In Willie Harcourt-Cooze’
Dr Emma Ross, a qualified ‘Exercise Physiologist’
From my own experience of using raw cacao powder I had found that my energy levels were boosted and that I experienced a sense of well being and focus. Regardless of whether in the gym, at work, or elsewhere, after eating raw cacao I would experience one of those good days when things just seem to go right, you get loads done and life just seems to be on your side!
Happily, the results of the randomized, blind and placebo controlled study conducted by Dr Emma Ross did seem to back up my own feelings that ‘real’ chocolate can improve ones sense of well being, performance and perhaps even more amazingly, the experiment also found that drinking a ‘real’ Cacao beverage before training, actually enabled the body to burn fat more effectively.
Prior to the experiment all participants drank a beverage, some were given a ‘real chocolate’ drink, made from Criollo Cacao Nibs. Others were given a standard chocolate milk. The test was blind which meant that no one knew which beverage they had been given.
The results taken during the experiment showed that those who had drank the ‘real chocolate’ perceived the same physical excertion to be less demanding than those who had just drank a standard chocolate drink. Tests also showed that without exception the group who had drank the real chocolate drink, burnt significantly more fat than the group who drank the standard drink.
Dr Emma Ross said, ‘It wasn't surprising to me… Chocolate is derived from the Cacao bean, one of the most concentrated sources of flavanol, a subgroup of the natural antioxidant plant compounds called flavanoids… Being a natural source of antioxidants, dark chocolate has the potential to exert antioxidant protection against free radicals, and it can contribute to improved cardiovascular health, including lowering blood pressure and improving blood flow’.
There is also a whole host of other incredible nutrients found within raw cacao. It is extremely rich in Magnesium, necessary for healthy heart function and also contains Iron, Calcium, B vitamins, Vitamin C and E plus, at least 300 other identifiable chemical compounds and possibly up to 1,200 chemical constituents. Cacao is one of the most complex foods on earth and cannot be synthesised by man.
It contains a wealth of ‘bliss inducing compounds’ such as Serotonin, Tryptophan, Anandamide, Dopamine, PEA and MAO inhibitors all of which have a positive effect on brain chemistry which may help explain some of the results of the experiment.
Cacao beans also have the highest anti-oxidant concentration of any food and are 4000 %richer in anti-oxidants than blueberries with a flavonol antioxidant count of a whopping 10%!
Not only is real chocolate good for you, it is also good for the planet. Cacao can not be farmed as a monocrop because it requires the forest canopy to survive, therefore, it is ethically and sustainably sourced from within the forest.
It is probably worth noting that the standard practice of roasting the Cacao when creating a chocolate bar seriously damages the nutritional content. When Willie makes his 'real' chocolate bar he will in fact roast the cacao in the process. This is fine for Willie because he is aiming to create a bar to rival the supermarkets, he is not specifically trying to create a health product. However, the chocolate you will find here is created specifically to maintain the incredible nutritional content of Cacao, therefore our chocolate bar, 'Cacao Kapow' uses raw, unroasted Cacao and similiarly to Willie our 'real' chocolate bar is produced in the artisan way without the use of heavy machinery.
If you would like to experience for yourselves the wonder of ‘real chocolate’ then please visit Creative Nature Cacao products page where you will find our award winning Criollo Cacao Nibs, Cacao Powder and a delicious Sugar free, Dairy free, Raw Chocolate bar… ‘Cacao Kapow’.
