Chocolate Is Healthy

If you care about what you put in your mouth, you should be concerned about what you put on your skin. Skin products are directly absorbed into the bloodstream and a growing number of body care products feature healthful, organic ingredients that are entirely beneficial to your skin.

Organic body products means their ingredients are genetically pure, not modified. No harmful pesticides are used and farmers employ sustainable farming practices.

More and more, we’re finding chocolate and cacao making their way into skin care and body products. Not only do you find cocoa butter in lotions and sunscreens, but it’s a central component of many new body care products.

One product,  Neroli Orange & Chocolate Mint Body Lotion 12 fl oz, features certified organic chocolate mint floral water and chocolate mint oil. Certified vegan, this product don’t perform animal testing or use animal by products.

We also like the cruelty free Voluptuous Body Lotion Chocolate Orange 7 fl oz.  In addition to having certified organic cocoa blossom, this product features organic red tea blended with jojoba oil.  It’s packed with richness and antioxidants.

It’s never too early to think about holiday gift giving. Healthy raw chocolate bars, with their organic ingredients and gorgeous packaging, are great for sharing with loved ones.

We’ll continue to provide you with chocolate gift ideas over the coming weeks.   Why? Because they’re delicious, easy to send, and gift recipients won’t believe they’re healthy!

We came across this Pomegranate Acai Bar made by Gnosis Chocolate. It features 100% organic raw ingredients, so you won’t find any refined sugar, dairy, soy, cholesterol or gluten in their products. In this delicious combination, you’ll have the deep satisfaction and therapeutic value of raw, dark chocolate PLUS massive antioxidants from the acai and pomegranate.

Pomegranate Acai Bar.

We love finding new ideas for healthy chocolate gifts. Vegan and fair trade, Nicobella chocolates use organic ingredients such as sunflower seed butter, oat milk and fair trade dark chocolate, creating blissful chocolate assortments.  Flavors include walnut flaxseed crunch, sunflower banana butter and ginger green tea.   (The walnut flaxseed was a clear favorite in the review we found below).

“Created by dietitian, nutritionist and yoga instructor Nichole Dandrea, nicobella truffles are made with 70 percent dark chocolate — fair trade, of course — and slightly sweetened with agave nectar and brown rice syrup. Open the package and you’ll be able to identify the flavor of each truffle by the decorative garnish. The Ginger Green Tea truffle, for example, is sprinkled with a green tea powder; the Blueberry Almond truffle has a piece of almond pressed onto a corner.

How do the truffles taste? My favorite of the six is the most crunchy-sounding of the bunch: Walnut Flaxseed Crunch. This decadent truffle had a perfect nutty creaminess — full of Omega-3s, to boot. I also loved the Pumpkin Chia truffle, which tasted like a rich, flavorful pie covered in chocolate, and the Ginger Green Tea truffle, which had a fierce ginger kick that made it the most intense of the six.”

Chocolate truffles made vegan, organic, fair trade and tasty!

Cool Hunting had this sweet interview with Brooklyn-based artisanal chocolate company Fine & Raw.  Fortunately for us, we’re also located in Brooklyn, and will be trying some asap.

Along with having top-quality, conscious ingredients, they use low heat techniques to preserve chocolate’s wonderful raw flavor.  Made in small batches, their ingredients include heirloom raw cacao, raw blue agave nectar, cold-pressed coconut oil and Himalayan sea salt.

They sell raw chocolate bars in flavors including raspberry and lucuma & vanilla, as well as their signature bonbons. Fine & Raw gourmet chocolate products feature packaging by local designers.  And great chocolate gifts!

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

CH: Can you elaborate a little on the benefits of raw chocolate?
DS: Scientific studies have shown that raw cacao is the number one food source of magnesium and antioxidants. Raw cacao has up to five times more antioxidants than regular dark chocolate. Over 300 other elements have been found in cacao. Among them are phenylethylamine (which scientists believe is released when you are in love or at the very least releases endorphins in the brain and produces a mild feeling of euphoria); tryptophan (the precursor to serotonin), theobromine and anandamine (the bliss chemical). Other benefits worth mentioning are the aphrodisiac and appetite suppressant qualities.

CH: Is there a raw chocolate movement developing?
DS: Yes, it’s grass roots right now. Raw chocolate was only introduced to the public relatively recently. It’s taken time to reach the culinary world. But the culinary scope and nutritional benefits are compelling more people to become interested in it.

Fine & Raw Chocolate.

We love giving chocolate gifts and party favors as they are loved and cherished at weddings, birthdays, anniversaries or any special occasion.   Even better, you can have personalized chocolate in any size of bar, and custom wrappers with any design you wish.  But from a chocolate lover’s perspective, how do they stack up?

It’s difficult to find personalized chocolate gifts that are comprised of high quality, dark chocolate.  Of course, we prefer it to be minimally-processed, fair trade and organic, but we know we can’t have everything.  But personalized chocolates always seem to be made from generic, too-sweet milk chocolate.  We love the design, concept and spirit of personalized chocolates, but we hope you’ll let us know of any gourmet options out there.

Below is a helpful list of the pros and cons of giving personalized chocolate as gifts or favors.

Chocolate Bars With Personalized Wrappers – The Pros and Cons For Choosing Candy Party Favors at Articles for Mom.