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I think like many things, in moderation it is fine and you also need to know your body. I know some people that can eat a lot and have no bad effects while others can barely eat any of it. Personally I'm in the middle, I do like raw cacoa and am fine if I grind nibs to use in smoothies or snacks on occasion but can't eat much of the candies that are sold or desserts people make because they are WAY too sweet with overdose of cacao. I listen to my body!!
I think we should go by how we individually feel if/when we do eat it.
a lot of people will disagree with me but cacao is basically toxic. it's a shame that a lot of the so called superfoods actually aren't. be careful whenever you see the word superfood on a label. it's most likely a marketing ploy. cacao is really addictive. it's like a drug. it's toxic to the liver. it's a stimulant, just like coffee. it aggravates your adrenal glands and kidneys. it's horrible for your skin. a lot of people break out after eating cacao/chocolate, (including me). the fat chains are highly complex and hard to break down...
regular use of cacao is dangerous.
if you're thinking about buying it as a health food consider buying vegetables or fruit instead. if you're buying it for taste, try carob. it tastes great and it doesn't have the stimulants like cacao.
Can you link me to any research that shows that kelly? cause I must admit I've been using raw cacao beans&acai which has some similar components and I'm feeling absolutely great, no ill effects whatsoever.
raw cacao kinda jacks me up, i get jittery when i have too much. i much prefer carob too. It has the taste without making me shaky.
I think carob tastes awful.
i have no ill affects from eating cacao. in fact when i gave it up for awhile my health was worse.
I was standing around one day, anxious as hell, for no apparent reason, and it occurred to me that it was the crack-cao doing it, so I don't use it anymore. I found myself getting addicted to it too (it required more and more to have the same effect). I used to abuse coffee too, and it was really hard to quit, so I don't want to become addicted to another stimulant.
As for the supposed toxic effects, I can believe it. Cacao is definitely a drug, and most drugs are poisonous (caffeine, nicotine, alcohol.)
I also don't like the taste of carob, but I have found if it's mixed in with raw cocoa in a 3:1 mixture, with the raw cocoa being the 3 and the carob 1, I cannot taste the carob and thus can reap some benefit from it. I only eat sweets on the weekends and on very special occasions so that keeps it down to a minimum for me and also keeps me completely satisfied physically and phsycologically.
Steph
I found a blog once ( sure wish I could remember where) where a raw vegan had microscopic pictures taken of her blood after different foods. This was done over a several days. The photo after she ate Cacao was scary. Her blood showed " liver shock" and honestly this looked worse than the photo of her eating cooked bread. Of course, that might just be her personal reaction to the substance, but I found it real enlightening.
I think cacao should be handled very carefully and is basically a drug. I personally can't do cacao because it makes me freakin si-ko! I have a very violent mood reaction to it and I will just stick to carob from now now. I used to not like carob at all...but things change. :)
Having said that, should people eat it? Yes and no. Even if it is a drug, many people enjoy using cacao and do not show the obvious sensitivities to it that others like myself do. There are so many many many many things that are bad for us in the world. I am convinced it is impossible to avoid every single little one of them. You basically would have to live in a bubble to not be poisoning yourself in some small way every day....oh wait.....plastic is bad too. :)
So, if you like cacao, and do not get apparent ill side effects from it....go ahead and enjoy it. Sure there is a possibility that it's doing harm to you on a microscopic cellular level, but so is the air you are breathing. Perhaps the worry/stress you put into whether or not cacao is bad for you is more damaging that the actual cacao.
Hehe tunacupcakes your so right, I'm not obsessed about it but people say such extremely bad things about it that it does make me think hard everytime I use it, I think I'll just use what I have left in moderation and won't get any more, thanks all for the info :).
i think if it is eaten everyday as a superfood- then it becomes toxic and i'll tell you Y
If you know homeopathy then consider this .........
in my homeopathy book is says cacao is given to people who - feel anxious and vulnerable, as if they are being watched. they a prone to fear of cars, accidients, people, phones ect. feel enstranged and that they do not belong anywhere but in there home alone. The state of mind can withdraw - afraid.
so if u take something that is medicinal to much it will start to produce whatever symptoms is heals.
I know first hand a little before i had my son i started eating cacao everday, i became frantic, scared, afraid someone was out to get me, if the phone rang, someone came to the door and police care went by with sirens on my skin would craw ans i would have anxiety the rest of the day. I never watned to leave me house, i seriously thought death was knocking on my door. I stumpled across this homeopathic book in my closet and flipped open the page to Cacao and read what i wrote above.
I've since been off cacao for two weeks now and not a trace of what was going on inside of me for the last year.
crazyness!
We sometimes have cacao as a treat, I want to make white chocolate with just the butter to cut out cacao for my kiddos b/c honestly I have read both sides of this arguement on my own time not on this site and I think just from my kids and other kids reactions it is a drug and a lot stronger than we give it credit for and very addictive, so IMO it is just a treat or special occasion but I now feel a little wierd giving it to my kiddos like it is similiar if I was to give them wine. I think for people who have less addictive personalities and are old enough to distinguish its uses (just like responsible adults with coffee wine or other drugs) its ok in moderation but it is definatley not a supplement.
I will find a link for liver reactions
Namaste
Hey rawmama,
That is very interesting!! What is the name of the book you referred to? Thanks!!
I eat it occasionally and the magnesium that cacao contains has positive effects on me if I don't eat it continually. It over-stimulates the thyroid and causes me to be weak if i eat it several days in a row. It contains theobromine and caffeine, two neuro-stimulants. I don't think it's a superfood but it is an occasional treat.
I enjoy raw cacao in all its forms in moderation (a small handful of nibs, a few beans, some powder in a dessert). I don't have it every day but I do enjoy some a few times a week. I certainly don't find it has any adverse effects. I never had skin breakouts and still don't.
Then again, I couldn't ever give up green tea either, so I think I just personally do fine with moderate (natural) stimulants. It sharpens my mind and increases my endurance. (I even have a very rare cup of :gasp: black coffee.)
I've given up caffeine, chocolate and other stimulants in the past for multi-week experiments and never noticed any improvement. Occasional caffeine/stimulant avoidance helps keep my tolerance low.
I'm in the "see what works for you" camp, for sure.
For some reason I find carob to be extremely addicting, moreso than cacao.
poison- for me.
superfood - for others
But what about the message of David Wolfe and Shazzie etcetera?
Shazzie and David Wolfe live on selling superfoods (among other things) - while I greatly respect their knowledge and what they've achieved, I believe that "it is difficult for a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it". It could also be that David Wolfe and Shazzie personally don't get these negative effects, while others do.
Myself I've been a chocolate (not raw) addict all my life and want to steer clear of all forms of cocoa, raw or not. 26 years of addiction was enough.
Shazzie seems so conscious and concerned about her daughter, that she would never give her something bad. But there are a lot of chocolate recipes in Evie's Kitchen.
????
Does the cocoa butter have all the "bad ingredients in it?
I was wondering about that too!
I think the cacao butter is fine, when the powder and butter are separated the butter is just the fat. I use the butter with no adverse effects and a little cacao now and then is ok for me but I definately feel stimulating effects from the powder where i do not from the butter so I have taken to making white chocolate instead to avoid the over anxious feeling from the powdr.
david wolfe makes money selling raw "superfoods". his message is distorted to make a profit. in fact all superfoods from any company are just for profit.
everyone here is part of the human species. our bodies all function the same. what is good for me is good for you. what is bad for you is bad for me. everybody is not different when it comes to the ways our bodies function.
we don't look at a wild animal and say that he is different from another animal in his species so raw cacao may be good for him but not the others. all of the animals in that species have the same physiology. the same goes for humans, we all have the same physiology. raw cacao is not good for humans.
Hello all.......I have been using cacao very heavily for about 6 or 7 years now and I am definitely addicted to any form of chocolate. I did believe for a long time that I was then eating much more healthily for changing some of the usual dark chocolate, to home-made raw and tons of raw treats using cacao. It is only very recently that I have become aware of the beliefs that it is toxic! Gutted! I also now realise I am addicted to chocolate and I can't seem to give it up. ...so my question is. Do people now believe that cacao is actually worse for you than normal (organic obviously!) cocoa? I am not sure what to think about which is doing my body more harm.....thoughts would be hugely appreciated, thanks! :-)
Oh...and I'm not a massive fan of carob either....it's OK but it is definitely not a chocolate flavour!! :-P
I like carob, but it's probably because my mom always fed us kids the stuff when we were little.
I hadn't heard that cacao is meant to be worse than cocoa. Everything within reason works for me.