Re: Chocolate: A guilty pleasure or a delightfully functional food?

Hi Elizabeth,

Let me preface this by saying unlike most of the people out there, I have never been a chocolate person. I will always choose the fruity dessert over the chocolate choice. But since early 2011, I have been experiencing a major paradigm shift where chocolate is concerned, healthy chocolate, that is. Chocolate that is cold-processed without the fillers, waxes and other unhealthy additives that preserves its naturally high antioxidant levels.

My Mom had been eating it for about a year and a half and claimed how much better she felt, having many residual health issues from being struck by lightning years earlier. I didn't give her much credibilty and still considered chocolate as candy.

In mid-January I was with her on her company cruise, still a committed skeptic, when I had a major headache that kept me from going to dinner and I stayed iin our cabin. I was brought 3 Power Squares and told to slowly suck on them, one by one. By the time I had finished 2, the pain was markedly reduced and I opted to save the last one for the next morning. My eyes were being opened.

During this cruise I was able to talk to many people who told me their compelling stories of health and wellness since consuming this healthy chocolate. I saw people who had lost a LOT of weight and attributed this to the chocolate. Hmm? Could this really be a whole and healthy food?

I had decided that I wanted to incorporate the healthy chocolate into my family's routine, mainly for my husband, whose body had undergone quite a beating in his early years due to addiction. I didn't expect anything to happen for me as I am pretty healthy.

However, 3 days into eating (and enjoying) this chocolate, I noticed that the constant ache I had been living with in the upper left part of my mouth for 8 months had disappeared. (We had been living without insurance during the year my husband was unemployed so I just endured the pain.)

I am 48 years old and have had some unpleasant changes in my menstrual cycles over the past few years. My husband says it has been at least 3 years during which time I am completely out of commission for the first 2 days of my cycle. He knows to go to the store and bring back extra strength Pamprin (without caffeine) and I know I will take these faithfully every 4 - 6 hours around the clock for those first 2 days, and complete the process with hot water bottles and herbal tea and anything else that might ease the severe pain I experience during that time. I literally do not function for those 2 days.

6 weeks into consuming the chocolate, I had my second cycle and didn't really have any pain. I kept waiting for it to kick in, but it never did. I did not have to take any pain relievers. This has continued for all subsequent cycles, and for me (and my appreciative husband) this is a miracle.

And just a couple of days ago, I woke up with a severe headache and pain all over my body. I think it was due to a combination of an old whiplash injury coupled with a nasty fall while exercising. Brutal! But instead of reaching for the pain meds, I gave myself permission to eat more chocolate, kind of as an experiment to see if it would make a difference. And it did... not instantly, but over the course of about 3 or 4 hours. Later that day, I noticed I felt perfectly fine with no evidence I had woken up in such misery.

This is the story of my first experience with REAL chocolate, healthy chocolate, and it has a very happy ending. I can't ever see not enjoying it daily. If you have any questions about any part of my story, I am absolutely open to talking to you or anyone else. That's how much my mind has changed about chocolate.

Sincerely,
Selena Pannell