Kicking The Chocolate Habit

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KICKING THE CHOCOLATE HABIT

 

 

Are you a CHOCOHOLIC? If you are, it is for good reason: chocolate

is sweet, it melts in your mouth, it is a favored, gustatory symbol

of love and The Easter Bunny and Valentine's Day,

it even contains mood-altering chemicals found in the bloodstream of

those who are madly in love!

 

A " CHOCOHOLIC " is one who is hooked on chocolate and is

continuously, or at least frequently, munching on bits of Hershey

bars, M & M's or who just can't do without that piece of chocolate

cake after a meal.

 

Most chocoholics cling desperately to the idea that chocolate is

okay when, in every sense of the measure, it isn't. The smell of

chocolate cooking or the aroma of hot chocolate seems to be a part

of the " all American " scene, just as are apple pie and mom cooking

in the kitchen.

Chocolate is a part of life that few want to give up.

 

The sad reality is chocolate is not our best friend; rather, it is

an enemy to good health.

 

CHOCOLATE IS VERY HIGH IN CALORIES!

 

Cocoa and chocolate are among the foods highest in calories. In one

pound of the original chocolate, after its first processing, there

are

2,182 calories in fats, 482 calories in carbohydrates and 221 in

proteins. This adds up to about 3,000 calories. In one pound of

good, plain, processed chocolate, there are about 2,500 calories.

 

Milk chocolate has over 2,600 calories per pound!

 

CHOCOLATE IS A MAJOR SOURCE OF CAFFEINE IN THE " SAD " DIET!

 

ONE OF THE MOST SWEETLY INFAMOUS SOURCES OF CAFFEINE IS CHOCOLATE!

 

From their book, Chocolate to Morphine, Andrew Weil, M.D., and

Winifred Rosen state: " How about chocolate? Most people think of it

as a food or flavor;

but it contains a chemical related to caffeine,

is a stimulant, and can also be addicting. "

 

Caffeine stimulates the heart, raises the blood pressure, lowers the

blood sugar; and it creates a false sense of security in that it

appears

to relax and rest tired nerves.

 

What else does chocolate contain? Interestingly enough, it contains

a

substance called " oxalic acid. " Oxalic acid has one very undesirable

quality. It renders the calcium useless for assimilation in our

bodies.

When you think you are being a kind host or hostess and serve your

guests or family hot chocolate, chocolate cake or other chocolate

goodies, remember you are not only serving up a drug disguised as

delicious;

you are also depriving their bones and teeth of calcium, as well!

 

THEOBROMINE IN CHOCOLATE

 

In addition, cocoa and chocolate have another toxic substance like

caffeine; and that is theobromine, which also produces the same,

undesirable results in body metabolism as the caffeine does.

 

If you drink a cup of cocoa for breakfast, you will be drinking 1%

to 2% theobromine.

 

This is, like caffeine, an alkaloid. It is closely related

to caffeine and acts like caffeine in the body. In other words,

theobromine is a drug and is very active chemically. Chocolate is a

drug, for more reasons than 1!

 

Top nutrition experts were asked to name the 10 most popular and

least nutritious (junk) foods in America today. They all agreed cola-

flavored drinks (made from the cocoa bean), were at the head of the

list. And just a couple of places down followed items made of or

filled with chocolate.

 

CHOCOLATE & CONTAMINANTS

 

The United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare

published a booklet entitled " The Food Defect Action Levels. " It

specified a list of current levels for natural or unavoidable

defects in food.

 

lt listed the natural defect levels in chocolate in the forms

of " insects, rodents and other natural contaminants " that are

allowable by the Food and Drug Administration.

 

Allowed in chocolate and chocolate liquor (used in the manufacture

of such products as in chocolate bars) is up to 120 insect

fragments per cup or two rodent hairs per cup.

 

Four percent of cocoa beans may be infested with insects and still

carry the blessing of the FDA. Visible or solid animal excreta must

not exceed

10 milligrams per pound. For chocolate powder or pressed cakes,

there

must not be more than 75 insect fragments in 3 tablespoons of the

powder!

 

SUGAR, CHOCOLATE & TYRAMINE

 

Sugar is often combined with chocolate, which creates a chemical

called

" tyramine, " that is absorbed by the nerves. Tyramine can act as a

stimulant or a depressant, which can cause competing reactions with

the serotonin in sugar.

 

This head-on collision, researchers say, adds to the

addictive quality of chocolate. The 5 chemicals in chocolate also

cause

the body to burn sugar faster, urging the chocolate lover to eat

more chocolates to satisfy this sugar need. As with any addiction,

the

chocolate habit can take on a vicious, self-destructive life of its

own.

 

A new study reports that the saturated fats in chocolate are just as

damaging to your arteries as fats found in other foods (American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70:951 – 952, 1999).

 

Chocolate addiction also contributes to depression. Depression is on

the increase. We are witnessing more and more people with

mental/emotional breakdowns.

Psychological illness now hospitalizes as many people as do

physical ailments. Added to this are those in outpatient clinics, in

institutions, and those who visit private psychiatrists and

psychotherapists with mental/emotional problems.

 

People who regularly consume chocolate or who go on chocolate-eating

binges may not realize that they are consuming inherent, chemical

toxicity, as well as eating additives that are required to make

chocolate palatable, additives that are required to mask the

bitterness.

 

A bitter taste is usually associated with harmful alkaloids,

pyrolysates and strongly alkaline substances.

 

Chocolate should definitely be an item that is eliminated from our

diets.

There is a good substitute for chocolate. CAROB! This is a

substitute that is much more favorable, health-wise, as well as

being processed under more sanitary conditions.

 

Why not try this healthy, chocolate-tasting substitute today and

kick the chocolate habit for good? Leave the ranks of The

Chocoholics.

 

You will find carob as a delicious, raw powder in many grocery

stores and most all health food stores.

 

http://www.amazingdiet.org

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REFERENCES

Jacqueline Verrett, Ph.D., Eating May Be Hazardous to Your Health,

Simon

& Schuster.

Country Life Natural Foods, Southern Missionary Society, Printed in

Korea.

Ronald R. Wlodyga, Health Secrets from The Bible, Triumph Publ. Co.,

Altadena, CA.

Andrew Weil, M.D. & Winifred Rosen, Chocolate to Morphine, Houghton

Mifflin Co., Bostom Mass.

Weimar Bulletin, Weimar, CA 95736, Vol. 9, No. 1, February, 1985.

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest