate industry, including how mainstream processing destroys many of cacao's most valuable compounds and why ethical sourcing matters. You'll learn the difference between raw cacao powder, cacao nibs, and high-percentage dark chocolate, how to identify truly high-quality bean-to-bar chocolate, why I became a dark chocolate connoisseur, and the artisan brands I recommend.

When this episode is over, you're never going to look at a chocolate bar the same way again, and you'll be fully armed to make the best product purchasing decisions and obtain the maximum benefits from consuming foods high in nutritious cacao.

TIMESTAMPS:

Cacao is one of the most highly regarded superfoods on the planet. [00:56]

When you are finished listening to this episode, you will never look at a chocolate bar the same way again. [02:28]

The best way to enjoy chocolate is to put it on your tongue and allow the flavor to dissolve in your mouth. [06:38]

The history of cacao is fascinating. It is one of the most nutrient dense, biologically active foods in all of human history. [08:10]

Early civilationa learned to ferment, roast, and grind cacao beans into a drink. It was more than a flavoring agent, it was very much a spriitual centerpiece as well as used for medicinal purposes. [10:11]

After the Europeans added sugar to cacao, it lost some of its medicinal purpose, although it still is a good source of antioxidants. [12:29]

There are many cardiovascular benefits from cacao. It improves platelet function. [18:17]

Cacao has been shown in studies to produce meaningful reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. It is also known to help boost levels of HDL (high density lipoproteins.) [20:55]

Cacao consumption improves your overall lipid profiles, including helping with healthy triglyceride levels. [27:24]

Does cacao help with weight loss goals? [28:27]

Cacao has an impact on brain function and mood. [31:37]

In contrast to the powerful, hard and fast effects of caffeine, theobromine in cacao works more slowly. It has a gentler mechanism and a longer half life. [35:08]

Studies show wonderful benefits from cacao on the gut. It has been identified as a potent prebiotic which is what feed probiotics to flourish in the intestinal tract. [38:59]

Reasearch shows cacao has properties protecting you from UV damage from sunburn. [46:35]

Just how damaging to health is mainstream modern chocolate processing? One of the terrible aspects of the low-priced chocolate is because of the support of child slave labor harvesting these beans. [50:02]

Look for the designation of "bean to bar" on the product. It should also have cacao beans as the first ingredient. [55:05]

In mainstream processing of the beans, they have to use super high temperatures which degrades the polyphenol. [57:17]

There are three categories of products which can deliver these wonderful health benefits. [01:00:07]

When the bar is above 80%, this is where most of the research showing cardiovascular cognitive benefits was conducted. The words "cacao beans" should be the first ingredient on the label. [01:05:53]

Brad lists his recommendations for good chocolate bars. [01:19:44]

How much chocolate should one consume? [[01:29:06]

Do not refrigerate high quality dark chocolate. [01:32:50]

LINKS:

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