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The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S. See book keywords and concepts

So if you want the benefits of these flavanols in your diet, you've got to get the real deal chocolate—high-cocoa-content dark chocolate. You'll see the best of these bars with labels that say things like "60 percent cocoa" (70 percent or higher is even better, but much harder to find). Milk chocolate and white chocolate have virtually none of these health benefits. Plus, the commercial candy bars are loaded with extra sugar, fat, waxes, and chemicals that are not what you want to be adding to your diet. And the more chocolate is processed, the more the beneficial flavonoids are lost.

And though this category includes a few foods not found in our Paleolithic diets (our hunter-gatherer ancestors, for example, never came across dark chocolate bars in the wild), a list of the world's healthiest foods would not be complete without any one of them. Eat and enjoy! Bee Pollen, Propolis, and Royal Jelly Advocates of bee pollen can be their own worst enemies, claiming that bee pollen can cure everything from cancer to hangnails.

In another study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was reported that dark chocolate not only decreased blood pressure but also improved insulin sensitivity in healthy people! Eating the Right Kind of Chocolate Is Key But here's the thing: This endorsement of chocolate comes with a very big qualification. I am not talking about commercial chocolate bars. I'm not talking about those chewy caramel-marshmallow-nut-covered candy bars you see in the grocery store. That's not the stuff that has the health benefits.

Steve Sinatra has gone on record as saying that even cardiac patients can enjoy dark chocolate regularly in moderation, if they're not sensitive to caffeine. I'd recommend you get the darkest, most delicious kind you can find, with a label that says at least 60 percent cocoa, and enjoy an ounce or two a few times a week. Green Foods and Drinks * (cereal grasses: barley grass and wheatgrass; and microalgae: spirulina, chlorella, and wild blue-green alga) If dogs happen to be a part of your family, you've undoubtedly seen them eat grass. Why? No one really knows.

Supplement Your Prescription: What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutrition Hyla Cass, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

Dark chocolate has, in recent years, been found to be an excellent source of antioxidants—and may even directly lower blood pressure! Indulge with moderation, since it's the rare occasion when you'll consume chocolate without any sugar to temper its bitterness. THE CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM The recommendations in the multivitamin/mineral program in Chapter 2 are likely to cover you on many of these fronts if you take statins or antihypertensive drugs.

101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! David W. Grotto, RD, LDN See book keywords and concepts

Short-term administration of dark chocolate is followed by a significant increase in insulin sensitivity and a decrease in blood pressure in healthy persons. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Mar;81(3):611-614. Heinrich U, Neukam K, Tronnier H, Sies H, Wilhelm S. Long-term ingestion of high flavanol cocoa provides photoprotection against UV-induced erythema and improves skin condition in women. Journal of Nutrition. 2006;136:1-5. Noe V et al. Epicatechin and a cocoa polyphenolic extract modulate gene expression in human Caco-2 cells. J Nutr. 2004 Oct;134(10):2509-2516.

Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You - And Your Waistline - And Drop the Weight for Good Dr. Steven R. Gundry See book keywords and concepts

Almond Chocolate Chip Surprise Cookies PHASES 1-3, MAKES 12 TO 14 COOKIES When you must have a cookie, try these large, healthy, tasty treats-full of protein, nuts, dark chocolate, and hidden veggies. Have just one or two; they're not low in calories.

The Liver and Gallbladder Miracle Cleanse: An All-Natural, At-Home Flush to Purify and Rejuvenate Your Body Andreas Moritz See book keywords and concepts

Regular consumption of stimulating foods or substances, such as meat, hot spices, chocolate (except small amounts of dark chocolate), sugar, tobacco, narcotic drugs, soda, and artificial sweeteners ?Stress ?Most pharmacological drugs ?Excessive exercise ?Overeating and excessive weight gain ?Watching television for several hours each day Any of these factors has a blood-thickening effect and, thereby, forces cells to give up water. The cell water is used to restore blood thinness. To avoid self-destruction, however, the cells begin to hold on to water.

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest Dan Buettner See book keywords and concepts

I needed to spend time Brightly colored fruits and with someone younger who was vegetables and dark chocolate still working and living in the tradi- also conta,n ^em- Studies tional way. I suspected that clues to have shown tU 3 diet h|gh in the extraordinary longevity in this Conoids is associated with a Blue Zone were the kind I needed to reduced incidence of certain observe rather than hear described cancers and heart disease in an interview. I figured if I could participate in a day in the life of a true Barbagian Sardinian I could observe nuances.

Supplement Your Prescription: What Your Doctor Doesn't Know About Nutrition Hyla Cass See book keywords and concepts

Dark chocolate has, in recent years, been found to be an excellent source of antioxidants—and may even directly lower blood pressure! Indulge with moderation, since it's the rare occasion when you'll consume chocolate without any sugar to temper its bitterness. THE CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM The recommendations in the multivitamin/mineral program in Chapter 2 are likely to cover you on many of these fronts if you take statins or antihypertensive drugs.

Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey See book keywords and concepts

Green Tea Catechins Catechins are derived from a number of sources, including green tea, red wine, and dark chocolate (see [186]). The most extensively studied have been those from green tea. (? Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the primary compound in green tea that is thought to provide the numerous beneficial effects that have been shown in many studies to provide a number of health benefits ranging from cancer treatment to cardiovascular function.

Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well Elaine Magee See book keywords and concepts

For example, the benefits of flavonoids in dark chocolate for heart health is a relatively recent research phenomenon. Dr. Hasler is confident that over the next decade, other phytochemical synergies will be discovered for other diseases, too. Dr. Blumberg explains that it is difficult to know how many biological functions and health benefits phytochemicals may ultimately be shown to influence. "But studies are ongoing about their potential to benefit Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, immunodeficiency states, osteoporosis, and many more conditions," he adds.

Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution: Turn Off the Genes That Are Killing You - And Your Waistline - And Drop the Weight for Good Dr. Steven R. Gundry See book keywords and concepts

I do suspect that you will be interested in drinking red wine and coffee and eating dark chocolate!) Wherever you land, I hope you will give some of these options a whirl: GET ON THE FAST TRACK þFast every other day and eat two days'worth of food on alternate days. Do this once a week or make it an every-other-day pattern for the rest of your life, whichever works for you. I prefer to fast on Thursday. Think of it this way: fast Thursday, and then enjoy a virtually guilt-free weekend. Fast in a way that works for you.

Enjoy a small square of greater than 70% cocoa dark chocolate. HOW ARE YOU DOING? Once you've completed the first two weeks of the Teardown phase, you can make some adjustments in your food choices, which we'll discuss in the next chapter. You've probably lost at least 3 pounds and some of you will have lost more. (The largest weight loss I have seen in two weeks is 12 pounds. The least was a 2-pound gain! Okay, the food diary showed complete lack of compliance.) If you are not losing weight, it's time to start a food diary and write down everything that goes into your mouth. Everything!

Or try my recipes for dark cocoa smoothies and chocolate ice cream using raw cocoa nibs mixed with dark chocolate. Yum! Likewise, enjoy your coffee and tea minus milk, or use unsweetened plain, chocolate- or vanilla-flavored soymilk if you want to preserve the phytonutri-ents. (West-Soy and Trader Joe's make good unsweetened soymilk.) Now you know why the British, who generally add milk to their tea, don't enjoy the same health and longevity benefits as the Japanese, who drink it straight.

DESSERTS I'd prefer you finish a meal with some berries, a handful of walnuts, or a piece of dark chocolate with more than 70 percent cocoa, but I also understand that you occasionally crave something more. The recipes that follow will help you, as they did me, through Phase 1 and into Phase 2, but please have them only as a special treat in Phase 3. Dr. G.'a Berry Ice Dream PHASES 1 (AFTER THE FIRST TWO WEEKS) AND 2, SERVES 1 For the first year of my own Diet Evolution, this treat got me through many a night! I recommend BioChem protein powder.

Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness Tori Hudson, N.D. See book keywords and concepts

It is thought that eating 50 grams (about one two-ounce bar) of dark chocolate per day may reduce one's risk of CVD by 10.5 percent.153 Heart-Healthy Diets. There are a number of diet recommendations that utilize nutritional benefits to improve and maintain cardiovascular health. The following are some of the most respected, well-known, and effective cardiovascular diers. The Step 1 and Step 2 Cholesterol-Lowering Diets.

Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You Andreas Moritz See book keywords and concepts

Besides, the common chocolate you buy in stores doesn't improve artery flexibility—it's the flavonoids in dark chocolate and raw cocoa beans that have this effect. These same flavonoids are also found in apples, grapes, broccoli, onions, berries, and dozens of other foods, some of which the subjects of the study most likely consumed besides the chocolate. Of course, the study was sponsored by a chocolate producer, Mars candy company, which was so generous to also supply the chocolates for the "study.

The Autoimmune Epidemic Donna Jackson Nakazawa See book keywords and concepts

If you eat chocolate, make sure it's dark or extra dark chocolate with 60 to 80 percent cocoa solids and that it has low sugar content.) Small red beans, kidney beans, and black beans are also packed with antioxidants. Antioxidants can also be found in supplement and vitamin form. One particular antioxidant currently under study, alpha li-poic acid, has been shown to help in the treatment of multiple sclerosis by balancing T-cell activity and has also been found to help lessen symptoms in those with diabetic neuropathy.

Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You Andreas Moritz See book keywords and concepts

The finest plain dark chocolate contains at least 70% cocoa (solids and butter), whereas the most expensive milk chocolate usually contains about 50% cocoa. High-quality white chocolate contains around 30% cocoa. Most mass-produced chocolate contains as little as 7 percent cocoa and fats other than cocoa butter. These "chocolate" products have little to do with chocolate because of the low or virtually non-existent cocoa content. The chocolate that most people consume is relatively inexpensive.

Best Choices From the People's Pharmacy Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

I started eating Hershey's dark chocolate when it was on sale a few weeks ago. I enjoy about five of the little squares twice a day. Both my systolic and diastolic blood pressure numbers went down about 15 or 20 points each. A. Chocolate will never substitute for blood pressure medicine, but there are Maximize Your Minerals So much intellectual capital has been spent trying to convince people to avoid sodium that there hasn't been much left for encouraging people to consider the value of other minerals.

Understanding Medicinal Plants: Their Chemistry And Therapeutic Action Bryan Hanson, PhD See book keywords and concepts

Perhaps you have heard that red wine and dark chocolate can help prevent cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes, and have wondered how such a wonderful thing is possible—though most people don't need excuses to enjoy wine and chocolate! If so, then you are asking the very questions scientists ask, and how to think about these questions and understand the answers is the subject of this book. Let's look at a common example to illustrate what I mean. Almost certainly you have heard of the plant St. John's wort, which is recommended for the treatment of mild depression.

Handbook of Medicinal Plants Amarjit S. Basra See book keywords and concepts

Effects of cocoa powder and dark chocolate on LDL oxidative susceptibility and prostaglandin concentrations in humans, Am J Clin Nutr, 74: 596-602. 10. Arts, I.C., Hollman, PC, and Kromhout, D., 1999, Chocolate as a source of tea flavonoids, Lancet, 354: 488. 11. McKay, D.L. and Blumberg, J.B., 2002, The role of tea in human health: An update, J Am Coll Nutr, 21: 1-13. 12. Ibid. 13. Duffy, S.J., Keaney, J.F.J., Holbrook, M., Gokce, N., Swerdloff, PL., Frei, B., and Vita, J. A.

Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up John A. McDougall See book keywords and concepts

Approximately 40 percent of people surveyed had symptoms of heartburn after eating chocolate. dark chocolate, with its high fat content (50 percent fat), may cause an even greater fall in LES pressure and more heartburn than regular chocolate. Fruit Juices Many people experience sour stomach and burning indigestion as a result of drinking citrus juices such as grapefruit or orange juice. Citrus fruits, as well as tomatoes and spicy foods, cause most of their distress by direct irritation of the tissues of the esophagus and stomach rather than by lowering LES pressure.

Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs Neal D. Barnard and Bryanna Clark Grogan See book keywords and concepts

It turns Other Permitted Foods þFat-free salad dressings and other fat-free condiments þCoffee (with fat-free nondairy creamer, if desired) þOccasionally, alcoholic beverages þRarely, sugar, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate (made without milk), full-fat soy products such as tofu, tempeh, soy cheese, etc. Foods to Avoid þMeats, poultry, fish, eggs (whites and yolks), and all dairy products (regular and fat-free), including milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, cream, sour cream, butter, etc. þAdded oils, such as margarine, salad dressings, mayonnaise, cooking oils, etc.

Foods that Fight Cancer Richard Beliveau, Ph.D. and Denis Gingras, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

This explains why "chocolate" candy, which contains more fats and sugar than it does dark chocolate, is an important source of cholesterol . . . fatigue. The emperor Montezuma, for example, could drink up to fifty goblets of xocoatl per day, which may seem enormous, but was probably the amount he needed for support in the day's tasks (he kept a harem of six hundred concubines). This anecdote is the source of the many beliefs in the aphrodisiac virtues of chocolates, virtues, incidentally, that remain to be proven.

Despite its high sugar content, dark chocolate has a relatively low glycemic index, half that of white bread and similar to that of orange juice. All in all, the high fat and sugar content of both types of chocolate makes for a calorie-rich food that should be eaten in moderation. The interest in the potential health benefits of chocolate did not come about as a result of its fat and sugar content!

Chocolate contains an abundance of polyphenols; 50 g of dark chocolate has twice the polyphenol content of a glass of red wine and about as much as a cup of green tea brewed for the correct length of time (Table 19). The principal polyphenols found in cacao are the same as those present in large quantities in green tea, the catechins. Proanthocyanidins, the polymers, or long chains formed by these molecules (see page 141), make up between 12 and 48% of the weight of the cacao bean.

The preventive effect will be enhanced if dark chocolate consumption replaces or reduces the amount of the sugary and fat-filled foods consumed. These snacks contain no anticancer compounds; eating them causes blood cholesterol levels to rise and leads, among other things, to weight gain.

Best Choices From the People's Pharmacy Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

Chocolate and Insulin Resistance People with insulin resistance may even benefit from eating a bit of dark chocolate once in a while. This certainly won't help anyone lose weight, so caution is advised! Research has shown, however, that cocoa compounds can help improve insulin sensitivity slightly, as well as lower blood pressure.213 The sugar in chocolate candy might raise blood sugar too much for a frank diabetic, though, so use your good judgment and your blood sugar monitor. Never eat chocolate by itself between meals.

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