Cocoa: Blockbuster drug & new great diet (Alli, vapor, doctor)

[Gettingthinner]

Boredom & impatience did in my many attempts to diet, but last November my doctor recommended a new diet written by a CT. Dept of Health cardiologist. The bonus is that this new diet emphasizes unsweetened cocoa and its slows-aging/prevents-disease power -- cocoa has 29 times more antioxidants than broccoli. Thus far I've lost 21 pounds with no cravings.

The book is on Amazon, & its title is "The Cardiologist's Wife's Chocolate too! Diet: No Sugar, No Fat & Luscious." (His wife is a nutritionist.) The book also says go easy even on the "good carbs," since they too will metabolize into sugar. The first half of the book is a real education on how your body works. And the 21-day meal plan has recipes that aren't recipes, they're inventions, a whole new way of preparing food that could help a lot in our country's health crisis.

I recommend this book with all my getting-healthier heart.

P.S. My doctor told me to google "health benefits of cocoa," and "Hollenberg & the Kuna Indians." Dr. Norman Hollenberg teaches at Harvard Medical. His discoveries about cocoa are about 2 years old. Some docs are calling cocoa the fountain of youth. Others say they haven't been this excited since the discovery of the Salk vaccine.

I hope this news reaches as many people as possible. I'm guessing that since the cocoa discoveries are new, many haven't heard. I also want to share my hope that our whole country gets better, and finds renewed health.

[PinkString]

I like the idea of cocoa. I am using cinnamon in almost everything these days to keep my blood sugar stable.

[Laura707]

cocoa/cinnamon! What a great combination. Give us one of those inventions(recipes)! I would love to see what you can do with cocoa that don't invlove sugar!

Let me add that I cook for a living and am always looking for new and different things to make... Have you made any of the stuff yet?

[Mattie Jo]

No Sugar No Fat Chocolate Cookies: contain more nutrients than most meals-Other Diet Recipes-Obesity Discussion Forums

I'm copying this too from "the Cardiologist's Wife's CHOCOLATE TOO! Diet: No Sugar, No Fat & Luscious." This book's recipes are so healthy & inventive!
http://www.amazon.com/Cardiologists-...3520432&sr=1-1 (broken link)

Look at this one:
No Sugar No Fat Chocolate Cookies. Delicious AND Healthy!

Cooking spray
1 cup quick oats
*1?4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda
*1/4 cup chopped walnuts
*1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 TBSP canola
3 TBSP water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate sauce
(Mix 4 tablespoons *unsweetened, non-alkalinized cocoa with 4 tablespoons of Splenda, stir, add water till reaches 1/2 cup)

Preheat your oven to 400º. Spray cookie pans with cooking spray.
In a bowl combine the oats, flour, Splenda, walnuts, cranberries, baking powder & baking soda.
With a fork, “froth up” the oil and water.
Add the chocolate sauce & vanilla extract to the oil & water mixture, & combine with the dry ingredients.
Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto pans, flatten slightly with fingers, & bake for 10 minutes. Cool 2-3 minutes, then move to cookie racks.

Yield: 10 cookies, 114 calories each

*If you're gluten-sentive, substitute the flour for 1 1/4 cups whole grain oat flour. Excellent source:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/catalog/i...action=express (broken link)
*Walnuts are rich in Omega 3 & 6 acids.

This is a sample recipe, but you would never get me to use splenda. Instead I would use evaporated sugar cane juice, and so this may defeat the purpose.

[jeannie216]

Hi jessaka,

What would your recommendation be for a healthier substitute for Splenda? Jeannie

[Mattie Jo]

I started a new thread on Splenda.

I only use Sucanat. So I started a threads on it. I just think it is healthier because it is made from raw sugar cane and has not been processed but just juiced and dried. It may or may not be healthier.

[Gettingthinner]

Originally Posted by jeannie216

Hi jessaka,

What would your recommendation be for a healthier substitute for Splenda? Jeannie

Hi back,

The book has the most amazing recipes. Ways of cooking & baking I'd never dreamed of.

About Splenda, my doctor called it a "godsend," but I still had questions so I wrote to the government. Got responses from the the umbrella organization of the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

For the FDA go to the home page, type in "artificial sweeteners," & then on that page the first link is good: "Artificial Sweeteners: No Calories ... Sweet!" Scroll to the bottom, sucralose, & bear in mind that Splenda is only 1% sucralose. (My doctor explained. I'd called again. He's sweet but I think I drove him crazy.

Then I saw all the publicity for WE CAN, wrote them, & got the following email back:
~~~~~~~

We Can, or "Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition" is a national program designed for families and communities to help children maintain a healthy weight. It is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. A spokesman for the NHLBI issued the following:

On behalf of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Health Information Center, we are responding to your request for information on Splenda.
"NHLBI follows the recommendations of the FDA. If you have additional questions on Splenda, you may wish to contact the FDA by telephone at 1-888-INFO-FDA (1-888-463-6332) or by e-mail at the following Web address: http://www.fda.gov/comments.html.
Sincerely,
NHLBI Health Information Center
PO Box 30105
Bethesda, MD 20824
E-mail: nhlbiinfo@nhlbi.nih.gov
Web site: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov

Make healthy choices in 2008 with the colorful Keep the Beat Wall Calendar; check off each day of physical activity and use charts to track weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. Order at http://emall.nhlbihin.net/ktbcalendar (broken link). Customization and large quantity orders available. Call the NHLBI Health Information Center at 301-592-8573.

Interested in heart, lung, blood, or sleep information? Join the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Health Information Network (NHLBI HIN) and get quick, convenient access to trustworthy information applicable to everyday practice, delivered to e-mail boxes approximately twice a month. Subscribe at http://emall.nhlbihin.net/hp2010/default.asp."

The FDA's page on artificial sweeteners is:
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2006/406_sweeteners.html (broken link)
Scroll to the bottom for sucralose. Splenda is 1% sucralose, which is itself FDA-approved.
~~~~~~~~

Hope this helps. One thing to be careful of is that there are so many "hidden sugars." The book has a whole section on them. Hidden sugars include honey, molasses, brown sugar, that evaporated whatchamacallit cane sugar, sugar alcohols, others I don't remember. There's a list of them in the book. So many people trying to make money on the health epidemic, saying that their sugars aren't really sugars. Grrr. There oughta be a law.

Hope this helps,
Gettingthinner


P.S. Forgot...the book is written by a Dept of Health Cardiologist, & my doc also said that many hospitals & state outreach agencies are adapting its recipes & new approach to food preparation. This is all so new, and wonderful wonderful news.

[Gettingthinner]

[quote=jessaka;2549048]No Sugar No Fat Chocolate Cookies: contain more nutrients than most meals-Other Diet Recipes-Obesity Discussion Forums

Instead I would use evaporated sugar cane juice, and so this may defeat the purpose.

Moderator cut: not allowed
Well, that Xocai (sp?) I saw their ad on YouTube...and for sugar they use acai berries, which, true, are high in antioxidants (though a distant 2nd to cocoa), but they are also hugely high in sugar. Only sugar, in any form, can make the candy stiff at room temperature.

There's another ad, forgot the name, for something that uses a sugar alcohol, which is a little bit better than sugar but still metabolizes as sugar. As you can see I've become fascinated by this & done homework on it.

Has anyone else started mistrusting words like "healthy & natural?" I mean, most of the world's poisons are natural, also saturated animal fat & stuff you wouldn't dream of eating. Does anyone else feel like that?

[PinkString]

Cooking spray and Canola oil are both fats. So how can they be no-fat cookies?
As for splenda, i won't touch that stuff and the FDA isn't the most reputable source. Try mercola.com for info on splenda. He has it right.

[Mattie Jo]

Good idea Pink. Maybe you can post a link to that article by mercola--the one on splenda.

I don't think that we can safely get away from sugar except by not eating it.