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Well here is something different!

Like most of you I love chocolate, but did you know good chocolate is heart healthy plus has a host of other benefits? It was noticed in the 1600’s that it reduced angina and heart pain…

Now I am not talking about the chocolate you get in the picture theatre, your local convenience store or Coles or Woolies.

Milk chocolate particularly is full of sugar, and often that is high fructose corn syrup, a known cause of health problems. And often too it is “Dutch’ processed. This is a method of adding alakali to the chocolate to reduce acid and darken the colour.

In fact lots of “dark” choclates are just dutched and have added sugar  to boot…

Result? A sticky mess that clogs your arteries because it is so high in fat and sugar!!!
However, there is “real” chocolate available that can deliver real health benefits…

In fact,  the list of our cocoa beans health lifting powers just keeps growing. Research indicates that its active ingredients can help the following conditions –

•    High blood pressure
•    Stroke
•    Clogged arteries
•    Heart disease
•    Infectious diseses
•    Dementia
•    Prostate and lung cancer
•    Blood clots
•    Liver problems
•    Inflammation
•    Allergies
•    Asthma

There is another benefit researchers have discovered.

As you may know one of the big problems with type II diabetes is the way it cuts down blood circulation to extremities.

When I was in the heart ward of the Gold Coast Hospital for nine days back in early 2006, I was amazed at how bad the legs and feet of some of those blokes were. (Most were diabetes sufferers and they were in there with heart problems as a result). A couple of them were looking at amputations according to the doctors, on top of all their other problems. Yuk.

My ears pricked up when I heard of a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology discovered that cocoa significantly enhances blood flow in folks with type II diabetes.
(Balzer et al. “Sustained Benefits in Vascular Function Through Flavanol-Containing Cocoa in Medicated Diabetic Patients: A Double-Masked, Randomized, Controlled Trial.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008. 51:2141-2149)

In that study, researchers divided diabetes sufferers into 2 groups – one group had 1000 mg of cocoa a day (in three doses spread over the day) and the other 25 mg.

At the end of one month, the higher cocoa groups circulation had normalised (from “severly impaired”) while the low cocoa group had no changes.

I discovered the way it works is this – the cocoa improves the nitric oxide output. This causes the blood vessels to relax and open up, improves circulation, which drops blood pressure and helps deliver oxygen and nutrients more effectively…

Anyway pure chocolate is what delivers these benefits. When I say pure I mean cacao bean only – no fluff or fillers like added sugar or fat…

If you can get it, the pure bean is best. The way it is usually supplied is as “nibs”. What’s a nib? If you open a cacao pod, you find a sort of bean or “nib”. If you want to use chocolate as a health supplement (and who wouldn’t?) then you have to eat the beans only.

To my knowledge there is only one way to get pure organic cacao bean “nibs”.

Dagoba Chocolate nibs are just lightly roasted organic cacao beans which are coarsely ground. You sprinkle them onto cereals etc, on salads (you’ve had pine nuts on salad right?) or eat straight form the pack as a snack. They are a little bitter, but still nice enough for my taste. You can get them cheaply in Australia at www.aldermanprovidore.com.au - just search on “dagoba” and you will see a range of excellent products including the nibs.

It isn’t hard to eat a gram a day, which is all you need to get the benefits…

Speaking of which, here are some other reasons to eat cacao bean nibs.

There is a class of chemicals called “flavonoids”. They are actually a poisonous anti-microbial substance, used by the producing plant to fight disease in itself. They are not an antioxidant as first thought. Latest research indicates they are recognised by your body as a toxin, and it tries to eliminate them. (Lotito SB, Frei B. “Consumption of flavonoid-rich foods and increased plasma antioxidant capacity in humans: cause, consequence, or epiphenomenon?” 2006. Free Radical Biology and Medicine. 41(12):1727–46.)

Flavonoids are found in fruits and vegetables, coffee, tea, beer and red wine. But cacao has them in the highest concentrations. (Lee et al. “Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals and a Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine.” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2003. 51:7292-7295.)

How does a poison help you stay well then? Flavonoids activate special enzymes and uric acid production. Together these compounds change your body’s response to allergens, tends to disable some cancer cells and cancer causing agents, and flush other dangerous substances out of your system (at the same time it is trying to get rid of the flavonoids).
Mind you, if your liver is over stressed (being the main way your body gets rid of toxins) then the benefits will not be as pronounced. See my other articles about fatty liver and syndrome x.

So there you have it… another heart healthy treat from nature that reverses or prevents a number of life threatening conditions.

Cheers to chocolate nibs…

Rick Rakauskas

I was grizzling to a really good friend the other day about trials and tribulations - chiefly my own lack of energy sometimes because of side effects of beta blockers including badly interrupted sleep paterns.

Anyway, she listed the things I had done, or started in both my physical fitness regime, my work habits and my hobbies over the last couple of months.

It dawned on me that I was being too hard on myself, and that I WAS achiveing quite a bit despite the challenges.

Then I realised we all do that. We are hard on ourselves, and when we do achieve a lot, we tend to dismiss it and worry about what is yet to do…

Fitness and health programs often fall over because of this - we fail to achieve some impossible target all at once, and give up. Instead of celebrating the mini milestones we have achieved on the way…

Food for thought.

I came across some interesting info I thought you should know about. It often irks me that women resist strongly the notion that they mustn’t strngth train becasue it will make them look like a bulked up action hero.

So here are the facts.

When researchers compared the muscle strength of men and women they discovered men were around 50% stronger then women - no surprise there.

However, when they looked at it pound for pound of total muscle weight, vs total body weight, they discovered women are just as strong as men. (Dr Wayne, Wescott South Shore YMCA, in MA USA).

Further, weightlifting in women doesn’t add bulk.

For a start, muscle is denser thean fat, so it takes up less space. Lose fat, get muscle, look leaner. And when men lift weights, it is the testosterone in their blood that causes the muscle fibres to get bigger.

Women have generally 40 to 50% less testosterone, so they get the strength without the bulk. And if you think about the body builder females, well you have to know that to get that way they live a 24/7 bodybuilding lifestyle dedicated 100% to their sport.

And here is another interesting fact. Because you don’t have much fat coverage on your shoulders they can grow wider, which makes your waist look smaller too!

Nice.

Hi and thanks for turning up and reading…

I sometimes wonder why biographies are so popular. And why we like to read or hear about the successes of others…

I think it is because we identify with the characters in the stories. Their hopes and fears - we feel their pain because sometimes it is our own. We enjoy and share their successes because in the end, we live our lives vicariously through others. (Think of the joys your spouse or children brought you in the past when they shared their successes)

I love Fitness by Phone success stories - they bring tears of joy whenever I read them. Knowing that I, Rick Rakauskas, have helped another human being to live a better life in some small way.

That is truly satisfying for me…

And because I want my clients to have and enjoy the success they deserve, I can only serve a limited number of women at any one time.

Please read the success stories here of women just like you here. See how they got their figures back, and turned their lives around. Imagine your life once you achieve your own goals… 

I saw a program on the box last night which was very useful. You might have seen it yourself “Trinny and Susannah”. They are two women in their 40’s who spend a lot of time trying to educate folks who have no fashion sense stand out.

Despite my personal viewpoint regarding what they wear themselves, last nights program was all about feeling good if you are a size 16.

They took 50 “size 16″ ladies of various ages and dressed them in a shapeless white shift. Only one woman stood out as fitting the shift and looking nice in it.

Why?

Becasue it is not about dress size - it is about body shape. Oh by the way, they reckoned that the average size in Great Britain now is size 16. That is alarming in itself.

But I couldn’t help but cheer them on in their quest to educate and then dress for the body shape, because in the end, it is all abut feeling good about yourself. And if you dress in a flattering manner according to your body shape, you can’t help but add to your self esteem.

Anyway there is a great article here, with pics and fashion recommendations for the 12 basic body shapes explored in last nights program.

Enjoy…

Buddah: The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings (including yourself).

Says it all when you are looking at losing weight and living a better life.

Live life.

Rick

Passionate when they get the bit between their teeth.

Quietly go about achieving their goals.

Overcome any setbacks without complaining

Have belief in themselves. Even when they are really down.

All the women I have mentored  with fitness by Phone thought they were at the end of their tether, but each still had a spark.

Together we fanned that into a flame, and they are all achieving a new figure and better life.

Becky now fits into size 8 jeans from a size 14 just 4 months ago.

What about you? Still got a spark buried in there somewhere?