Chocolate ferments inside your body

Check out this article from Mercola that describes the fermentation inside your body that goes on in your body, including the use of prebiotics and complementary fruit to eat with chocolate. It's long but you don't have to read all of it. Video too.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/03/31/dark-chocolate-health-benefits.aspx?e_cid=20140401Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20140401Z1&et_cid=DM43652&et_rid=472682576

John S
PDX OR

I too am a Mercola reader. I believe he's got a pretty good grasp on things that plague us humans these days. The whole "earthing" thing he talks about sounds a bit iffy to me but who's to say. I wasn't aware that chocolate fermentation inside the body happened. I know how great I feel after I chow down on homemade kraut, kimchi, and the occasional kombucha. If I can help my gut by eating chocolate then I'm going to be even more happy. Thanks for the post.

I am suddenly feeling a craving for some chocolates.

Wow. The other day I bought a 500 gram bar of 72%.
I bought it for health, not gluttony. LOL

I know that the Mayan Indians almost worshiped chocolate for its health benefits.
They commonly mixed it with chili peppers.

The first time I saw chocolate mixed with hot pepper I thought it was a joke. After I ate it I knew better. Have you tried Aztec hot chocolate yet?

I just had an experience that supports this and I also had an experience that doesnt, conclusion: it depends on the chocolate.

I am a HUGE chocolate fan (dark chocolate only, it is an entirely different thing when there is sugar) so when I was in Panama for vacation (I just got back yesterday) I was in heaven.

This is the experience that supports this claim:

One day in Panama I bought a whole bag of just roasted beans (fresh and locally grown) and ate the entire thing! The next day I pooed it all out and it was the best smelling poo Ive ever had (sorry but we ARE talking about the digestive system). It was dark brown, perfectly formed (indicating complete digestion) and smelled like a mixture of awesome chocolate and awesome fresh compost. So definitely some good fermentation went on there.

My experience that doesn't support this claim:

I eat a lot of expensive dark chocolate bars (just finished one actually) and I have never noticed anything like the experience I described above. Maybe the process is still going on to a lesser degree but I suspect that much of the benefits and potency may be lost in the transition from freshly roasted bean to chocolate bar in your hand (even with artisan chocolate bars).

I suggest that if you are interested in this for health reasons that you find some straight up cacao beans or nibs and eat a ton of them at once, see if you notice the same thing i noticed. Notice your stool and notice how you feel for the next few days.

I personally do not put much stock in other peoples "science", "studies", or "experiments". I use them as ideas for conducting my own personal experiments and finding out what is true for myself.


Not really sure where I was going with this post, haha. But it was fun to share my opinions and experiences anyways.