Raw Cacao is an amazing superfood that originates from Central and South America. There are so many benefits to this creamy chocolatey whole food, and it tastes delicious! After reading this article, you’ll want to incorporate it into your diet daily! Have a look at the health benefits of raw cacao powder below.
Health Benefits of Raw Cacao Powder
Get Energised!
If you’re feeling a little drained and tired from your daily routine, start incorporating raw cacao into your meal plans and watch your energy levels increase naturally. Cacao is known to nourish or activate your adrenal glands, which can give you the reaction of feeling energised or having a boost after eating it. What I like about this is that you can incorporate the rich creamy texture and taste of chocolate into your diet, without the added refined sugar content that is found in conventional chocolate and chocolate-based foods.
Packed with Loving Goodness
The thing I love most about this dark brown beauty is that its packed full of so much goodness. This can become a natural and fun way of getting these minerals and nutrients into your body without having to take a handful of vitamins every morning. Raw cacao has a high amount of antioxidants which can help in getting those little free radicals under control – very important for staying healthy!
It also contains high levels of magnesium which, in my mind is a seriously under-rated mineral. Magnesium can help with things like getting anxiety under control, keeping your heart healthy and your bones strong. It can also help with things like monthly PMS and migraines – now it makes sense why I crave chocolate at certain times of the month!
Other health vitamins and minerals worth mentioning are Calcium (helps build strong bones and again a healthy heart); Iron (found in haemoglobin and helps carry oxygen around the body. Having a depletion of this can leave you feeling exhausted).
Zinc is another mineral worth mentioning which is important for your immune system and making sure your body can heal wounds properly and quickly, and copper too which helps the body form collagen amongst other things. Cacao also has a good amount of protein (building muscles is the obvious option but it is also an essential building block for repairing and building bones and cartilage and for repairing the skin).
Helps with Happiness
Have you ever heard of Serotonin and Dopamine? These are what I like to call your ‘happy hormones’. When released into your body they make you feel really good and promote a happy and feel good vibe. Cacao helps produce these hormones in your body. And lets be honest – who doesn’t like to be happy!
How to Use It
When I try a new food I try to taste it on its own first before I add it to any other foods or start getting creative with it. Raw cacao is quite bitter on its own so it does help to mix it in with something to make it that little bit more palatable. Try making a hot chocolate with it for those cold winter nights, or adding it to your banana smoothie to make it a chocolate one.
Or you can be really daring and make a raw chocolate smoothie using avocado! You can also add it to a bowl of yoghurt or make some raw chocolate brownies with it as a lovely sweet treat when you have visitors come round!
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed finding out more about the health benefits of raw cacao powder.
Please let me know if you have tried any of the above methods and how they turned out for you? Or if there is another way you’ve incorporated raw cacao into your food life that works for you?
I am from the Caribbean and yes cacao trees these have a rich power taste .Excellent post about the health benefits of cacao
Thank you Nigel, Yes! I love the intensely rich creamy taste of the cacao, its delicious!
What a precious information.
I already knew the effect of happiness but I was not aware of the amount of vitamins and minerals that raw cocoa has. For sure I will buy more of this to incorporate it in my diet.
Thanks for the information.
Rui
Thank you Rui, I have only listed a few of the benefits above but I assure you there are plenty more! Your body will definitely love you for including more cacao into your diet 🙂
I have a question regarding cacao. I have cocoa that I enjoy drinking but the ingredients say cacao. Is that a good indicator that it is proper cacao?
A very good question Siobhan! Cacao is made by cold pressing the beans whereas cocoa is made by heating the beans before continuing with the manufacturing process. In doing this some of the raw enzymes are lost. There will still be some benefits to consuming cocoa however consuming raw cacao will give you more of those benefits mentioned above.