Any Excuse For Chocolate...

I always enjoy visits to my Naturopathic doctor(ND), since she is a very good listener for any run-off-the-mouth explanations of various health issues.  I am very grateful for the benefits that Jake's company provides so we can afford her services.  Over the past year and a half that I have been seeing her, I have found that this type of medical help suits me much better to an impersonal family doctor who has a mere five minutes for the one issue that brought me into the office.

{In saying that, I am not for a moment ungrateful for free health care.  I recognize that doctors are in over their heads with patients and often don't have the time to be sympathetic and caring like a Naturopathic doctor.}

In suggesting natural ways to improve my health other than the usual quickly scrawled-out chemically-treated medicated prescription, my ND often prescribes expensive vitamins, tinctures, and UNDA numbers that I would never have bought for myself.  I often feel like I spend money every time I leave her office, but being healthy doesn't come with little sacrifice.

At my appointment this week, she told me that I might be low in magnesium, so she recommended that I eat one tablespoon of organic cacao powder (not to be confused with the commonly known cocoa powder) every day.  That can't be so bad, right?

http://www.healthpalace.ca/organic-traditions-cacao-powder-raw-organic-227-grams/

Thankfully I had a little bit left from when I bought it for a recipe last year.  I placed some Greek yogurt in a bowl, dumped my tablespoon of cacao powder on top, and added some honey and a handful of blueberries.  I took a bite.

I was immediately transported to some sort of chocolate heaven when the creamy yogurt and rich cacao touched my tongue.  If you're thinking, "What's the difference between cacao powder and that cocoa stuff I have in my baking cupboard?", have you ever tried eating cocoa powder while making your mother's brownie recipe? 

Yeah, it's disgusting. 

Cacao powder is nothing like that.  It has a full and deep chocolatey taste that transcends even your wildest chocolate dreams, it's chock full of antioxidants, that plant chemical which makes people crazy for 'superfoods' such as acai (by the way, in Portuguese it's pronounced ah-sigh-EE-- practice saying it aloud so you can correct all the others out there), and one tablespoon contains about 50% of your daily dose of magnesium.  The best thing is that it's not bitter.  

Oh, and did I mention that this form of chocolate is good for you???!

I'm so glad my ND recommended cacao powder for my magnesium deficiency rather than a regular ol' supplement.  This is one expense I look forward to purchasing!

Love, 

Ashleigh