RAWesome Valentines: The Eat Raw Series for the Chocoholic!

This week, it's time for a treat! Yes siree, it's chocolately. 

In honour of Valentine's Day, The Health Nutty Professor is doing Rawesome Friday a tad bit early. Cheers to those chocolate lovers out there! And hey, Happy Valentine's, too.

Did you know that unsweetened cocoa powder has some great health benefits?  Livestrong.com points out, "The endless benefits of unsweetened cocoa include a healthier heart, relief from diarrhea, protection from colon cancer, improved insulin sensitivity, and improvement of cognitive function."
 Metaboliceffect.com, a website by Naturopathic Physician's lists cocoa powder as "a medicine backed by modern research with far reaching implications for treating cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and other degenerative diseases....and cocoa could potentially be equally or more beneficial than antibiotics or anaesthesia" (metaboliceffect.com).

Further, unsweetened cocoa powder is loaded with antioxidants, and if eaten in moderation can be good for 

the cardiovascular system because it is rich in plant nutrients called "flavanoids" (my.clevelandclinic.org).

Overall, eating cocoa can help boost the immune system by helping to ditch bad toxins (much like apples, dates, or green tea).  So next time you have a craving for chocolate, try making something with unprocessed cocoa powder. Here's a great recipe for starters.

Load me up on some chocolate cake, yo!

Raw Chocolate Cake (recipe altered from theRawtarian.com)

1 1/2 cups walnuts
1  cup pecans
1/2 cup almonds
1 1/2 cup medjool dates
1 1/2 cups raisins
6 tbsps raw cocoa powder
3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Berries (to put on top)

Add 1 ingredient at a time into a food processor. Give it some time, takes a while to blend! You want to add slowly so that there are no chunks.
When you're done processing, it should look like brownie dough. When you take it out, form it into whatever shape you'd like, or put it in a cake dish. I used a pie plate, worked great!
Put it in the fridge, and eat chilled. It's so delicious!

The Health Nutty Professor's finished product, pictured to the right.

Have a RAWesome Valentines!


References

http://www.livestrong.com/article/147416-benefits-of-unsweetened-cocoa-powder/

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/cocoa-powder-health-benefits-surpass-fruit

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/nutrition/chocolate.aspx

http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-chocolate-cake-recipe

http://www.metaboliceffect.com/cocoa/