Chocolate in its raw natural state is one of our super foods.  A recent published study compared cocoa powder to other super foods including acai, blueberry, cranberry, and pomegranate. Researchers compared the total flavonol and polyphenol content as well as antioxidant activity content of cocoa powder and dark chocolate vs. the super fruits.  Across the board cocoa powder had much higher amounts of the beneficial compounds.

But wait a minute, does this mean we should all be grabbing chocolate bars at the checkout stand while we are keeping up on the latest antics of our favorite stars on the covers of the magazines right next to the candy?  Unfortunately the chocolate at the checkout stand is about as healthy as the personal lives of those same stars.  Our favorite commercial chocolate is a valueless sugary toxin.  It would be better to eat the magazines.

So what's up with that?  Cocoa powder is a super food, but its value is destroyed by how commercial chocolate producers process it and what they combine it with.  Natural chocolate is rather bitter; so in America almost all chocolate has been treated with alkali to reduce the acidic bitterness.  Unfortunately this process destroys 60% to 90%  of the flavonols and polyphenol antioxidants.  If that is not enough, most commercial chocolate actually has very little cocoa in it - often only 15% to 20%.  The rest is sugar, cocoa butter, and in the case of milk chocolate - milk solids.  The milk protein destroys the last of the antioxidant activity that was in the chocolate bar.

Dark chocolate is healthier because it does not have the milk solids and you can find dark chocolate today that has high levels of chocolate solids in it.  But the chocolate will still be the alkali treated (Dutched) Cocoa.  If you can find a 60% or 70% cocoa mass chocolate bar you will be getting some benefit, but nothing compared to what I was busy creating this last weekend.

I spent last weekend playing with chocolate.  Specifically I have been inventing recipes for making chocolate bars from organic natural cocoa powder that are completely sugar free and powerfully good for you.  To be good for you we have to get rid of the toxic sugar load in normal chocolate.  To do this I have been using my Dr Dave Supersweet Powder.  The stevia in this powder replaces the sugar nicely, but it does change the working properties of the chocolate.  To get the highest antioxidant power from chocolate powder I have to use organic natural untreated cocoa powder.  I have this available in the office.

The third ingredient is the oil source - coconut oil.  I have been experimenting with both coconut oil and cocoa butter individually and in combination.  Coconut oil has a wonderful melt on your tongue texture but produces a chocolate that is a gooey mess at room temperature.  Cocoa butter is great for producing the texture and stability we are accustomed to in a chocolate bar, but is very difficult to work with - more on that in a moment.

For lay folks that want that super healthy snack I suggest refrigerator chocolate.  This is chocolate made with coconut oil that you keep in the refrigerator.  It has a wonderful flavor and a crisp snap to its texture that is a sign of a good chocolate as long as you keep it cool.  The type of fat in coconut oil actually increases your metabolism and helps you burn fats.  It is also being used to treat Alzheimer's patients as coconut oil has been found to nourish the brain.

Here is the recipe I came up with.  The amount you want to make at once will depend on the container you will be cooling the chocolate in.  I decided to use the bottom of my silicone bread pan because the flexibility of the silicone makes the chocolate so much easier to remove once it has cooled.  For that size pan I used:

¾ cup organic coconut oil - virgin or expeller pressed
1/3 cup organic untreated unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons Dr Dave Supersweet Powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
tiny pinch of powdered salt

Melt the coconut oil and place it in a small mixing bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well with an immersion blender.  (I suppose the ingredients could be placed in a blender just as easily.  But the cleanup will be more difficult.)  Pour the mixture into the silicone bread loaf pan and stick the pan in the refrigerator for ½ to 1 hour until set.  Peel the chocolate bar out of the pan and break it up into bite sized pieces.  Place the pieces in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.  Enjoy!

Notes:  The unrefined (virgin) coconut oil will impart a coconut flavor to the final chocolate bar.  This may or may not be a good thing for you.  Personally I prefer the expeller pressed coconut oil that has no flavor.  Good quality coconut oil can be found at health food stores like Elliott's here locally.
If you don't have a flexible pan, try lining a small baking pan with plastic wrap.
Don't heat the coconut oil up very much, just enough to melt it.  I used the microwave 10 seconds at a time until melted.  A warmed pan will work.
The salt will not dissolve in the coconut oil.  That is why I powdered the salt with a mortar and pestle and used a very tiny amount.  The salt is optional.
Flavors can be added to the chocolate like almond, cayenne, cinnamon, etc...
Nuts, raisins, dried fruit, seeds, and even bacon can be added to the chocolate just before you pour it into the mold (pan).

This simple recipe takes only minutes to prepare and produces a delicious organic, high nutrition food.  If you want to create a chocolate that is stable at room temperature the process gets much more interesting, and truthfully it is a pain in the butt.  Having been through it several times now I begin to see why quality chocolates generally sell for $25 to $30 a pound - and that is for chocolates that are half cheap ingredients like sugar.  A pound of sugar is less than a dollar while a pound of stevia is $80 to $100.

Why is real chocolate so difficult?  It is difficult because it is made with cocoa butter and cocoa liquor.  The fat in these form a crystal structure that has six different shapes.  Only one of these shapes produces chocolate that is solid at room temperature and sets up in a realistic time frame.  Each crystal type melts at a slightly different temperature so you have to heat the cocoa butter up to a high enough temperature to melt all the crystal forms without scorching the chocolate (keep it under 120 degrees.)  Then you slowly cool off the chocolate until it reaches the right temperature for the formation of the crystal shape you want (type 5) and then either work the chocolate on a stone or add crystal "seeds" of already tempered chocolate to stimulate more formation of the right crystals.  Usually a gentle reheating is required up to 88 degrees then a cooling off to 82 degrees.  Now you can start working with the chocolate to do what you want with it.

Companies make equipment to do all this for you for thousands of dollars and I can see that if I were making chocolate for a living it would really be worth it.  Amateurs like me, however, are not going to spend that kind of money.  So we do it the hard way.  Most amateurs will buy chocolate compounds that can simply be melted and used, but these will have no health benefits to them at all.

Refrigerator chocolate on the other hand is easy.  Anybody can do it.  Just keep it in the fridge until you eat it and it will be fine.

Enjoy this healthy treat!

Take care,


David    

Our office has kept our prices unchanged for the last 7 years.  In that time inflation has increased 19.2%.  Our dollars just are not stretching far enough any more, so we will be raising prices in two steps to compensate for inflation.  June 1st we will be increasing our fees by 10% and then next year another 10% to bring us up to current prices.  We are keeping Medicare prices the same right now.

Tuesdays and Fridays

Take care,

David            

Amazing Things Made of Chocolate

Chocolate is truly an obsession for many people.  Being a versatile substance many things you would never think of have been from chocolate.  Here is a fun little slideshow from CNBC and photo essay from SMOSH.  

Chocolate

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UN urges people to eat insects to fight world hunger

Since we are on a theme of good things to eat, why not mention bugs?  I mean we have already crossed the threshold with chocolate covered bacon, so why not chocolate covered locust?  There is currently a world wide plague of the tasty critters - locust in the mideast and cicada in the eastern US.  Many chefs are busy inventing recipes for these high protein crunchy bites.  This is not a new idea.  In fact kosher food rules even specify exactly which colors of locust are ok to eat.

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Top 5 Herbs To Grow For Cooking & Medicinal Use

 "People need joy quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it more. "

~ Margaret Collier Graham

About Dr. DeLapp

Dr. DeLapp has been a philosopher, non-force Chiropractor, medical intuitive, and health innovator for over 30 years.  He began experimenting with  medical intuition in 1972 while studying physics at UC Davis.  In addition to physics he designed and completed an individual major in the philosophy and psychology of education.  Shortly after he choose to pursue a career in the only truly health oriented profession available at that time, Chiropractic.  He graduated with honors in 1981 with his doctorate and opened a private practice. 
Since that time he has continued his research into the effects of consciousness and learning on health. 
He developed the Biomagnetic Retraining system for correcting movement abnormalities. 
Since 1991 he has focused on developing a powerful system for uncovering and assisting the mind-body connection in health and personal growth.  The in-depth coaching, guided by the subconscious direction from the body, is called Heartflow and the simpler mind-body retraining for health and unfoldment he has named Gracework.  Both are available at Fair Oaks Health.

Dr David DeLapp DC
Chiropractor

Ellen Flowers FGM
Spiritual Life Coach

 

 

 

Catherine Cummings

 

 

Jin Shin Jitsu

 

 

Lorena Morales

 

 

Massage Practitioner

 

 

 

 

 Is there a sweet that is not poisonous?  Yes!


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