Raw cocoa...please help

[mattm]

Hi I'm 19 and a relative newbie to the raw diet and so far had immense success with it with more energy than ever and skin problems totally clearing. I would like to take this opportunity to say this forum is fantasic and thank everyone for their posts on various subjects which have been of both immense help and (in the case of the recipes) absolutely delicious! One product I've taken particular interest in, after venturing more into the different raw foods available, is raw cocoa powder but I'm really confused about it. I orginally read articles about it by David Wolfe, who portrays it as almost being a miracle food with the most antioxidants of any known food, highest magnesium content etc. As a result I was tremendously excited about it...healthy chocolate...what could be better! My fears of the caffeine and theobromine causing stimulant problems and the chance of having skin problems again after eventually getting completey rid of them, were quickly dispelled by articles, including those by Wolfe, saying, that when raw, the stimulant effect is nonexistant for some reason. So I went out very excited, got my 500g of raw cocoa, was all geared to add some maca (which by the way I'm addicted to and absolutely love...highly recommeded) and make those RP Brownies everyone raves about, whilst in the meantime trying to show the rest of the family the possible delights of a raw diet. But then I saw articles like this one http://www.living-foods.com/articles/cacao.html and other negativity towards raw cocoa. So now afteter thinking that eating raw cocoa every day was the next best thing for your health as Mr.Wolfe had me believe, I'm totally scared to use it thinking that after purging myself of all my addictions that eating this cocoa will start a new one and bring about possible acne problems. I'm concerned the only reason people might like it so much is because they have become unhealthy addicted. I really don't know if this is another case of 'we are all different and all foods effect us differently' or whether this is truely a superfood or conversely unhealthy. I would greatly aprreciate anyone's experiences of this product and thoughts on it. By the way, I want to say that, whilst on a cooked food diet and eating chocolate, I never developed an addiction to it, it was soimething I of course enjoyed but, unlike sweets, I could easily put it down and stop eating it.

All the best.

[Booboo]

I love cacoa. I am not addicted to it--I can stop eating it at any time. It tastes good, makes great chocolate smoothies and puddings and it makes me feel very good. As a woman, it makes that special time of the month a lot less painful. As for that article you linked to...oh, please, rodent droppings??? It is so ridiculous, I can't even comment on it.

[JGex]

The FDA has set limits on rodent feces for ALL food; cacoa is not unique. I found the article to be alarmist, but I couldn't really figure out why. There were a lot of "ifs" in it... and the web site Nison refers to as having the "best overall raw guides ever" is his own web store/site... he is self-promoting.

Doing a google search on the chemical compinents of cacao will likely give you better answers than asking on any forum. Be wary of Wikipedia as anyone can add content to that site, and there definitely are wrong entries for many subjects there. A quick Google search of Methylxanthines turns up this:

http://ratguide.com/meds/respiratory_drugs/xanthines_methylxanthines.php

It's great to ask questions, but ultimately you have to be the judge of what is or isn't good for you.... take the time to do the research yourself. Also, take note of how you feel when you eat different foods... you may decide you just don't like the way it makes you feel.

[Rawkinlocs]

...
It's great to ask questions, but ultimately you have to be the judge of what is or isn't good for you.... take the time to do the research yourself. Also, take note of how you feel when you eat different foods... you may decide you just don't like the way it makes you feel.

I agree with this...you are gonna come across a LOT of information about various things while on this raw journey and a lot of it will be conflicting.

I NEVER look at things as being "superfoods" or "miracle foods", etc. but mainly eat/drink it because I like it. Goji berries...eat 'em just because I like them...cacao...use it in some "chocolaty" recipes just because I like it... maca, annnnhh, still on the fence with that one. But as far as cacao, I haven't noticed any ill effects from using it, personally. Some do...some don't. I also don't find myself having it daily either. So, I would say it is one of those things where you have to decide for yourself - how does it make YOU feel...how do YOU react to it. If you find it doesn't fair you well, nix it and stick to carob if you just want something to have a "chocolate" flavor.

[Bobbie]

When on a cooked diet I certainly wasn't addicted to chocolate or any other cooked food, in fact I hated the taste of most foods and had to force feed myself most meals. Switching to raw was easy, and I had no desire to eat cooked. However after 6 months, I gave in to peer pressure ("you're annorexic" "you need to eat normal food") and ate some cooked food, and from then on I did have terrible extreme cravings for cooked food, and I would call it an addiction. That was the effect of cooked food on a clean raw-food body. Chocolate was especially powerful, if I had a bit, I wanted more, and could not stop myself. I eventually managed to go back to 100% raw and broke the addiction but it was very difficult.
So I have resisted the cacao-craze until this week. I thought if I had some raw chocolate, it would trigger the addiction again.
I bought my mother 4 raw chocolate bars, a box of chocolates, and a little chocolate heart for Christmas, and refused to try them. This wasn't the least bit difficult and I had no desire to try them, because I'm cured of my addiction at the moment, but I thought if I had one bite, I would crave more and more.
But on Christmas Eve I made a Chocolate Mousse Pie with cacao powder, and risked a slice, and to my relief, nothing happened. I'm still free of cravings. The pie survived 4 days in my fridge without me raiding it. We've had a slice every day but neither of us has eaten any at any other time.
So I think it might actually be true that raw chocolate doesn't act as a drug in the same way as cooked. On the other hand the raw chocolate sellers rave so much about it, and eat it so often, it does sound slightly as if they're addicted...but my experience of it has been positive.

I was also worried about it triggering chocolate addiction in my mother but she amazed me by only having one square of the chocolate-bars per day. Then this morning I came down to find the box from the "box of chocolates" was completely empty, and I thought she was joking when she said she'd eaten them all in the night. She had to tell me three times, that she really had eaten them. So the jury's still out on her!
I'm monitoring us both to see what affect the chocolate has on us. I suppose we won't really know until the chocolate is taken away - we've had chocolate mousse pie every day since we started. When it stops, then we'll know.

The nice thing is that despite all this chocolate neither of us feels ill or sickly. It hasn't affected our health negatively at all.

[mattm]

Thank you everyone for your replies, you've been very kind. Since my post I thought I would just go ahead and try it for myself so I made some RP Brownies and I've got to say they were absolutely delicious, the rest of the family thought they were too and now I have an order to fufill!!! I've closely monitored myself, like you Bobbie, for any adverse reactions to the cacoa powder and nothing...I'm so relieved. The internet has been great for me to get help with going raw but it is also a problem in that there are so much information and different opinions/views that you end up getting confused and even scared. Nature has a wonderful way of creating food in balance where digestion and nutrition is optimised and raw cocoa is another example of this. I should have put more trust in that than some articles on the net that had me doubting what has proven to be another wonderful food.

[trinity082482]

I love cocoa. I use it in many deserts. I don't care if its not the best thing for you. Neither is too much fatty seeds and oils but I like those too hehe :D

[Gwena]

I was a chocolate addict before raw.

I own a raw chocolate business, and despite the fact that I'm working with raw chocolate on a daily basis, I'm sooooooo NOT addicted to it. I can't overeat raw chocolate to save my life. It's yummy, but as with most raw foods, it's hard to go completely overboard on them before the body says ENOUGH!!!! :p

Regardless, I'm sure some folks get addicted to some things here and there, but I've yet to hear of anyone going off the deep end on some raw chocolate. Now, the cooked stuff is different. I was way addicted to the cooked and sugarized stuff.

If you aren't experiencing any problems with the raw stuff, awesome. I wouldn't worry yourself about it. Just enjoy, and if things start getting out of hand, stop. I know this is easier said than done, but all foods have addictive qualities and worrying about them only feeds into the energy of addiction.

[Sheryl]

I also find with raw chocolate that just a little is enough... there's never an urge to overeat it as with processed chocolate bars.