Ah, the taste of raw chocolate! It's more than just a food, it's a superfood with increasingly well-documented health benefits. The very name of one of the active chemical components in chocolate (theobromine) is derived from the word
theos (the same word root as
theology), which gives you a hint of just how much our ancestors worshipped chocolate as, "food of the Gods."
As more consumers are seeking healthful chocolate bars without all the added sugars and milk fat, I set out to find the best new
raw chocolate products made only with wholesome
ingredients. No refined sugars, no animal
products and no junk, just pure ingredients with potent nutritional
benefits.
This task required
eating enormous quantities of
chocolate. Or at least that's what I told everyone between bites. In reality, it required just as much
research as taste testing, and in the end, I found four chocolate products worth including in this
review. Three out of the four offer
raw cacao. Here's the list:
Through sheer chance, I stumbled into a raw chocolate
superfood company just launching a new product called, "Raw Decadence." They didn't even have wrappers ready for their product (I sampled it out of a large plastic bag), but the product speaks for itself in terms of ingredients: all
organic, raw, nutritious ingredients made into a delicious
food bar.
Imagine raw
cacao with agave nectar,
cinnamon, vanilla, nuts and
seeds, blended together in a tongue-teasing recipe that gives you a natural chocolate high without the blood
sugar problems found in sugary
chocolate bars. This chocolate
food bar impressed me so much that I bought five boxes myself and have been handing them out to people ever since. The feedback? Everybody loves 'em.
This is an outstanding chocolate superfood bar from a company that deserves some good recognition for keeping their products honest and well-intentioned. Highly recommended. Five stars. Order Raw Decadence bars at
http://www.everythingraw.com/store.htmThis company makes Chocolate Goji Treats, which contain blended
goji berries, raw cacao and other ingredients (see below). They look like chocolate balls (about the size of a quarter) and
taste like a free vacation to chocolate Heaven. Plus, thanks to the goji
berries and other ingredients, they have a super high ORAC value of nearly 15,000 units per serving (91g). That's a higher rating than blueberries!
Even the bag is really interesting. It's made with sacred geometry patterns and a color scheme that looks like a Tibetan Mandala. I noticed good vibes just from the bag itself, not to mention the fantastic food inside! And the bag is made from biodegradable and compostable cellulose films processed from sustainably harvested wood pulp. Can you eat the bag? I don't know. I was too busy eating the chocolate inside.
Speaking of what's inside, here's the ingredients list: Agave nectar, Goji berries, Ecuadorian cacao powder (non-hybrid criollo variety), walnuts, Hunza raisins,
coconut, dates, sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, maca powder, truly raw sun-dried
vanilla powder, cinnamon, sustainably hand-harvested Himalayan crystal
salt, cayenne pepper, and "lots of love."
You'll notice that just about every ingredient listed here is a superfood of one kind or another. This is truly a chocolate superfood product. Five stars, highly recommended.
Have you ever felt like you actually fell in love with a food product? It sounds strange, but I recently fell in love with the Life Force line of chocolate products made by Life Force LLC.
It's hard to give this company all the credit it deserves in such a brief article (I could write an entire article just about Life Force products), but here's the short version: Outstanding taste, all raw, organic ingredients and lots of good vibes. They have a healthy variety of flavors available (and I encourage you to try them all), even beyond mere chocolate.
My favorites are the Apple Granola Spice, Chocolate Vanilla, and Sun-Flax Raisin raw organic bread. They also have an
Oat Vanilla Goji bar that will absolutely blow your mind. Check out the ingredients:
Raw Organic Almonds, Raw Organic Oat Groats, Raw Organic Agave Nectar, Raw Organic Dates, Raw Organic Goji Berries, Raw Organic Flax Seeds, Raw Organic Coconut Oil, Raw Organic Mesquite Meal, Raw Organic Vanilla Bean, Raw Organic Celtic Sea Salt, Raw Organic Nutmeg, Raw Organic Cardamon, Raw Organic Fennel.
(The Cardamon / Nutmeg mixture will send you on a taste sensation vacation, believe me. Unless you're big into
raw foods, you've probably never tasted food like this.)
When it comes to raw, nutritious
foods, it doesn't get any better than this, folks. I spoke with the owner, Aaron Suttschenko, and he said they're ready to ship right now. They offer a 10% discount when you buy the
Sampler Pack, which is what I recommend. It gives you a taste of all their products so you know what to order in bulk the next time.
Their
e-commerce system isn't all that great (PayPal only), but if you get stuck, you can call them at 513-470-1787 and order over the phone. Hopefully they'll upgrade their e-commerce in the future and make it easier to order from their website.
Also worth mentioning
If you're looking for just a straight chocolate bar, without all the
superfoods, try
TheoChocolate (
www.TheoChocolate.com), which offers a jaw-dropping 91% cacao content bar that tastes downright delicious. It's rich. I mean really rich. It tastes like you sledded face-first down the hillside of a cacao plantation with your mouth open, cramming raw chocolate beans into your face (and I mean that in a good way). Compared to this bar, a typical store-bought chocolate candy bar is but a shadow of the real thing.
The bar you're looking for is called
Theo Venezuela Limited Edition Dark Chocolate Bar 91%, and you can grab details at
http://www.theochocolate.com/products/Enjoy all the chocolate, folks! Although you can't really eat your way to happiness, these chocolate superfood bars are the next best thing. Just remember: Enjoy your chocolate, but don't forget to balance your diet with other nutritious items, too.
If you order from any of the companies mentioned here, tell 'em you read about them on NaturalNews!
Full disclosure: Neither Mike Adams nor NaturalNews.com have received any payment or compensation to write this review. We earn nothing from the sale of the products mentioned here. We did, however, eat a lot of chocolate product samples in researching this story. Expect frequent updates.
About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In mid 2010, Adams produced NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Thursday, March 29, 2007
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