I know you have heard a lot of hype about chocolate lately. It's good for you, right? Well, that's the buzz anyway. So we can eat chocolate candy without guilt now, right? WRONG. Cacao, the chocolate bean, has the highest antioxidant value of any food on the planet. (The Healthy Chocolate Desk Reference, Warren, Steven M.D., D.P.A.) But watch out for processed chocolate or milk chocolate. Unprocessed cocoa is full of nutrients but processing chocolate destroys them. The cocoa bean is teeming with phytonutreints, antioxidant compounds found in plants, and science is extolling the virtues of phytonutrients in the latest scientific research. Antioxidants are the workhorse of the vitamin and nutrient regimen. When cells use oxygen to make energy, a byproduct of this process is the formation of free radicals. These are cells which are missing an electron from the molecule. Dr. Steven Warren, M.D., D.P.A., writes in his book, The Healthy Chocolate Desk Reference, "Most people recognize that cancer is one disease associated with abnormal cell duplication due to oxidative damage, but the effect of free radicals has been linked to more than sixty diseases, including cancer.



The following are some of the primary conditions linked to free-radical damage: Heart disease Diabetes High cholesterol Cataracts Arthritis Caner Alzheimer's/dementia Multiple sclerosis Inflammatory bowel disease Lung disease Autoimmune dysfunction Fibromyalgia The research linking free radicals and disease is growing steadily. In fact, some experts estimate that more than 80 percent of debilitating disease is related to free radical activity in the body." . Antioxidants repair this free radical damage. When you read about the necessity of eating your "fruits and vegetables" to ward off any number of diseases, you are being told to eat your "antioxidants". Imagine the effect of getting three times the average recommended daily allowance of antioxidants in three small pieces of chocolate? Now, the catch! Chocolate that has been processed, dutching as it is called, has been heated above 110 degrees. This process destroys the antioxidant benefit. Then, sugar and fats and preservatives are added which take the healthiest food on the planet and turn it into a deadly snack.

However, find a company that makes delicious, delectable, irresistible chocolate without adding these ingredients and without processing the chocolate and destroying the antioxidant value and you are on the road to health. If you ingest unprocessed dark chocolate, every morsel is delivering health and well-being to your body. This is a delicious and easy way to meet that antioxidant requirement and start you on the road to health