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Health & Fitness

Chocolate: Superfood or Junk Food?

Chocolate: Superfood or Junk Food?

By Joan McDaniel                 

Have you ever wondered why so many people seem very high strung and out of focus?  Maybe it is because they are zapped out on sugar.  Read on about what was good for you is now very addictive.

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If America and the World didn’t have a sweet tooth before this confectioner entered the food market they sure did after.  There has always been a candy market but this man built an empire and developed a utopian village deep in the heart of America’s Quaker farming country.  He projected the image of religious wholesomeness and health with his product of milk chocolate.  Never mentioning the high sugar content, America almost immodestly developed a taste for this product then became addicted to its sugar. According to the label of a normal Hershey Chocolate bar it has 25 g of sugar now that is junk food.

Today according to the American Diabetes Association; In America we now have a diabetes epidemic, over 26 million Americans have the disease and 1.9 million the diabetes new cases are diagnosed each year. The rate of increase of obesity has climbed by a similar epidemic rate.

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  Milton Snaverly Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The company’s image of it product of pure milk chocolate became part of an American tradition; it was even part of the U.S. Army field ration in World War II.  And in many instances it acted as currency or barter when cash money was scarce. 

Candy and chocolate are now used to celebrate at least five American holidays that I know of.  Easter, Hanukkah, Christmas Valentine’s Day and what would we do without chocolate on Halloween? Anyone remember Hershey’s Easter Bunny? I would eat the ears first.

The Cacao Bean a Superfood

The raw natural Cacao bean is chocolate.  The image we have of milk chocolate is sweet very sweet but its origin the Cacao bean is anything but. Listening to “Dark chocolate is good for you”, I bought a bar of 75% Cacao with the anticipation of a child at Christmas of sweet milk chocolate and had to spit it out - I could not chew it.  It was the bitterest thing I have ever tasted. It almost took my breath away.

Yet the cacao bean is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. It is considered a superfood due to its having more than 300 nutrients.

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