Defeat Depression and Arteriosclerosis with Cocoa Powder

Chocolate Cure for Depression

A Health Article:  Pure Cocoa health benefits – a report from Costa Rica

The history of science corroborates how breakthroughs in scientific thinking are often ushered into the accepted world of science through a single person’s dogged determination to find a cure for what ails them (or a loved one).

Gene Warneke, a photojournalist living in Costa Rica since 2005, has authored several reports for Traveling4health comparing his medical and health care in the U.S. to his care in Costa Rica.

“My vascular surgeon listened intently with her ultrasound to the pulses along my right leg and then at the top of my foot.  She and the attending female intern looked up at me with bright smiles on their faces.  “Gene,” she said, “This is the best and strongest pulse you’ve had in the two and a half years since I’ve attended you.  It’s better than a normal person your age.  Are you taking a new medication?”

I had also been listening to the strong whooshing sounds of the pulses from several feet away.  “No,” I replied. “The only changes I’ve made in my life have been in my diet.  For the last few months, I’ve been eating a cup of yogurt mixed with about three tablespoons (20 grams) of pure cacao (pronounced ka-kow) or cocoa powder each morning and I occasionally drink a glass of diluted noni juice to rid myself of depression.  I’m no longer feeling depressed and I’ve also stopped having leg and foot cramps in my right leg.”  She said quietly to the intern in Spanish, “We should start studying the effects of cacao on the cardiovascular system and here in Costa Rica.”

“The form of cocoa I’m talking about,” says Warneke, “is unadulterated- pure and unrefined, which is much different from commercial chocolate products and contains no additives such as sugar, hydrogenated fats, milk, etc. and agro-chemicals and solvents.  The same goes for noni juice.  You can find it in health food stores in the States, but check to see how pure it is.”

Read the complete story on Warneke’s Traveling4Health blog “Treat Yourself with Pure Cocoa Powder to Defeat Depression and Arteriosclerosis”.

According to Warneke, “There is a ton of misinformation about chocolate on the internet.  There are counter claims for much of what I’ve said [in the article Treat Yourself with Pure Cocoa Powder to Defeat Depression and Arteriosclerosis].  I’ve done due diligence to sort out as much of the unfounded claims as possible.  I’ve been able to pretty much isolate pure cacao as the probable causes of my vascular improvement, but I’m only a sample of one.  Much needs to be studied about chocolate in its pure forms before the most ardent critics of chocolate health benefits will be appeased.”

…In the meantime, I’m just going to continue enjoying my “box of chocolates.”

Gene Warneke is Associate & Environmental Editor, “Neotropica, The Costa Rican Magazine for Living in the New Tropics” at www.neotropica.info