Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Chocolate for Health

This week's Chocolate Friday offering is healthy stuff.   

Personally, I've taken a Vow of Indulgence.  I follow the advice of one of my favorite quotes: "Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate"   -- Charles M. Schultz

But I know there are others who occasionally need to be relieved of guilt, and/or given a healthy alternative to the decadence of choco-indulgences.  I did this once before for our buddy D who was trying hard to keep his girlish figure.  This time I'm doing it for KeeWee poor KeeWee who is counting every ... whatever it is you count when you're on Weight Watchers.
Note: pic stolen from Kelly's Iblio site

Firstly, I just gotta note that chocolate isn't bad for you.  It's the fats and sugars that chocolate is usually bundled with that cause all the problems.  But chocolate has lots of good stuff in it: antioxidants and polyphenols and flavanoids.  Research has shown that chocolate and cocoa can help your heart, keep your cholesterol down, keep you young, boost your sex life, and even help you grow new hair. 

Ok, I'm exaggerating.  But only a little.

According to this article:

Good quality chocolates are made with cocoa butter, which is comprised of about one-third oleic acid, a fat like that found in olive oil. Oleic acid has been shown to lower both total and LDL cholesterol.

It's important to read the labels, though, because not all chocolate is made with cocoa butter.

Chocolate is also rich in antioxidants. Studies have shown that flavonoids, which are found in cocoa, lower the risks of heart disease, lung and prostate cancer and type- 2 diabetes.

And of course, dark chocolate is the way to go, says What's Cooking America:  "a study by market research publisher Packaged Facts titled Market Trends: The U.S. Market for Gourmet Chocolate reports that the higher cocoa, lower sugar content and antioxidant properties of premium dark chocolate are making it a more attractive treat for health-conscious Americans, especially those counting carbs.

S'wenyway, if you're trying to keep your fat and sugar intake down but still want your choco-fix, here are a few "healthy" recipe sources for you:

• Healthy Fudgy Brownies - from Recipezaar.com made with wheat germ and oatmeal
• Healthy Hot Fudge Sauce Recipe - from BellyBytes.com's Healthy Chocolate Recipes List
• Chocolate Monkey - Heh, it's a sort of chocolate banana smoothie
• Healthy Chocolate Mousse -non dairy - from The Worlds Healthiest Foods
• Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding - from Cooking Light's Chocolate Recipes
• Healthy Chocolate Souffle - low fat and low calorie, from DIY Network

Whew!  That's all I can manage.  Too much healthy stuff and my eyes start to roll back in my head.  You all can live long and healthy.  I think I'll make chocolate pancakes for brekky this morning.  With chocolate syrup.  Yeah, that's the ticket!

In the News Tids & Bits

Or is that "In the Snooze"?

* Experts conflicted over health effects of coffee, tea - The debate goes on.

* Short-Term Supply Squeeze Is Call Writing Opportunity in Coffee

* Tea prices will be hit if clash escalates to ME - No, not me.  Middle East.  Silly.

* Orlando Bloom's Bad Back 'Tea' - There's something not right about this newsblip.  Orlando Bloom had to quit drinking green tea because it made his back hurt.  What? 

* And from the Groaner File: Im-peach-mint Tea:  described as "a zesty blend of high-quality black teas, infused with the aromas of ripening peaches and cool, dewy mint leaves.  Brewing instructions: If the Bush Administration is bringing you to a boil, add one teaspoon and visualize impeachment. That's it; mission accomplished! I'm not making a political statement here, so don't yell at me.  I just thought it was funny. In a groaning sort of way. Found via growabrain

It's Not the Coffee, It's the Cream

Good news for coffee drinkers (especially oldster coffee drinkers like me) - a new study shows no connection between coffee drinking and coronary heart disease.  From NewsfactorMagazine Online:

Data on more than 120,000 participants in two U.S. studies that followed people for as long as two decades found no link between heart disease and a daily intake of six or more cups of coffee. In fact, the risk was the same as for people who had less than one cup of coffee or tea a month.

How-some-ever, the study doesn't apply to french press coffee.  "Studies have consistently shown that drinking a lot of French-press coffee increases low-density lipoprotein, the bad cholesterol,"  says van Dam, research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and a co-author of the report.

Uh oh.

And of course, if you like those fatty coffee-ish drinks then you're asking for cholesterol trouble.

I guess the answer is ... drink espresso, and drink it black!

National Caffeine Awareness Month

Before this day ends, marking the LAST DAY of National Caffeine Awareness Month®, I feel it behooves me to explain why I haven't paid more attention to it.  You'd think, on a blog about coffee, tea and chocolate, I would have mentioned it more than once, but the fact is, this particular "campaign" is ANTI caffeine. 

The phrase "National Caffeine Awareness Month®" is actually trademarked by these folx, and that means you gotta use the little R behind it, lest you get yer butt in trouble.  I notice hardly anybody does, but that's what it says on the Caffeine Awareness website.  The campaign has been sponsored by a soy-based coffee producer, Soy Coffee, which they recommend we switch to in lieu of the badbad (but oh-so-good) caffeinated products. 

Whatever.  Here are some previous posts and interesting links about caffeine:

• Caffeine Calculator - from the same Caffeine Awareness website.  It'd be interesting to compare their results with other lists online, for instance
• Erowid Caffeine Vault - Caffeine Content of Beverages, Foods, & Medications
• Caffeine Comparison Chart - from about.com
• All About Caffeine - from answers.com
• Killed By Caffeine - a humorous calculator from the Energy Fiend
• A rebbutal from a coffee fan - read this, but see me for the "where to send"
• Another rebbutal
• And another - The War on Caffeine - from Energy Fiend's Caffeine archives
• Caffeine and Chocolate
• Caffeine Makes You Wanna ...
• Can't Get Enough Caffeine?
• SperoNews Article: Activists warn of dangers from caffeine addiction
• And last but not least, a bump to our favorite hymn of all time: "O Blessed Holy Caffeine Tree" by our buddy D of Third World County

That's it for me, I'm fully caffeinated for the evening, so ... good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow!

Drink Yer Cocoa, Stay Alive!

Man I've been having such a busy week.  I really thought today was Chocolate Friday (wishful thinking ....  please, please, hurry up and be Friday) so I was going to post this link I found about cocoa.  What the hey, nothing wrong with multitudinous choco-blogging!

From ScienceDaily 2/28: 
Cocoa Intake Linked To Lower Blood Pressure, Reduced Risk Of Death

Cocoa has been linked to cardiovascular health benefits since at least the 18th century, but researchers are just beginning to collect scientific evidence for these claims, according to background information in the article. Cocoa is now known to contain chemicals called flavan-3-ols, which have been linked to lower blood pressure and improved function of the cells lining the blood vessels.

However . . .

The link between chocolate and overall lower risk of death suggests that other mechanisms also may be involved. "Because cocoa is a rich source of antioxidants, it may also be related to other disease that are linked to oxidative stress (e.g. pulmonary diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and certain types of cancer) ," the authors conclude. "However, this merits further investigation."

I'll volunteer for research duty!  Where can I sign up???

Chocolate and Caffeine

That chocolate acts as a stimulant doesn't surprise anybody I'm sure, but the main stimulating chemical isn't caffeine.  The real choco-high mostly comes from theobromine, a stimulant with physiological effects similar to those of caffeine, but ... different.  Theobromine takes longer to effect the nervous system, and lasts longer in the system, than caffeine.  Wikipedia says

Theobromine has very different effects on the human body from caffeine; it is a mild, lasting stimulant with a mood improving effect, whereas caffeine has a strong, immediate effect and increases stress.

Most coffee-heads would argue the stress point, but ... whatever. 

I'd heard so much associating caffeine and chocolate that I wanted to know the truth of it.  Is there caffeine in chocolate?  Apparently there is, although it's very small doses, and what's there, is there by human intervention.  Chocolate doesn't naturally contain caffeine.

The confusion may come from the similarity in their chemical makeup.  Or maybe it's the fact that there's sugar in most of the chocolate stuff we eat, which gives a false sort of "high" that can seem like the effects of caffeine.  The actual amount of caffeine in hot cocoa or chocolate candy is pretty small. 

The average cup of hot cocoa contains about 10 mg of caffeine but over 200 mg of theobromine. A 3 1/2 ounce chocolate bar contains approximately 12 mg of caffeine and 155 mg of theobromine.

Compared to an average cup of drip coffee (60-120 mg) and black tea (45 mg), that's not much, caffeine-wise.  Most of the comparison charts I found on the net identified just the caffeine content, and ignored the theobromine content.  Except for this one, from foodreference.com:

		Caffeine		Theobromine
White chocolate 3ounce bar or 1 cup chips		0.0 mg		0.0 mg
Baking chocolate, unsweetened 1 ounce		57.120 mg		346.360 mg
Semisweet chocolate 1 ounce (chocolate chips)		17.577 mg		137.781mg
Milk Chocolate 1.55 ounce bar		11.440 mg		74.360 mg
Cocoa mix 1 envelope/3 heaping tsp		5.040 mg		169.680 mg
Cocoa powder, unsweetened 1 tbsp		12.420 mg		111.078 mg

What about the caffeine content of your favorite chocolate products?

Ben & Jerry's Coffee Fudge Frozen Yogurt (8 oz)  -- 85 mg of caffeine
Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar (1.5 oz bar)  -- 31 mg
Perugina Milk Chocolate Bar with Cappuccino Filling  (1/3 bar, 1.2 ounces) -- 24 mg 
Hershey Bar (milk chocolate)  (1.5 oz bar)  -- 10  mg
Coffee Nips (hard candy)  (2 pieces) -- 6 mg 
Cocoa or Hot Chocolate  (8 ounces)  -- 5  mg
Cadbury Chocolate bar  (1 oz, 28 g)     -- 15 mg
Chocolate Jello Pudding Pops,  (47 g)  -- 2 mg

IMO, chocolate AND coffee is the best of all possible stimulant combinations.  You get both the quick and the delayed lift.  You get the long lasting effect of the chocolate, which counteracts the fall from the caffeine high.  You get the increased sense of well-being that comes from theobromine, as well as the increased alertness from coffee.  Now I ask you, how much better can it get? 

Go forth and MOCHA!

More on the caffeine content of chocolate:
* http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/caff.html
* http://www.cspinet.org/nah/caffeine/caffeine_content.htm
* http://coffeetea.about.com/library/blcaffeine.htm
* http://www.foodreference.com/html/fchocolate.html

Caffeine Makes You Wanna ...

At least, so this study shows.

Ok, now, wait.  Before anybody goes and tries to make caffeine pills the new "date drug", you should know this applies only if you're a rat.  More precisely, if you're a FEMALE rat.  They don't know yet if this translates to humans, although I could give an educated guess and say, yeah, probably. 

The rats with the highest return-for-more-sex rate had the caffeine equivalent of a couple shots of espresso for a human.  But then, they'd never had caffeine before.  It might take a bit more for those of us with high caffeine tolerance. 

Suddenly I feel the urge for a latte.

via WebMDBlog
Related: Sex and Coffee?
              Can't Get Enough Caffeine?

The Yin & Yang of Green Tea

I've had a belly ache for 4 days.  Chills, nausea, general uckiness. 

I drank some green tea, needing the comfort of tea, but thinking the black tea caffeine might not be good at that moment.  And of course, the studies about green tea have made it seem like mega-polyphenols are the answer to all that ails ya.  And we all know that green tea is higher in polyphenols than black tea. 

Unfortunately, it seemed to make me worse. 

I have, quite honestly, never been able to drink a lot of green tea.  And that Voice in my head always held out a sort of mini-judgment on me about it.  That damn Voice, the one that rags on me occasionally about Things I've Done Wrong or Reasons Why I'm a Horrible Person, whispered that if I was really a tea lover and fully health conscious, I would drink more green tea.  "Ought to", said the voice.  "SHOULD," said the voice. 

I usually manage to drown the Voice with a good strong cup of coffee or black tea or something really chocolatey and decadent.  I just assume I'm weak, that caffeine addiction is stronger than desire for health.

But then I ran across this article on Tea Masters that makes mention of green teas and "coolness" not being beneficial for older folx or those weak in yang energy.  Hey, that's me!  I've always been weak in yang energy, and now I'm an old fart to boot, so I went in search of more information.  Wendy Zhang, in an article here, writes:

Green tea, being “cold” in nature, eliminates toxic internal “heat,” induces diuresis, and counteracts the side effects of alcohol and of grease in meat. Being cold, it is most easily accepted in the summer and by those with heat symptoms such as fever, bad breath, cough, and inflammation. Black tea, being warm in nature, has the effect of warming and strengthening the spleen and stomach. It is popularly used in winter and for those experiencing cold symptoms such as stomach aches and loose stools.

Just as a coin has two sides, drinking tea can be either beneficial or harmful. Drinking green tea does not generally have side effects for young and healthy people since their yang energy is strong. However, for people who have a yang deficiency syndrome—indigestion and stomach aches, diarrhea, cool limbs, and anemia— prolonged consumption of green tea can damage the vital energy, aggravating their symptoms and making them feel bloated and nauseous.

According to Tea Masters the best tea for those who can't do straight green is "aged raw pu erh", which apparently has as much as 39% polyphenols (yer average green tea has only 30%) and is slow aged, rather than roasted.  Stephane says:

... you have to weigh in the 'cool' nature of green tea (or light oxidized oolong) when you assess it's benefits on your health. It may actually do more harm then good if you feel 'cold' already. The very best in terms of health benefits (and in terms of taste) is wild aged pu-er: it's quite unique in that it combines a high concentration of tea polyphenols with ripe, warm tea characteristics

Well, I'm going to have to find some raw, aged pu erh!  It's worth a try.   

On my searchings, I found this test, Are You Primarily Yin, Yang, or Yin/Yang?, from The Tao of Beauty by Helen Lee.  According to this, I'm actually in the low-balanced range, which surprised me.  Maybe all the work I've done on my innards is finally paying off! 

In any case, I can only go on how I feel.  And I would say, based on my own body responses, green tea is not always beneficial for everybody all the time. 

Also of interest, this article by George Wong, PhD, a Harvard-trained researcher at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center and Chinese herbalist, lists general symptoms of yin/yang imbalances and foods beneficial for each. Although the article's main focus is breast cancer and Traditional Chinese Medicine, I found lots of stuff to try for my own health. The best news from this article is

Chocolate and coffee can be good since they promote yang energy.

Well, hall-ee-loo-ya.  Now I can really tell the Voice to shove it.

You Want Me to Do WHAT With My Coffee?

Most of the news about coffee and tea and our health involves ingestion of said beverage, and how the various chemicals and ingredients passing through our stomachs affect us for the better (or worse).  There are also non-ingestive uses for tea which most folx have probably heard about.  You can make poultices, or take a soothing tea bath using a variety of herbal teas.   But this is the first I've heard of a non-ingestive use for coffee.

A coffee enema. 

Apparently it's a good way to detoxify the liver.  According to SAWilsons.com

Coffee enemas rapidly help remove toxins from the liver. They often provide quick relief when one is fatigued, sleepy, has headaches, or is just feeling poorly. They also help against spasms, precordial (heart, throat, chest) pain and difficulties resulting from the sudden withdrawal of all intoxicating sedation.

A coffee enema, when done properly, causes the liver to produce more bile, opens the bile ducts and causes the bile to flow. In this process, a toxic liver can dump many of its toxins into the bile and get rid of them in just a few minutes. This often gives great relief to all parts of the body, and often makes the difference between lying down feeling miserable and feeling good and being active. Coffee enemas are also effective in relieving pain. Patients with cancer, for example, may achieve relief from pain even when drugs failed.

Is this new news or am I just out of the loop of ... ummm ... various alternative forms of detoxification?  I confess, I don't go looking for this kind of information.  I know there are people who swear by their high colonics, but ... well, I just can't imagine a worse use for coffee.

However, these folx make a special brand of coffee specifically made for this purpose.  No kidding.  Special Enema Coffee -- "organic coffee available that has been specifically blended and roasted for enema use".  Apparently it tastes awful, so if you run out of coffee, don't raid the enema stash.

I have a sick sense of humor, I know.  I find this really funny.

Chocolate for Your Health

Whoooops, almost missed Chocolate Friday!  I've had a busybusy day, which started out badly, as I was out of coffee.  But GloryThanksBeToDog, my grocery store has just opened a coffee shop, complete with espresso, biscotti, muffins, and comfy couches.  I thought about just planting myself there for the rest of the day, but I had things to do, people to see, calls to make and muffins to bake.  So I bought myself a superdoopergrande latte and went on about my shopping.

ANYway, so now, here I am at the END of the day, finally getting 'round to ChocoFriday stuff.  This week, some articles on ways that chocolate is good for you.  A German chemist in the 1800s said, "Chocolate is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficent restorer of exhausted power."  Smart man. 

First, the benefits of dark chocolate...

• Eating dark chocolate may lower blood pressure
• Researches find dark chocolate may help curb smoking addiction - if only I still smoked!
• Dark Chocolate Helps Diarrhea: Study Confirms Ancient Myth

And ...

• Cocoa found to benefit smokers
• Chocolate could improve health - you can't say enough good stuff about chocolate for me!
• A great sports drink? It's chocolate milk! - I don't think this will ever fly.  It's not the energy renewal or nutrients at issue here.  It's the ... hmmm, scuse me here ... it's the phlegm.  You don't want something coating your throat when you're breathing hard.

Stock up on chocolate, it's good for you!