Intentional Chocolate

"What is Meditation?" A Closer Look...

2010-03-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

From HuffingtonPost.com comes this intriguing article by Natasha Dern that delves deeply into the very question: "What is meditation"?
Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Meditation is the art of listening to the universe. It is about cultivating and increasing our capacity to be receptive. When we are receptive, we are better able to hear the wisdom of the universe and the wisdom of the soul. During moments of meditation, the aim is to calm the mind in order to hear the whispers of the soul. This soft voice is what we are trying to connect with and access. Once we tune in, it has the power to transfigure our reality. It contains the wisdom to solve our problems, to empower us and lead us on the right path.

Meditation over time teaches us to sit still and listen, to become aware and control our rampant thoughts, to embrace silence and become comfortable with it, open up our minds to receive guidance, inspiration and fulfillment.

However, it should not to be regarded as the only way to grow spiritually but as one of the instruments of the path. Meditation is a powerful tool that we can use to develop ourselves, refine ourselves, and ultimately learn the truth about ourselves. It is simply a tool for spiritual growth and its value is this: If you look into your heart and mind deep enough and long enough to break down the walls of earthly conditioning, you are then able to discover truth and peace. If meditation is practiced only for the physical benefits that it offers or the illusions of enlightenment without awakening the spiritual nature then the transformation of mind, body and soul is not possible. Because meditation carries consciousness down to a deeper level, which allows you to touch your own center and hence transforms you completely. Reaching this level of consciousness grants you access to knowledge of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual realms."

Read the rest of this wonderful article here.

Kind Words About Intentional Chocolate on Gayot.com !

2010-03-05T02:57:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate lovers are everywhere, aren't they?

Here is a wonderfully sweet article on Gayot.com this week featuring Intentional Chocolate! Have a peek at this excerpt:

"...Basically, in Buddhism there’s the idea of metta, which means loving-kindness. When you cook food with the intention of metta, the recipients will experience some of that goodness. In the Intentional Chocolate case, they say studies show that you’ll feel less stress and more energized three days after eating them.

They even claim that it will move the body toward healing. They don’t promise a cancer cure, but they do mention it, and guarantee that the chocolate will activate your own healing capacities. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

Last but not least, the chocolate was developed in cooperation with the HESA Institute (the Human Energy Systems Alliance), highly praised by the Dalai Lama for its "contribution to the betterment of the world." Eat chocolate and make the world a better, healthier place? Sounds good to us!"

FInd the rest of this delicious article here.

Dark Chocolate Can Give Your Teenager a Healthy Boost!

2010-03-01T04:09:00.000-08:00

Hey parents! Dark chocolate can be a luscious snack for your growing teenager...

Here is a great article on Medical News Today, all about how we can help our teenagers take on a healthy diet! Here's more from this encouraging article:

"A grab-and-go breakfast is often the only option they'll consider, so have a selection of healthy cereal bars, toasted tea cakes, bagels and a full fruit bowl visible. Stock up your fridge with smoothies, mini juices, drinking yoghurts and milk. Even if their choice isn't the healthiest, getting their body and taste buds in the habit of wanting some food before they leave the house is a great step forward.

Have an evening family meal with different types of cooking and a wide range of vegetables to choose from. Involve them with menu planning, cooking and shopping if you get the chance; having some of their friends over for a friend feast could be a great incentive to get them involved. Have plenty of healthy snacks at home, so both their hunger pangs and their bodies are satisfied: dried and fresh fruit, rice and oat cakes, unsalted nuts and dark chocolate."

Read the rest of this article here on Medical News Today!

'The Science behind the Love of Chocolate'! Just the Facts..

2010-02-24T01:06:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate, the 'food of the gods', is great for everyone! Here's a bit about the science behind it...

From Tamara Wilson's lovely blog, A Peek at the Life of a WAHM, comes this great article where she has descrbed in sweet detail the many benefits of dark chocolate...here's more from her article:

"Cacao has been described as the “food of the Gods” by the ancient Maya. Scientists are finally realizing the beneficial aspects of chocolate in relation to physical, mental, and emotional health. One ounce of dark chocolate a day can improve a person’s vigor and energy by up to 67% and in many cases much higher percentages.

Chocolate also contains the amino acids tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. All of these amino acids increase the serotonin levels in the brain which acts as an antidepressant. In addition to the amino acids listed above, chocolate has also been proven to act as a stimulant due to the substance theobromine.

Many people may be surprised to learn chocolate, when taken in small amounts and with higher levels of cocoa, can actually help you lose weight. If the antidepressant amino acids and stimulant theobromine can improve the way a person feels, they may be less likely to overeat. Chocolate can also act as an appetite suppressant which can speed up your metabolism."

Read the rest of this delicious article here.

Is There a Spiritual Center In The Brain?

2010-02-17T05:17:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate love resides heavily in our brains indeed! But - what about a "spiritual center"?

From ABCNews.com is this rather intriguing article about the possibility of a "spiritual center" in the brain. Here's more from this fascinating article:

"The researchers worked with 88 patients with tumors in various locations in the brain and found that those with damage in the parietal region -- located in the top rear region of the brain -- could be seen to have a change in their attitude toward spirituality, something that tends to be relatively constant in a person.

This finding highlights the key role of parietal cortices in spirituality and suggests that changes of neural activity in specific areas may modify even inherently stable dispositional traits," explained Cosimo Urgesi, one of the study's lead researchers and an assistant professor in psychobiology and physiological psychology at the University of Udine in Italy.

The specific scale researchers used to determine spirituality is known as self-transcendence, a measure used to determine spirituality that appears to remain stable in a person over time.
The tumors researchers based on their findings on were gliomas, the same type of brain tumor with which doctors diagnosed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, that affects the brain tissue itself. Meningiomas, another type of brain tumor that does not affect tissue, did not have an impact on people in the study when removed, Urgesi said.
After the removal of gliomas from the rear of the brain, those patients showed a significant elevation in their level of self-transcendence."

There's much more to this article here on ABCNews.com ....have a peek!

Dark Chocolate is Among The Healthiest 'Superfoods' for Women!

2010-02-14T03:31:00.000-08:00

Dark, organic gourmet chocolate flies high among the healthiest 'superfoods' women can consume...

From the great site, Health.com is this article all about the greatest foods women can indulge in for optimal health. And yes indeed, dark chocolate is one of them! Here's more from the article:

"You love to eat, but you also love to feel great. You can do both if you choose foods that make you smarter, leaner, stronger—and then use them in tasty new ways....

" ...When you mix and match these America’s Healthiest choices, you get super combos with even more power—a breakfast that’s good for your heart, a dinner that fights cancer, a sweet treat that helps keep your tummy calm and mind sharp. Plus, we’ve rounded up 15 delicious, benefit-packed runners-up, too."

Have a look at the selection of these fabulous foods here on Health.com!

Seeking Longevity? Here Are Five Wonderful Tips...

2010-02-11T00:10:00.000-08:00

Dark Chocolate means a happy life indeed! Here are a few more tips...

From the marvelous Huffington Post is this wonderful article by Dr. Maoshing Ni about the top five things you can do to lead a longer, happier life! Here's more from the article:

Laugh out loud!
We know from research that laughter and joy boost immune functions, especially the production of the natural killer cells that help protect the body from illness and cancer. Laughter also increases the release of endorphins, compounds that give you a sense of well-being, in your brain. Without a doubt, joyful people live longer and healthier lives.

Drink it up--tea, that is.
Besides being anti-cancerous and cholesterol lowering, the antioxidant-rich tea leaves also protect your brain from free-radical damage, strengthen your bones against osteoporosis and according to studies published in the Journal of American Medical Association, lowers risks of death from all forms of cardiovascular diseases. So drink tea to your heart's content!

Read this wonderful article, and the rest of Dr. Maoshing Ni's tips here in its entirety on Huffington Post.

Intentional Chocolate Donates 100% of Profits to Charities Supporting Haiti Until Valentine’s Day!

2010-02-04T06:43:00.000-08:00

Intentional Chocolate focuses on helping Haiti...

Now you can help support Haiti relief causes and spread the love with Intentional Chocolate for Valentine's Day at the same time! Here's more about the cause to help Haiti:

"...Intentional Chocolate, a leader in the revolutionary field of intention-enhanced food, announces today that from now until Valentine’s Day, 100% of the company’s profits will go to charities directly supporting Haitian relief.
Those who purchase Intentional Chocolate as a gift for their loved ones for Valentine’s Day can now also know that they are sharing their love, good intention, and support for Haitian recovery."

Read more about the cause, and Intentional Chocolate's divine array of glorious, gourmet dark chocolate here on IntentionalChocolate.com.

All About Living Until 100 - How to Increase Your Longevity!

2010-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate is excellent for longevity, but here are a few more fun-loving tips from Health.com to boost your years!

"....There was big news recently for anyone born after the year 2000: They’ll probably live to 100, according to new research from Denmark. That’s roughly 20 years longer than the life expectancy of the rest of us. But we could live that long, too, says Walter Bortz II, MD, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University: “What’s holding us back are bad habits.”

Luck and genetics play roles in longevity, of course, but you can’t control that. To hike your odds of hitting 100, focus on what you can do, like loading up on fruits and veggies (add five years), working out five days a week (add two to four years), and cutting down on stress (may add up to six years)."

Find the rest of the article here, including a great slideshow, yoga moves and recipes!

Intentional Chocolate Featured on UniqueHomes.com!

2010-01-27T00:38:00.000-08:00

Do you also love gourmet, dark chocolate? UniqueHomes.com gives Intentional Chocolate kind words....

The great website UniqueHomes.com has featured Intentional Chocolate on their site! Here's an excerpt from their delightful article:

"...Intentional Chocolate, a company focused on delivering intention-enhanced food that nourishes both body and spirit, uses the advanced meditations of monks (some trained by the Dalai Lama himself) to infuse good intentions into its products.

The editors at Unique Homes recently taste-tested the fine chocolates to see what celebs like Oprah Winfrey are raving about."

Read the rest of this lovely article here. Thank you, UniqueHomes.com!

Dark Chocolate- One of the Top 10 Healing Foods of the Decade!

2010-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Dark, organic gourmet chocolate is full or healing properties...

From Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald on Huffingtonpost.com is this wonderful article detailing the top 10 healing foods of the decade! And of course, dark chocolate is included. Here is an excerpt from the article:

"...Many fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed whole foods have properties that can benefit our health. Studies in the past decade have taken nutritional research beyond protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Chemicals in the plants called phytochemicals have been a specific focus in the past decade, offering benefits such as cancer prevention, cholesterol reduction, and hormone regulation, to name a few.

There is truly a cornucopia of nutritional benefits that have been discovered. Here are a few "superfoods" that have received a lot of press in the past decade for their research-supported health benefits:

Honey:
Honey has been revered throughout the ages for its healing properties. Some outstanding research has shown anti-bacterial and anti-viral effects. Honey is being explored further for its role in digestive health as well as wound healing. The research on honey at the University of Waikatob is particularly impressive.

Blueberries:
Among the fruits with the highest level of antioxidants, blueberries have been linked to lowering cholesterol, reducing diabetes risk, slowing the aging process, improving motor skills and supporting urinary and vision health. The compound, anthocynanin, gives blueberries their color and may be the main component of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Salmon:
Low in calories and saturated fat, and rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, salmon has certainly received a lot of press this past decade. Research showing anti-inflammatory and cancer prevention properties are impressive. Its role in diabetes and Alzheimer’s prevention as well as its overwhelming cardiovascular benefits makes this fish a winner in every category. Look for wild salmon vs. farmed to avoid contaminants such as PCBs. "

Find the rest of the article here, including the rest of these superb healing foods ( and more about dark chocolate!)

Does Generosity Come Naturally to Those With Kind Hearts?

2010-01-19T00:42:00.000-08:00

Does giving the gift of dark, gourmet chocolate come easy for you?

From New Scientist is this fascinating article about the possible origins of generosity! Here is an excerpt from this intriguing article:

"...generosity – or the desire for fairness – seems automatic and arises from activation in a brain area that controls intuition and emotion.

Neuropsychologists define "prosocial" people as those who prefer to share and share alike, and "individualists" as those who are primarily concerned with maximising their own gain.

Inequality aversion

According to one theory, the difference between these two groups is that prosocial people actively suppress their selfish tendencies with the help of their prefrontal cortex. But Masahiko Haruno of Tamagawa University in Tokyo, Japan wondered if some people might instead have an automatic aversion to inequality.

Haruno, along with Christopher Frith of University College London used functional MRI to scan the brains of 25 prosocial people and 14 individualists (presorted using a standard behavioral test) while they rated their preference for a series of money distributions between themselves and a hypothetical other person. As expected, the prosocial group preferred even splits while the individualists favoured distributions where they got the most money."

Follow this link to read more in depth details about this interesting theory.

"The Healing Powers of Chocolate" - Intentional Chocolate Mentioned in the Wonderful New Book by Cal Orey!

2010-01-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate takes center stage in this delicious new book by Cal Orey, "The Healing Powers of Chocolate"...

From the author of "The Healing Powers of Olive Oil" and "The Healing Powers of Vinegar" is the lusciously informative book, "The Healing Powers of Chocolate.

The book, which delves deeply into the history and healing powers of the "food of the gods" has featured Intentional Chocolate and Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate in its pages as well! Here is a bit more about the book:

"...THE HEALING POWERS OF CHOCOLATE traces the origin of chocolate, from bean to bar, from centuries ago to the present day. In creating this informative and fascinating book, renowned health expert and author Cal Orey (who lives near San Francisco, one of the nation’s chocolate hot spots) interviewed America’s top chocolate makers and chocolatiers, nutritionists, medical researchers, and chocolate lovers to find out how this ancient “food of the gods” can prevent and fight common ailments and diseases.
The result is a lively comprehensive guide to the wide world of quality chocolate, from 70% dark truffles to Italian biscotti baked with extra virgin olive oil, in America and around the globe. With proven data for eating dark chocolate containing cocoa flavanols to reduce heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and dozens of pesky ailments, this book—with a European twist—takes you on a magical chocolate tour, complete with wit, charm, and entertaining personal anecdotes from ancient folklore to the 20th and 21st century. Find out how chocolate’s powers can lower the risk of developing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and weight woes.

Learn how chocolate contains more antioxidants than green tea and red wine—without the alcohol. Put dozens of chocolate home cures to work for treating acne, anxiety, brain fog, cabin fever, cough, depression, fatigue, and other ailments.

You’ll also find chocolate beauty and anti-aging treatment—from masks, manicures to bubble baths and body wraps—made from antioxidant-rich chocolate teamed with natural plant extracts.

Incorporating cutting-edge scientific research, plus Mediterranean-style heart-healthy chocolate recipes, from Sicilian Mole to Dark Chocolate Mousse, THE HEALING POWERS OF CHOCOLATE is a well-rounded one-of-a-kind resource that will show you why savoring this no longer forbidden “food of the gods” is the 21st century trend."

You can purchase your very own copy at the links below:

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

BooksAMillion

Enjoy! Visit Cal's blog here for unique, fantastic recipes and musings about all things gourmet.

Easy Green Living in 2010!

2010-01-12T00:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year - Beneficial, green living for 2010!

From the lovely Mother Nature Network is this wonderful article containing a few easy tips to "staying green" in 2010! Here's more from blogger Seil Ju:

"...My eco-friendlier Day Runner. I walked over to Staples to see if any greener options were available. What I found: Refills made with 60% post-consumer recycled paper printed with veggie-based inks! Yes, I know — some planners do offer 100% post-consumer recycled content — but those require my buying new covers along with the innards, instead of refilling my years-old Franklin Covey planner cover. Plus, the Staples store was just a block away. Carbon-emissions free travel!

A BYO appeal at Vons. Believe it or not, my local Vons has a sign on its front door urging customers to “Please bring your reusable bag.” I only noticed this about a week ago, so I’m guessing the sign was put up as part of the county-wide A Day Without a Bag event. Still, we’re talking about an anti-disposable-bag message from a major chain supermarket."

Read the rest of this intriguing article here on Mother Nature Network.

Dark Chocolate's Delicious History!

2010-01-08T00:25:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate has been deeply revered through the ages; and continues to be!

From the Aztecs onward, dark chocolate has been the "food of the gods" for many years! From AllChocolate.com is this interesting article all about chocolate's impressive history! Here's an excerpt:

"...The Aztecs thought it gave their warriors strength. Early doctors used to prescribe it to cure ailments. Throughout history, chocolate has been revered more for its medicinal qualities than its delicious taste.
"Chocolate nourishes and preserves health entire, yet causes a pleasant and natural sleep and rest," wrote Dr. William Hughes, an English physician in 1672. "Drunk twice a day, a man may very well subsist therewith, not taking anything else at all."

Aztec Elixir:
For centuries, chocolate was not eaten in the bar form we know, but consumed as a drink. To the Mayans, Aztecs and Early-Europeans, this frothy brew made from the cacao bean was a phenomenon of nature. These early chocolate-lovers were likely impressed by chocolate because of its mild stimulant value — it made them feel awake, alert, strong. Chocolate quickly gained a reputation as food vital for health.

Documents detailing Aztec life showed that chocolate was viewed as a medicinal marvel. The documents, known as the Badianus and the Florentine Codices, were written in the Aztec's native language and were found after the Spanish conquest.
Cacao flowers were ingredients in perfumed baths, and thought to cure fatigue in government officials and others who held public office," says the Badianus Codex, published in 1552. The Florentine Codex, published in 1590, called for a mixture of cacao beans, maize and herbs to ease fever and panting, and to treat the faint of heart....."

Read the rest here in AllChocolate.com to learn more, including how the early Europeans used chocolate to improve their well-being! Learn even more about "Chocolate's Rich History" here.

More Benefits! Dark Chocolate's Potential Effect on Chronic Fatigue Patients...

2009-12-29T00:21:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate's ever increasing potential benefits!

From the ever-informative ProHealth.com is this informative article about the potential benefits of dark chocolate on chronic fatigue patients...let's have a look at all the benefits! Here's an excerpt from this great article:

"...One study found that a substance in cocoa helps the body process nitric oxide (NO), a compound critical for healthy blood flow and blood pressure. Another study showed that flavonols in cocoa prevent fat-like substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries, and make blood platelets less likely to stick together and cause clots. Flavonoids are plant compounds with potent antioxidant properties; so far, scientists have found more than 4,000 kinds. Cocoa beans contain large quantities of flavonoids, and so do red wine, tea, cranberries, peanuts, strawberries, apples and many other fruits and vegetables.(2) The flavonoids in chocolate are called flavonols.

Generally, science has found that dark chocolate is higher in flavonoids than milk chocolate.(3) The way that cocoa powder and chocolate syrups are manufactured removes most flavonoids. "

Find the rest of this very intriguing, in-depth article here on ProHealth.com.

Happy Holidays! Can Myrrh Lower High Cholesterol?

2009-12-24T00:04:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate can lower LDL cholesterol, but myrrh? Interesting!

Happy Holidays!

From Health.com is this interesting article about the possible benefits of myrrhand lowering high blood pressure.Here's more from this intriguing article:

"...The resin of trees in the Middle East — known as myrrh — may help lower “bad” cholesterol, new research suggests.

The study author explained that myrrh resin could be used in conjunction with other plant materials to boost heart health, although it’s not clear yet how people might consume it, and more research is needed."

Read the rest of this article here on Health.com!

Reduce Waste This Holiday Season - A Few Tips!

2009-12-21T00:29:00.000-08:00

From the great site, YourDailyThread.com is this wonderful, insightful article about how to create a greener holiday season! Here's more from the article:

"...Reduce Your Waste Post-Consumer and Tree Free Paper: Now when you can't send an e-card (grandparents that don't email or you appreciate the art of hand writing a card) using cards printed with soy or water based ink (that are low VOC) and printed on post consumer recycled paper or non tree paper choices such as cotton, hemp and others are the way to go. Here are a few companies that meet our criteria.

Copper Willow: A women-owned venture in Culver City, California that takes great care to not only create beautiful holiday cards but takes great environmental care with everything they craft. They also use antique printing machines and calligraphy and specialize in custom creations. www.copperwillow.com

Verde Paperie: This online L.A.-based boutique carries adorable boxed sets from designers and artists. Each item has a description to qualify its "greenness." www.verdepaperie.com

Green Field Paper Company: This San Diego based company specializes in tree free paper options such as hemp, java or even denim. They can do bulk orders as well. www.greenfieldpapercompany.com.

DIY Tip: If you receive paper holiday cards there are some crafty options for next year such as creating placemats for the table or holiday collages. You can always recycle or compost them rather then tossing them in the trash too."

Go to YourDailyThread.com to read the wonderful bunch of useful tips to make your holiday season a greener one!

Dark Chocolate - Indulge for Good Health!

2009-12-16T02:20:00.000-08:00

Reap the benefits of delicious dark chocolate!

From Health Magazine, here is a wonderful article about the mood boosting, heart helping benefits of chocolate! Here's a bit more, from Health.com:

Heart helper
".. A study in the Journal of Nutrition found that people who ate dark chocolate had less of a protein that indicates inflammation, which can lead to a heart attack....

Mood Buster
There’s a good reason we crave chocolate when we’re down. Its tryptophan ups mood-lifting serotonin in the brain, says Leah Sherman, a naturopathic physician in Portland, Oregon. One study found that even the taste, texture, and smell make us happy."

Find out about more delicious benefits that dark chocolate has to offer here on Health.com!

3 Wonderful New Benefits of Dark Chocolate!

2009-12-13T01:29:00.000-08:00

Love your dark chocolate more than ever! Here are three more exciting benefits...

From RealAge.com comes this very interesting article containing three more enticing, wonderful benefits that dark chocolate has to offer! Here's an excerpt:

"..Chocolate makes you smarter.

Ample research suggests that the flavonols in dark chocolate increase cerebral blood flow, which in turn may trigger the creation of new blood vessels and brain cells.

And a new study showed that older adults performed better on cognitive tests after eating small portions of the sweet stuff. Talk about a nourished noggin! (Here's why opting for semisweet or unsweetened chocolate may be even better for your brain.)"
Read the other two benefits here.

If Dark Chocolate is 'The Food of the Gods', What is the 'Fruit of the Gods'?

2009-12-10T00:25:00.000-08:00

We know that gourmet dark chocolate is hailed as the "food of the gods", but what is the "fruit of the gods"? Pomegranates!

From redOrbit.com is this delicious article about the superpowers of the fruit that is now being hailed for it's wonderful nutritional benefits - the pomegranate! Like dark chocolate, it has incredible health properties and a long history. Read more from the article:

"...The pomegranate, with its edible seeds inside juicy sacs, is high in vitamin C and potassium, low in calories (80 per serving, which is just under one-third of a medium fruit), and a good source of fiber. Pomegranates are especially high in polyphenols, a form of antioxidant purported to help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. In fact, pomegranate juice, which contains health-boosting tannins, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid, has higher antioxidant activity than green tea and red wine.
According to the American Dietetic Association, studies involving mice and humans show that eating pomegranates may help prevent clogged arteries. In addition, a recent study from Jonsson Cancer Center at UCLA found that levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen), a protein marker for prostate cancer, increased 35% slower in men with recurrent prostate cancer who drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice daily after surgery or radiation. (The study also found that it took 54 months to double PSA levels, compared to 15 months in men who did not drink the juice.) Increasing the time it takes for a man's PSA levels to double may postpone cancer recurrences and reduce his need to have other cancer treatment procedures, such as surgery or radiation, in the future.

Pomegranate juice also appears to suppress the growth of cancer cells and cause prostate cancer cells to die. It is believed that the antioxidants in the juice - particularly ellagic acid - are behind this beneficial effect. There are also some very early research being conducted to find out how pomegranate juice may be used to treat breast cancer and osteoarthritis."

Read the rest of this article here!

Dark Chocolate Added Daily Means a Happy Heart!

2009-12-05T00:41:00.000-08:00

Savor a half a bar of organic, gourmet dark chocolate per week for heart health...

From ScienceDaily.com comes this great bit of news about adding dark chocolate to your daily routine to keep risk of heart attack at bay. Here's more from the article:

"...A new effect, demonstrated for the first time in a population study by the Research Laboratories of the Catholic University in Campobasso, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute of Milan.
The findings, published in the last issue of the Journal of Nutrition, official journal of the American Society of Nutrition, come from one of the largest epidemiological studies ever conducted in Europe, the Moli-sani Project, which has enrolled 20,000 inhabitants of the Molise region so far. By studying the participants recruited, researchers focused on the complex mechanism of inflammation.

Photo from OhSheGlows.com

It is known how a chronic inflammatory state represents a risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease, from myocardial infarction to stroke, just to mention the major diseases. Keeping the inflammation process under control has become a major issue for prevention programs and C reactive protein turned out to be one of the most promising markers, detectable by a simple blood test.
The Italian team related the levels of this protein in the blood of examined people with their usual chocolate intake. Out of 11,000, researchers identified 4,849 subjects in good health and free of risk factors (normal cholesterol, blood pressure and other parameters). Among them, 1,317 did not use to eat any chocolate, while 824 used to have chocolate regularly, but just the dark one."

Read the rest of this article here on ScienceDaily.

Dark Chocolate Each Day - An Alternative to Asprin?

2009-12-02T00:53:00.000-08:00

A bite of gourmet dark chocolate could help your blood flow!

Could dark chocolate have the same effects on thinning the blood as asprin? Here's a great article from BBC News about a recent study by Johns Hopkins University in Chicago. Here's more from the article:

"....Researchers carried out tests on 139 "chocoholics" who were disqualified from another study because they could not give up their habit. Previous research has suggested that chocolate is good for the heart. The study, by Johns Hopkins University, featured at an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago.

The Johns Hopkins team started out examining the effects of aspirin on platelets, the tiny solid particles in blood that clump together to form a clot.

However, 139 people who signed up for the study were disqualified because they were unable to give up eating chocolate as required. Researchers have known for almost two decades that dark chocolate can lower blood pressure and has other beneficial effects on blood flow.
But the "chocoholic" group gave the Johns Hopkins team an ideal chance to probe why this might be a little further by carrying out a biochemical analysis.

They carried out tests comparing how long it took platelets taken from the "chocoholics" and others who had not eaten chocolate to clump together when they were run through a mechanical blood vessel system.

Platelets from those who stayed away from chocolate clotted faster, at 123 seconds, compared with 130 seconds for the chocolate group. Researcher Professor Diane Becker said: "What these chocolate 'offenders' taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart attack."

Read the rest of this fascinating study here.

Organic Fun! How to Start an Organic Garden...

2009-11-28T02:45:00.000-08:00

An organic, gourmet garden in your back yard? Indeed!

From The Huffington Post is this great article on how to sucessfully start an organic garden. Highly beneficial to your health and to the environment, it's easier than most people think!
Here's more:

"...If grown properly, your organic garden will produce higher quality, healthier foods '" and will be good for the environment and wildlife.
Many people have high hopes for starting their own organic garden and reaping a small harvest from it. The problem is that many don't really know what an organic garden is. Organic gardening is more than popping some seeds in the ground and letting them grow "naturally." If grown properly, your organic garden will produce higher quality, healthier foods—and will be good for the environment and wildlife. But it will take planning and work. Here's what you need to know to get a green organic thumb.

Know the facts.
The definition of organic gardening varies among gardeners, but most agree that it means growing fruits, vegetables and flowers without using any chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides, and using practices that are ecologically harmonious, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You'll still have to get rid of weeds, fertilize your plants and stop bugs from eating them. You will still have to go out and supervise it every day, and dig just like you would with any garden.

Start with a small plot.
Begin your garden in a window box or in a few containers until you're more confident. If you want a larger site, a 4-by-4-foot garden is enough room. Don't plant too much. Plan your yield in terms of meals per person instead of some vague amount of produce."

Read the rest of these great tips here on The Huffington Post.

Dark Chocolate's Five Fabulous Benefits!

2009-11-20T06:27:00.000-08:00

Dark Chocolate features many benefits that contribute to your well- being...

From DoctorSolve.com is the wonderful run-down containing five wonderful benefits that dark chocolate has to offer! Here's an excerpt:

"...You've probably already heard of chocolate improving the mood, but there are more health benefits to chocolate that you may be unaware of. Before you go raiding the candy jar, keep in mind that these health benefits pertain to DARK CHOCOLATE only. That is anything with a cocoa content over 65%. Milk chocolate is probably what you are used to, but if you are interested in eating healthy it might be a good idea to give dark chocolate a try.

1. Good for the Heart - Due to the presence of antioxidants in dark chocolate, studies have found that in individuals with high blood pressure, a stick of dark chocolate a day can lower blood pressure levels. In addition, dark chocolate has been known to lower cholesterol levels by up to 10%.

2. Improves Mood - Dark chocolate stimulates endorphin production which in turn provides the brain with feelings of pleasure. A substance called theobromine which provides you with caffeine-like stimulation is also present in dark chocolate. Dark chocolate contains serotonin which is known to act as an anti-depressant."

Read the rest of the list here! Delicious.

Dark Chocolate Each Day May Improve Metabolic Stress Response

2009-11-18T08:59:00.001-08:00

Dark Chocolate is more beneficial than ever!

Here's a very interesting study found on Medical News Today - more intriguing news about how dark chocolate can help battle stress! Here's an excerpt from the study on Medical News Today:

"...A new study by Nestlé researchers suggests that eating a few pieces of dark chocolate every day may improve the metabolic response of people who report feeling highly stressed.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Proteome Research, was the work of lead investigator Sunil Kochhar, a researcher at the Nestlé Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Anxiety and stress can cause various changes in physical and emotional states in humans, and in the longer term can also lead to serious health consequences.
Other studies have already shown that diet affects human metabolism through its influence on gut bacteria, and this too can have long term health consequences.
For this study, Kochhar and colleagues investigated the metabolic response in a group of 30 healthy adult volunteers who were asked to consume two portions of 20g of dark chocolate every day for up to 14 days.

The volunteers had already filled in validated psychological questionnaires from which the researchers were able to classify them into low and high anxiety traits.
To assess metabolic response, the researchers analyzed urine and blood plasma given by each volunteer during three test days at the beginning, the middle and the end of the 14 day period.
The main measures of metabolic response they looked at were stress-related metabolic changes such as energy metabolism and gut microbial activity. "

Read the rest about this study here.

Dark Chocolate Helps to Lower Stress!

2009-11-18T05:54:00.000-08:00

Organic, delicous dark chocolate soothes stress...

From Sarah Altshul on Health.com is this relieving article about how adding dark chocolate to your diet may help to relieve stress. Here's more:

"...The team of researchers was led by Sunil Kochhar, PhD, who heads the BioAnalytical Science Department at the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland. He and his colleagues designed the study to see whether eating dark chocolate every day for two weeks could affect the way the body metabolizes stress hormones.

They recruited 30 healthy young people—11 men and 19 women. They tested their anxiety levels and determined that 13 of them tested as “high anxiety” and 17 tested as “low anxiety” on standardized anxiety tests. They gave the volunteers 40 grams of dark chocolate (about an ounce and a half), containing 74% cocoa, every day for two weeks and tested their blood and urine at the beginning and end of the trial.

Photo from ChistineAvanti.com

In the high anxiety group, eating chocolate reduced levels of their stress hormones, and the changes were “biologically significant,” Dr. Kochhar tells me. What’s more, people felt less anxious after munching on chocolate. The findings did not apply to the low anxiety group. “We observed improvement in the anxiety states of subjects immediately after their consumption of chocolate,” he says."

Read the rest of this article here.

More Nutritous Benefits of Dark Chocolate!! Pour the Chocolate Milk...

2009-11-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

More reasons to love your chocolate - chocolate milk helps reduce inflammation!

In this fantastic article by Roni Caryn Rabin, we gain insight as to how consuming a wholesome glass of chocolate milk can be greatly beneficial! Here's more from the article:

"...Move over, red wine. Make room for chocolate milk. A new study suggests that regular consumption of skim milk with flavonoid-rich cocoa may reduce inflammation, potentially slowing or preventing development of atherosclerosis . Researchers noted, however, that the effect was not as pronounced as that seen with red wine.

Scientists in Barcelona, Spain, recruited 47 volunteers ages 55 and older who were at risk for heart disease. Half were given 20-gram sachets of soluble cocoa powder to drink with skim milk twice a day, while the rest drank plain skim milk. After one month, the groups were switched.

Blood tests found that after participants drank chocolate milk twice a day for four weeks, they had significantly lower levels of several inflammatory biomarkers, though some markers of cellular inflammation remained unchanged.

Since atherosclerosis is a low-grade inflammatory disease of the arteries, regular cocoa intake seems to prevent or reduce” it, said Dr. Ramón Estruch of the University of Barcelona, the paper’s senior author, adding that more studies were needed."

Read the rest of the good news here at NYTimes.com.

Love the Taste of Dark Chocolate? The Science of Taste & Smell..

2009-11-12T04:56:00.000-08:00

Dark, gourmet chocolate is indeed a beloved to our taste buds...but do you know why?

From Science Daily is this article about the science of taste and smell! Truly fascinating - here's more from the article on ScienceDaily.com:

"...Most people don't realize that most of what we call taste -- enjoying a meal or a fine wine -- is actually smell," Karen Kalumuck, a biologist at San Francisco's Exploratorium, tells DBIS.
Kalumuck says 75 percent of what we call taste is due to what we smell. "Think about when you've a cold. You've got this stuffed up nose. I mean, what did things taste like? Not so great," she tells DBIS. "That's really because we can't have the odorant molecules meet up with the sensory receptors in the nose and transmit that information to the brain."

You can see how the nose and the mouth work together if you pinch your nose and eat a piece of candy, then unplug your nose while it's still in your mouth.
The nose has 5 million odor receptors that can detect 10,000 unique odors. On the tongue, there are taste buds. Inside each bud could be 50 to 100 taste receptor cells. Each receptor cell detects one of five different types of taste, sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami.

What's umami? It detects the amino acid glutamate and was added to the list in 2000.
"Most ... have probably experienced glutamate in the form of MSG," Kalumuck says.

Also, spicy foods are not part of our taste or smell receptors ... They stimulate our pain receptors. So people who love spicy have a high tolerance for pain! And taste is all genetic! Your genes determine the type and number of sensors you have, so you can blame mom or dad if you don't like your food.
Kalumuck says you can learn to enjoy foods that might -- at first bite -- taste unpleasant."

Read the rest of this interesting article here.

Dark Chocolate & Red Wine Share Benefits!

2009-11-07T04:43:00.000-08:00

Gourmet Dark Chocolate and Red Wine, Packed With Benefits...

From the blog Dr. Shock MD PhD is this great article about the plentiful benefits of dark chocolate and red wine!

Here's an excerpt:
"....In a recent editorial a common mechanism for both red wine and dark chocolate is discussed. According to the author it is most probable that procyanidine, a flavanol, triggers an endothelial response thereby improving the endothelial function and decreasing the risk on cardiovascular disease. However these claims are based on in vitro research, done in the lab that is. This hypothesis has to be proven in vivo, in real humans and patients. It isn’t even clear how much and what kind of flavanols are absorbed to the bloodstream.

As in chocolate not every wine or red wine has a high content of flavanols. White wine has a lower content of flavanols approximately 8 times less and white wines do not contain procyanidins because the juice is fermented without seeds or skin. Procyanidins in red wine are derived mainly from the grape seeds, but owing to their poor solubility, seeds need to be present in the fermenting for at least 10–14 days for extraction of maximum amounts. So most cheap mass produced red wine isn’t fermented during two weeks and lack procyanidins. Manufacturing processes also affect levels of flavanols in chocolate products."

Read the rest of this article here.

The Soul-Felt Spirituality & Wellness Series With Jim Walsh - Free Download Here!

2009-11-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

From gourmet dark chocolate creator, Jim Walsh :" The Soul Felt Spirituaity Series"!

Just for you, we've made last night's 'Soul Felt Spirituality and Wellness' series with Jim Walsh available for download right here! Download and listen now to this enlightening, phone in conference about putting intention to work in your life!

The Soul-Felt Spirituality & Wellness Series - Jim Walsh's Free Phone - In Conference! by IntentionalChocolate

Click the arrow on the right hand side for your free download.

Tonight! A Free Phone-in Conference With Intentional Chocolate Founder Jim Walsh on Putting Intention to Work in Your Life!

2009-11-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

Tonight at 6pm PST/ 9pm EST - From the creator of some of world's finest organic, ethical dark chocolate comes a free phone in conference: "Soul-Felt Spirituality & Wellness Series".

Here are more details from Jim Walsh about this enlightening series:

Join us tonight at 6pm PST/ 9pm EST for a spiritually enlightening, free phone-in conference on consciously putting intention to work in your life!

Now that you've discovered intention & spirituality, do you find yourself doubting if it works? Were you uplifted for a moment and then quickly fell back into doubt?

This insightful series of 7 speakers (including me) will guide you on a intentional journey.

1) RSVP via this link.

2) Watch your inbox for call-in details

3) Be sure to look for your complimentary bonus gifts just for signing up!

Listen to my first experience of the power of intention as well as those of other experts who, too, have consciously partnered with intention. We’ll share our humbling stories, guide you where you are, and fully enlighten you with practical steps for putting intention to work in your life.

Learn HOW to remain in balance and live on purpose.

Spiritual teacher, Michelle Skaletski-Boyd has partnered with Consciousness to create this wonderful Soul-Felt Series with you in mind.

I’m honored and inspired to be part of the speaker line-up, so please consider this your personal invitation to listen in.

Again, follow this link to RSVP...we look forward to hearing from you tonight!

Organic Dark Chocolate Benefits - Cardiovascular Health!

2009-10-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

Gourmet dark chocolate is a cardiovascular powerhouse!

From the ever-informative WebMD comes this great article about the copious benefits that gourmet dark chocolate contains for us! Here's an excerpt that is indeed delicious news:

"...Based on his studies of the island-dwelling Kuna - who drink up to 40 cups per week of flavanol-rich cocoa and have a 10% lower risk of stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes than people who live on mainland Panama - Dr. Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, believes epicatechin, a flavanol found in cocoa (and tea and wine), is so protective, it should be classified as a vitamin.

Hollenburg's research, published in the March 2007 issue of the International Journal of Medical Sciences, revealed that compared to the cocoa-loving Kuna islanders, among those living on the Panama mainland, relative risk of death from heart disease was 1,280% higher and death from cancer was 630% higher.

The link between cocoa flavanols and cardiovascular health is likely due in part to their improving blood flow by increasing production of nitric oxide, a molecule secreted by the lining of our blood vessels (the endothelium) to signal surrounding muscle to relax.

In research published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, ((Heiss C, Finis D, et al., February 2007), eleven healthy male smokers, with smoking-related losses in endothelial function resulting in impaired blood flow, drank three cups each day of a flavanol-rich cocoa drink (306 mg flavanol/cup). Within two days, the men showed measurable improvement in blood vessel function. After seven days, impairment of blood flow in these smokers was almost reversed. However, the improvement disappeared within one week of discontinuing the cocoa treatment, prompting researchers to recommend daily consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa."

Read the rest of this article here - and don't forget to have a bite of organic, dark chocolate today! Your heart will love the benefits.

Gluten Free Dark Chocolate..

2009-10-29T04:44:00.000-07:00

Add Dark Chocolate to your Gluten Free Lifestyle!

Many people nowadays live with gluten intolerance and Celiac disease. Luckily, there are many wonderful gourmet dark chocolate products out that make life a little easier- namely chocolate (hint: Intentional Chocolate's dark chocolate is gluten free!)!
Here are five tips from LiveStrong.com about making safe choices when the desire for a lovely bit of dark chocolate surfaces.

1. Get the Gluten Lowdown
Gluten is a protein found in wheat and its derivatives, and can appear in a wide array of foods. Aside from obvious forms of wheat such as bread, pastries, pizza and cookies, gluten is found in almost all packaged foods because it is used as a stabilizer to extend the shelf life of products. Unfortunately, this means that gluten can be found in many forms of chocolate, because it is used as an emulsifier or thickener. Luckily, those needing to adhere to a strict gluten-free diet can still enjoy chocolate, as long as they understand which brands in which they can partake.

2. Simpler is Better
If choosing chocolate on a gluten-free diet, it is best to first examine the package label. Any ingredient that is unknown or which you are unsure, should be completely avoided--better safe than sorry. In general, the majority of plain milk and dark chocolate bars are more likely to be gluten-free than anything containing caramel, crisp or crunchy ingredients. A general rule to remember is the simpler the product, the better the chance that it is gluten-free. Luckily, this also means that the majority of chocolate indulgences on a gluten-free diet are generally healthier than their ingredient-loaded counterparts. Strive to choose chocolate that has less than 5 ingredients noted on the label, such as milk, cocoa powder, sugar or other recognizable names.

3. Do Your Research
The majority of large food corporations will list the safety of their products online, so make sure to check the manufacturer's website for its gluten-free status. Consumers can also try calling the number of the company noted on the package to gain quick information about the safety of its ingredients. Unfortunately, even if a chocolate bar has completely gluten-free ingredients listed on the wrapper, it still may be processed in a factory that deals with gluten and wheat foods. This means it is best to choose brands that you know are safe, have researched, or have spoken to personally.

Read the rest here on Livestrong.com !

Can Mindfulness Make Better Doctors?

2009-10-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Benefits of mindfulness....
In this very interesting article from the New York Times, Pauline W. Chen MD delves into how mindfulness could make better doctors...here's more from The New York Times:

"...One night during my training, long after all the other doctors had fled the hospital, I found a senior surgeon still on the wards working on a patient note. He was a surgeon with extraordinary skill, a doctor of few words whose folksy quips had become the stuff of department legend. “I’m sorry you’re still stuck here,” I said, walking up to him.He looked up from the chart. “I’m not working tomorrow, so I’m just fine.”

I had just reviewed the next day’s operating room schedule and knew he had a full day of cases. I began to contradict him, but he held his hand up to stop me.

“Time in the O.R.,” he said with a broad grin, “is not work; it’s play.”

Photo: Art Becker/Getty Images

For several years my peers and I relished anecdotes like this one because we believed we knew exactly what our mentor had meant. All of us had had the experience of “disappearing” into the meditative world of a procedure and re-emerging not exhausted, but refreshed.

The ritual ablutions by the scrub sink washed away the bacteria clinging to our skin and the endless paperwork threatening to choke our enthusiasm. A single rhythmic cardiac monitor replaced the relentless calls of our beepers; and nothing would matter during the long operations except the patient under our knife.

We had entered “the zone.” We were focused on nothing else but our patients and that moment...."

Read the rest of this engaging article here!

Dark Chocolate Beneficial For Pregnant Women!

2009-10-21T04:02:00.000-07:00

Dark Chocolate Benefits for Pregnant Women:

Here is more wonderful news about the benefits of dark chocolate! Did you know it is incredibly beneficial for pregnant women?

Here's more from The Medical News:

"...According to scientific research in the U.S. eating chocolate, especially dark chocolate, during pregnancy is good for mother and baby.

The new research suggests it could help prevent a serious complication known as pre-eclampsia, where the blood pressure soars during pregnancy and excess protein is released into the urine.

Dr. Elizabeth Triche from Yale University says pre-eclampsia is a major pregnancy complication which has cardiovascular manifestations such as hypertension and affects up to eight percent of pregnancies.

The researchers say dark chocolate is particularly rich in a chemical called theobromine, which stimulates the heart, relaxes smooth muscle and dilates blood vessels; it has been used to treat chest pain, hypertension, high blood pressure, and hardening of the arteries.

Dr. Triche and her colleagues wanted to see whether chocolate's suspected cardiovascular benefits also might help prevent pre-eclampsia.

To do this, they studied 2,291 women who had delivered a single infant - they questioned them on how much chocolate they consumed in their first and third trimesters and also tested levels of theobromine in the infants' umbilical cord blood...."

Read the rest of this article here - and don't forget your daily dose of chocolate!

Amazing Heavy Machinery - The World's First All-Electric Locomotive!

2009-10-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

From The Inhabitat and PopSci.com comes this groundbreaking story about the very first all electric locomotive! Here's more:

"...Norfolk Southern is the latest company to push a piece of heavy industrial machinery into green territory with their 100% electric NS 999 locomotive.

The zero-emissions train makes use of 1,080 12-volt batteries that allows it to run for 24 hours on a single charge--all while carrying the same load as a conventional locomotive."

Read the rest here on Popsci.com.

"Capturing' Lightening on Science Daily!

2009-10-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

From Science Daily is this "enlightening" article about fascinating new ways to study lightning! Here's more about this amazing study:

"...First you see it ... Then you hear it! But how much do you know about it?

Storm chaser Lee Nichols, says, "Every now and then you see one that just starts from the middle of the sky and completely covers everything. Fascinating." When he sees clouds roll in, he rolls out! "We have punched a core of a storm, which means driving right through it -- in what's called a bear cage -- and lightning is just bouncing around all over the place," he tells Ivanhoe. "You're inside like looking out of lightning bars," he says.

But as close as we can get to it, there's still a lot we don't know about it. Martin Uman, a professor at University of Florida Lightning Research Group in Gainesville, Fla., says, "One of things we're trying to do now is understand how it strikes the ground -- how it strikes what it strikes."

Engineer Martin Uman and physicist Joe Dwyer are trying to crack the code and increase safety. Joe Dwyer, a physicist at University of Florida Lightning Research Group, says: "If you are a power company, you've got to make sure that lightning is not going to strike one of your poles and cause a blackout. You got to make sure that if lightning strikes your aircraft that you're not going to get people killed."

The two are literally capturing lightning. They launch a rocket with a wire connected to it out of tubes and into the sky. The rocket snakes its way up to the cloud, finds the charges in the cloud, and then brings the lightning down to the researchers.

Dwyer says they've learned lightning doesn't come straight down to the ground. It does so in a series of discrete steps."

Read the rest of the article on Science Daily here.

A Free Phone-in Conference on Putting Intention to Work in Your Life

2009-10-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

From the creator of the gourmet, fine dark chocolates 'Intentional Chocolate' comes a great phone in conference about intention!

From Intentional Chocolate creator, Jim Walsh: The New "Soul Felt Series"

Jim Walsh on Spirituality and Intention:

Join us for a spiritually enlightening, free phone-in conference on consciously putting intention to work in your life!

Now that you've discovered intention & spirituality, do you find yourself doubting if it works? Were you uplifted for a moment and then quickly fell back into doubt?

This insightful series of 7 speakers (including me) will guide you on a intentional journey.

Register for this transformational, no-cost event in three easy steps:

1) RSVP via this link.

2) Watch your inbox for call-in details

3) Be sure to look for your complimentary bonus gifts just for signing up!

Learn HOW to remain in balance and live on purpose.

Spiritual teacher, Michelle Skaletski-Boyd has partnered with Consciousness to create this wonderful Soul-Felt Series with you in mind.

I’m honored and inspired to be part of the speaker line-up, so please consider this your personal invitation to listen in.

10 Heart-Healthy Foods!

2009-10-09T01:41:00.000-07:00

Gourmet Dark Chocolate is one of the many heart healthy foods!

As we have previously mentioned, dark chocolate has an impressive scope of benefits and is very heart healthy indeed. While we're on the subject, here are 10 more foods that are wonderfully heart healthy! Here's a few choice bits of deliciousness courtesy of Health.com:

1) Oatmeal

Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich superfood can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear.  Opt for coarse or steel-cut oats over instant varieties—which contain more fiber—and top your bowl off with a banana for another 4 grams of fiber.

2) Salmon

Super-rich in omega-3 fatty acids, salmon can effectively reduce blood pressure and keep clotting at bay. Aim for two servings per week, which may reduce your risk of dying of a heart attack by up to one-third.  "Salmon contains the carotenoid astaxanthin, which is a very powerful antioxidant," says cardiologist Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, the author of Lower Your Blood Pressure In Eight Weeks. But be sure to choose wild salmon over farm-raised fish, which can be packed with insecticides, pesticides, and heavy metals.  Not a fan of salmon? Other oily fish like mackerel, tuna, herring, and sardines will give your heart the same boost.

3) Avocado

Add a bit of avocado to a sandwich or spinach salad to up the amount of heart-healthy fats in your diet. Packed with monounsaturated fat, avocados can help lower LDL levels while raising the amount of HDL cholesterol in your body. 

 "Avocados are awesome," says Dr. Sinatra. "They allow for the absorption of other carotenoids —especially beta-carotene and lycopene—which are essential for heart health."

Find out more here via Health.com! Also be sure to check out the great recipes.

Solar "Lily Pads" in Glasgow ! An Incredible Vision...

2009-10-06T02:58:00.000-07:00

From PopSci.com comes this astounding article featuring the latest advancement using solar energy - "solar lilypads"!

Here's more from PopSci.com:

"...Solar panels don’t have to be eyesores. The city of Glasgow is considering the installation of giant, glowing solar "lily pads" on the River Clyde. Designed by Scottish firm ZM Architecture, the circular floats are made of steel and recycled rubber and range in diameter from 15 to 45 feet."

Read the rest of this amazing story here.

Save Money and Eat Natural? 10 Easy Tips...

2009-10-01T04:59:00.000-07:00

Organic dark chocolate benefits are affordable, too!

Here's a copious crop of wonderful tips from Health.com! Check out the 10 ways that you can improve your eating habits naturally and save money! Here's more from Health.com:

1. The end of the brown rice rut

Because nobody has an hour to devote to a midweek side dish, quick-cooking quinoa and whole-wheat couscous are truly revolutionary. With the same satisfying texture and nutty flavor as brown rice (plus more fiber), these 10-minute grains give new meaning to fast food.

2. Almonds by the pound

If you’re sick of schlepping to crunchy co-ops to buy nuts, dried fruit, and grains in bulk, you’ll be happy to hear that mass grocery stores are rediscovering these money-saving bins. That means we can buy less-processed, less-pricey raw almonds, unsalted sunflower seeds, organic trail mix, and more where we stock up on milk and other basics.

3. Generation 2.0 market bag

Buying fresh means buying often. And if you’re biking or walking to the market to stock up, you need a tote that’s up to the task. The new reusable, planet-friendly bags do it all—they’re big enough to carry loads of goodies, truly leakproof, and way cuter than granny carts. On the fence about bringing your own? A single reusable bag could eliminate more than 1,000 plastic grocery bags in its lifetime.

Read the rest of these wonderful life-lifting tips here!

Does Chocolate Help Migranes? Good News...

2009-09-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

More dark chocolate benefits! Organic, gourmet dark chocolate can ease migranes...

Here's some interesting news for those of you that suffer from migranes: chocolate may be a way to keep those pains at bay! Here's more from The Modesto Bee:

"...Researchers from Missouri State University say an animal study shows that dietary supplements of cocoa might repress inflammatory responses in the brain linked to migraines.

The study was presented at the International Headache Society's 14th International Headache Congress in Philadelphia this month. Results from the study indicated that consuming a diet enriched with 10 percent cocoa increased levels of anti-inflammatory compounds in the brain, as well as repressing levels of pro-inflammatory processes.

Photo: IntentionalChocolate.com

"It appears that a cocoa-enriched diet in rats can repress the proteins that are associated with the promotion and maintenance of inflammatory responses, such as migraine," said Paul Durham of Missouri State University's Center for Biomedical & Life Sciences, an author of the study."

Read more the rest here!

1000 Year -Old Chocolate Ritual in New Mexico!

2009-09-23T04:31:00.000-07:00

Vitality and dark chocolate? Dark chocolate benefits abound - ask the Inhabitants of Chaco Canyon..

From Science Daily is this wonderful article about how"Inhabitants of Chaco Canyon apparently drank chocolate from cylinders like these about a thousand years ago. " Read more below about the findings from Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Patricia L. Crown and her Collaborator at the Hershey Center of Health and Nutrition W. Jeffrey Hurst.

"....Crown has long been fascinated by ceramic cylinders excavated at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon excavated in the Hyde Exploring Expedition from 1896-1899 and the National Geographic Society Expedition from 1920 to 1927. Only about 200 of the cylinders exist and most were found in a single room at the site. The cylinders are now housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and at the American Museum of Natural History.

Photo: University of New Mexico

Archaeologists generally agree the vessels were used for some ritual, but there has been great disagreement about the specific use of the vessels. Crown was thinking about how the Maya drank chocolate from ceramic cylinders, and wondered whether the cylinders found at Chaco might have been used in the same way. It was clear that the Maya used the cylinders for chocolate. Experts could read the glyphs on the vessels that made it clear they were chocolate containers.

From 2004-2007 UNM graduate and undergraduate students had excavated the trash middens directly south of Pueblo Bonito and uncovered thousands of pottery fragments that could be used for analysis. Crown selected sherds that were from cylinders or pitchers. She could tell they were dated between 1000 and 1125 A.D. based on the decorative style. She selected a few sherds and worked with a graduate student to grind off the edges for testing, then sent the material to W. Jeffrey Hurst at the Hershey Center. He tested the powder using an analytical method he had developed and found the presence of theobromine, a marker for Theobroma cacao or chocolate."

Read more about these fascinating findings here.

Detox Your Body Safely & Naturally!

2009-09-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ethical, organic dark chocolate nurtures the body and soul!

From Health.com is are these wonderful steps you can take to rejuvinate and detox your body....and your life! Here's more:

"...Our 12 simple steps will help you detoxify everything from your food to your feet, from your bedroom to your breasts. Purifying your life won’t happen overnight, despite what those detox foot-pad makers promise on late-night television. (PS: They don’t work!) But if you begin today you’ll definitely be a little healthier by the time you get into bed. Here’s how to get started:

1. Protect against pesticides
Washing fruit and veggies is a must-do every time you bring them home. Why? An overload of pesticides in air, food, or water may set the stage for Parkinson’s disease, breast cancer, and possibly Alzheimer’s disease decades down the road, according to research. Apparently the chemicals in pesticides—which find a home on the surface of produce—can damage the energy-producing parts of brain cells. There’s also a pesticide-and-arthritis link. Protect your brain and body by washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly, especially if you aren’t eating organic. (You don’t need to use fancy detergent; plain water should do the trick.)
Also watch out for pesticides in your own yard and garden, because anything you spray outside will likely end up in your home. Defend your greenery, instead, with insects (such as ladybugs) or a natural, safe repellent like neem oil (1 quart, $22.50).

2. It’s curtains for plastic
You know that strong odor emanating from some new plastic shower curtains and mattress covers? Blame the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used to manufacture them—which releases toxic chemicals that can make you dizzy and drowsy with just a few deep whiffs. Retailers like Target sell curtains made with materials like cotton, polyester, or hemp, which are safer to use and easier to clean."

Read the rest f the steps you can take to live a cleaner, purer life here.

New Evidence May Show 'Metacognition' In Some Nonhuman Animals!

2009-09-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a fresh and fascinating new article from Science Daily! According to a new study by J. David Smith, Ph.D. at the University at Buffalo, there is growing evidence that "some animals share functional parallels with human conscious metacognition -- that is, they may share humans' ability to reflect upon, monitor or regulate their states of mind."

Here's more from Science Daily:

"....He says "comparative psychologists have studied the question of whether or not non-human animals have knowledge of their own cognitive states by testing a dolphin, pigeons, rats, monkeys and apes using perception, memory and food-concealment paradigms.

Photo: University at Buffalo

"The field offers growing evidence that some animals have functional parallels to humans' consciousness and to humans' cognitive self-awareness," he says. Among these species are dolphins and macaque monkeys (an Old World monkey species).

Smith recounts the original animal-metacognition experiment with Natua the dolphin. "When uncertain, the dolphin clearly hesitated and wavered between his two possible responses," he says, "but when certain, he swam toward his chosen response so fast that his bow wave would soak the researchers' electronic switches."

Read more about this incredible discovery here on Science Daily!

Trees Become Electric? Scientists Bring out the Spark!

2009-09-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

From the wonderful Huffington Post is this article about an 'electrifying' (pardon the pun) new discovery! Scientists at The University of Washington have discovered that trees may be a new source of electricity! Here's more from the article:

"...In an experiment that will seem familiar to students of the potato, the scientists stuck one electrode into a bigleaf maple, and another in the ground, and saw that the tree generated a tiny stream of electricity -- a few hundred millivolts. That's not enough electricity to do much ... but run a circuit and get published in the scientific journal Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Transactions on Nanotechnology.

Photo: University of Washington

(As of that potato, this experiment is different, the authors said: "The tree-power phenomenon is different from the popular potato or lemon experiment, in which two different metals react with the food to create an electric potential difference that causes a current to flow." The tree experiment uses the same metal for both electrodes.)"

Read the rest here - the future looks bright!

Still in Tip-Top Shape! Richard & Louise Guy....

2009-09-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Dark chocolate truffles and vitality of mind keeps them sharp...

Here's a fabulous story of a spritely couple in their 90's who stay mindfully and physically active with the help of exercise, yoga, chocolate and mathematics.

Richard, who is a professor of mathematics at the University of Calgary says "You just keep moving, keep your mind and your body working all the time." Then there's his wife of 69 years, Louise, who takes in a yoga class as part of her regular weekly regimen. Louise adds, "I do my own housework, because it's such good exercise. My biggest vice is the occasional indulgence of chocolate."

It never ceases to amaze us that certain foods and physical and mental activities terns up so regularly in stories of health, longevity and happiness! Read the full article in the Calgary Herald about this inspiring couple here.

Left: Richard Guy, 92, and his
wife Louise, 90, work out Friday
at the U of C in preparation for
their climb to the top of Calgary
Tower. Photograph by: Grant Black,
Calgary Herald, Calgary Herald

Jim Walsh to Speak at This Year's Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival!

2009-09-05T04:44:00.000-07:00

Jim Walsh, CEO of the organic, ethical gourmet chocolate company Intentional Chocolate "Cracks the Cosmic Egg"!

As you may know, Jim Walsh is the CEO of HESA Institute and the CEO of Intentional Chocolate.This year, he is one of the speakers at this year’s Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival! Jim will present the short film, “Cracking the Cosmic Egg” which he describes as being "the new frontier in human energy systems where science, spirituality and nutrition all combine to provide maximum health benefits for mankind".

Here's a lovely clip providing more information about the festival:

The festival is September 18-20, 2009. Visit their website here for more wonderful sights & sounds!

Increased Longevity: Reap the Benefits of Healthy Living!

2009-09-03T04:04:00.000-07:00

Time for a dark chocolate gourmet gift basket! Improve your vitality and longevity....

According to a recent article on BBC News' ever-fascinating website, healthy living can add 14 years to your life! We all know that consuming healthy foods and taking excersize are key elements, but let's delve a little deeper into the details, shall we? Here's more on BBC News:

"...Taking exercise, not drinking too much alcohol, eating enough fruit and vegetables and not smoking can add up to 14 years to your life, a study says. Research involving 20,000 people over a decade found those who failed on all criteria were four times more likely to have died than those who succeeded.

The findings held true regardless of how overweight or poor they were. The Public Library of Science Medicine study suggests many could increase their lifespan through simple changes. The research was carried out by the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council in the English county of Norfolk between 1993 and 2006. Participants were aged between 45 and 79. They were socially mixed although overwhelmingly white, and as far as they were aware at the time, did not have cancer or any heart problems."

"....A point was awarded for each of the following: not currently smoking, consuming between one and 14 units of alcohol per week (the equivalent of between half a glass and seven glasses of wine), eating five servings of fruit and vegetables each day and not being inactive.

"We've know that individually, measures such as not smoking and exercising can have an impact upon longevity, but this is the first time we have looked at them altogether," said Professor Kay-Tee Khaw, who led the research.

Read the rest of this article here. Treat yourself well - and don't forget your dark chocolate!

Inspiring! 'How Small Farmers Are Saving the World'...

2009-09-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

Ethical organic farms are beneficial...

By Julia Moulden at Huffington post comes this wonderful article about small farmers and their siginificant contribution to making our world a better place! Here's more from HuffingtonPost.com:

"...Tim's family were farmers in Wisconsin, where his childhood intersected with the low point in the history of family farms. While his father lost interest in the whole business and moved on, Tim was bitten. As a student and young man, he worked freelance on farms across the state, heading west to take part in the wheat harvest each fall. By the fall of 1979, when he was ready to try farming on his own, the economics had changed so dramatically that it just wasn't possible. "Money was being handed out to consolidate the industry. Family farms were dying left and right."

Over the next decade, Tim started a horse transportation company, drove truck, and did what he had to do to support his family. But the pull of farming was strong. In the early 90s, he heard about community-supported agriculture (CSA), where a community of individuals pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. He knew it was time to make his move."

Read the rest of this inspiring story here, including ways that you can help!

Intention and Health - 'It's Good to be Good'!

2009-08-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Benefits of Intention!

Here is an in inspiring article written By Stephen G. Post, 'It’s Good to be Good: How Benevolent Emotions and Actions Contribute to Health'. Here's an excerpt of this excellent, deeply involved read that focuses on how good intentions nourish your health:

"...The convergence of evidence is striking in support of the hypothesis that benevolent emotions, attitudes and actions centered on the good of others are contributory to happiness, health, and even longevity in the agent of such giving.

Benevolence is chiefly about the well-being of recipients, but that said, it can be added that it nourishes the giver. The evidence that “doing unto others” is good for the giver has reached a high threshold. ".

Read the rest of this fantastic article here, as well as more wonderful articles by Stephen G. Post.

Chocolate 'Slashes Death Rate' in Heart Attack Survivors

2009-08-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

Dark chocolate, kosher and organic, offers benefits to heart attack survivors!

The wonderful benefits of dark chocolate never cease to amaze. We'd like to share with you the latest as to how the 'Food of the Gods' 'slashes death rate in heart attack survivors'!
Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times a week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared with those who never touch the stuff, a new study found.
Smaller quantities confer less protection but are better than none, according to the study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.
Earlier research had established a strong link between cocoa-based confections and lowered blood pressure or improvement in blood flow.
It also had shown that chocolate cuts the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men, along with post-menopausal women.
But the new study is the first to demonstrate that consuming chocolate can help ward off the grim reaper if one has suffered an acute myocardial infarction — otherwise known as a heart attack.

"It was specific to chocolate — we found no benefit to sweets in general," said Kenneth Mukamal, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a co-author of the study, which Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm led.
"It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate" in explaining the life-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails.
Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules that accumulate in the body over time and can damage cells. The free radicals are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and the aging process.

Time to add some chocolate to your day? Indeed.

For The Kids - Bring on the Calcium (and more Chocolate Pudding!) .

2009-08-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Most kids may not have the taste for gourmet, dark chocolate truffles, but the do need their calcium!

From the lovely food blog, Food Blogga comes this delicously informative take on the amount of calcium that children need...and a great chocolate recipe to boot!

Here's more:

"...Here are some facts about kids, calcium, and bone health:

* Unfortunately, bone fractures are on the rise in children. Researchers believe this may be the result of decreased bone mass and reduced physical activity among today's children.

* Drinking less milk and more soda is a potentially dangerous combination for children's bones. By not drinking milk, children's bones are not absorbing the calcium necessary to build bone. Then by drinking soda, they are stripping their bones of calcium.

* Starting at age 9, kids need almost twice as much calcium as they did previously! That's because teens' and tweens' bones are growing the fastest.

* Fewer than 10% of girls and only 25% boys ages 9 to 13 are at or above their adequate intake of calcium. This lack of calcium can have a negative impact on both bones and teeth as these adolescents enter adulthood.

* 90% of adult bone mass is acquired in girls by age 18 and by 20 in boys."

What can you do about it? Read more here about what you can do to boost your kids' calcium - plus scoop us a fabuous recipe (great to use with your Dark Intentional Chocolate Pistoles). Enjoy the read!

Quite Amazing - The First US Hand Transpant Patient!

2009-08-20T06:42:00.001-07:00

Via Physorg.com is the story of the latest feat in the medical community- the first hand transplant in the USA! 57 year old Jeff Kepner of Atlanta Georgia is the first recipient of a double hand transplant in the United States.

Here's an excerpt from the story on Physorg.com

"...Showing off his hands Thursday, Kepner said he's glad he went through the surgery. He had been ambivalent because he could manage with his prosthetics and had read that the world's first double hand transplant patient had to have the hands removed because his body rejected them.

But Valarie Kepner (Jeff Kepner's wife) was persistent. She had contacted UPMC without telling her husband. She wanted him to be able to regain some of his independence after being on her schedule for years. She gets up for work at 4:30 a.m., and that meant he had to as well.

Eventually, Kepner met with Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, the hospital's chief of plastic surgery, who helped put his mind at ease.

Lee said that for the May 4 surgery, 21 surgeons worked in teams of four: two prepared Kepner's forearms and two prepared the donor's hands. The teams worked simultaneously."

Read more about the sucessful outcome and Kepner's story here.

A List to Lift Your Spirits - 45 Ways to Improve Your Life!

2009-08-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

A dark chocolate gourmet gift basket can indeed lift your spirits - so can this list!

From the sassy & spirited minds at SmakNews.com is this list of '45 Ways to Improve Your Life'. It was such an enticing list, so we could'nt help but share a few with you right here!

- Smile more, it doesn’t cost you money and will knock years from your face off!

- Stop thinking about your regrets and start living your life.

- Forgive and forget. Holding grudges is like having excess baggage on a flight. You only end up paying hefty fines for them. So just bin those grudges and travel light.

- Enjoy your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make meal times sacred. Don’t talk business. Everything else is rushed enough; take your time with meals!

- Help a total stranger for no reward.

- Accept shortcomings and work around them.

- Volunteer your services to causes you believe in.

Read the rest of the lovely list here!

Healers for Your Health - Top 10 Natural Healers!

2009-08-12T06:30:00.001-07:00

Dark, organic chocolate is very beneficial, but here's a list of more powerful foods!

From Healthmad.com is this interesting, deeper look at some of the most effective natural healers available! From dandelion to ginger, here are a few remedies are well known for their healing properties.

Have a look at a few from the list on Healthmad.com:

-The Common Dandelion:

Dandelion is a robust perennial herb used as a medicinal herb internally and externally. It contains iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium. Those suffering from hepatitis can benefit from dandelion tea. Likewise, the juice extracted from the leaves is helpful for all bone disorders since the leaves contains magnesium. The tea made from the buds, flowers and fresh leaves can be very helpful in cases of urinary disorders. It is also useful in the treatment of warts. The milk from the cut end of dandelion is also useful in the treatment of warts.

Garlic

The Common Garlic is a natural antibiotic that can help prevent wound infections, relax muscle spasm, a diaphoretic, diuretic, stimulant and a expectorant. It is also thought to lessen cholesterol and can control high blood pressure. Garlic syrup is very useful medicine for asthma, coughs, hoarseness and other lungs disorders.

Find the rest of the list here!

Something to Smile About - People 'Get Happier' As They Grow Older

2009-08-09T06:06:00.001-07:00

Dark chocolate makes us smile! here's more good news:

From the ever-marvelous BBC News, is this wonderfully encouraging story about our happiness increasing as we age - is it so? Here's an excerpt from BBC News:

".....According to University of California psychologist Dr Susan Turk Charles, this should make the UK a happier society.
By reviewing the available studies on emotions and ageing she found that mental wellbeing generally improved with age, except for people with dementia-related ill health.
Work carried out by Dr Laura Carstensen, a psychology professor at Stanford University, suggested why this might be the case.
Dr Carstensen asked volunteers ranging in age from 18 to mid-90s to take part in various experiments and keep diaries of their emotional state.

She found the older people were far less likely than the younger to experience persistent negative moods and were more resilient to hearing personal criticism.
They were also much better at controlling and balancing their emotions - a skill that appeared to improve the older they became."

Read the rest of this very interesting article here - and smile!

Incredible - Diver Rescued by Beluga Whale!

2009-08-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

Nature's intelligence never ceases to amaze! Here's an incredible story courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk. about a Beluga whale that saved a drowning diver. Here's an excerpt that will surely warm your heart!

"...Competitors had to sink to the bottom of an aquarium's 20ft arctic pool and stay there for as long as possible amid the beluga whales at Polar Land in Harbin, north east China.
But when Yang Yun, 26, tried to head to the surface she found her legs were crippled by cramps.

Photo: Europics

"I began to choke and sank even lower and I thought that was it for me – I was dead. Until I felt this incredible force under me driving me to the surface," she explained."

Read the rest of Yang Yun's astounding experience here!

The Proof is in the (Dark Chocolate) Pudding!

2009-08-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

According to this article on ScienceDaily.com, new research at the Faculty of Life Sciences (LIFE) at the University of Copenhagen reveals that dark chocolate is indeed more satisfying and filling than milk chocolate. Read about the research; sounds like a tasty experiment!

"....To compare the effects of dark and milk chocolate on both appetite and subsequent calorie intake, 16 young and healthy men of normal weight who all liked both dark and milk chocolate took part in a so-called crossover experiment. This meant that they reported for two separate sessions, the first time testing the dark chocolate, and the second time the milk chocolate...."

"...They had all fasted for 12 hours beforehand and were offered 100g of chocolate, which they consumed in the course of 15 minutes. The calorific content was virtually the same for the milk and dark chocolate.
During the following 5 hours, participants were asked to register their appetite every half hour, i.e. their hunger, satiety, craving for special foods and how they liked the chocolate."

What were the results? Very interesting indeed - read the rest of the article here.

Can Chocolate Help Save The Planet?

2009-07-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ethical, organic dark chocolate...benefits that can save the world.

Here's yet another wonderful podcast from the fabulous NPR - How Chocolate Can Save the Planet! Check out this podcast and article by Joanne Silberner, full of fascinating details. Here's an excerpt from the written article:

"...How could chocolate help with global climate change?

The answer is found in a little piece of paradise, a patch of rainforest in eastern Brazil. Everywhere you look, something is growing. Orchids nestle in the crooks of trees. There are hundreds of shades of green, and the forest is loud with birds and insects.

Photo: Anna Vigran, NPR

Some areas have been thinned out and planted with cacao trees — the source of chocolate. The pods contain the magical beans that Aztecs counted like gold. The cultivated cacao trees grow just a bit higher than a man can reach, and rainforest trees tower over them like something out of Dr. Seuss — some round like lollipops, some flat like a plate.
And here's the climate connection. Rainforest trees and plants store massive amounts of carbon — keeping it from getting into the air as carbon dioxide."

You can read the rest of this wonderfully vivid article here as well as download the podcast.

Dark Chocolate....How it Promotes Heart Health!

2009-07-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

Grab those dark chocolate truffles! Are you curious to know more about all of the marvelous benefits that dark chocolate has to offer?

In this article on ClevelandClinic.org, we find out more delicious details about how flavenoid-rich dark chocolate promotes optimal heart health!

Have a look:

"....Flavonoids provide important protective benefits to plants, such as in repairing damage and shielding from environmental toxins. When we consume plant-based foods rich in flavonoids, it appears that we also benefit from this “antioxidant” power. Antioxidants are believed to help the body's cells resist damage caused by free radicals, formed by normal bodily processes such as breathing or environmental contaminants like cigarette smoke. When the body lacks adequate levels of antioxidants, free radical damage ensues, leading to increases in LDL-cholesterol oxidation and plaque formation on arterial walls."

Makes your heart happy, doesn't it? Find out more here on ClevelandClinic.org.

The Dalai Lama and The Doctor Within

2009-07-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

The benefits of finding your inner doctor!

From the wonderful blog on the New York Times, "Happy Days - The Pursuit of What Matters in Toubled Times", comes this inspiring article by Pico Iyer. In this article, he takes us with him on a recent visit to meet the Dalai Lama at New York's Town Hall...here's an excerpt in his own words:

".....We can’t change the world except insofar as we change the way we look at the world — and, in fact, any one of us can make that change, in any direction, at any moment. The point of life, in the view of the Dalai Lama, is happiness, and that lies within our grasp, our untapped potential, with every breath.

Easy for him to say, you might scoff. He’s a monk, he meditates for four hours as soon as he wakes up and he’s believed by his flock to be an incarnation of a god.* Yet when you think back on his circumstances, you recall that he was made ruler of a large and fractious nation when he was only 4 years old. He was facing a civil war of sorts in Lhasa when he was just 11, and when he was 15, he was made full political leader and had to start protecting his country against Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, leaders of the world’s largest (and sometimes least tractable) nation."

".....The Buddha generally presented himself as more physician than metaphysician: if an arrow is sticking out of your side, he famously said, don’t argue about where it came from or who made it; just pull it out. You make your way to happiness not by fretting about it or trafficking in New Age affirmations, but simply by finding the cause of your suffering, and then attending to it, as any doctor (of mind or body) might do.

The first words the Dalai Lama said when he came into exile, I learned not long ago, were “Now we are free.” He had just lost his homeland, his seeming destiny, contact with the people he had been chosen to rule; he had been forced to undergo a harrowing flight for 14 days across the highest mountains in the world. But his first instinct — the result of training and teaching, no doubt, as much as of temperament — was to look at what he could do better. Now."

Read the rest of Pico Iyer's intriguing article here (speaking of the Dalai Lama, we all know his taste in chocolate is quite exquisite!).

A Healthy, Delicious Way to Boost Brain Power- Chocolate!

2009-07-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Dark, kosher chocolate can boost the brain and increase vitality!

What luscious news for those of us looking to boost brain power! According to this intriguing article on ScienceDaily.com, "eating chocolate could help to sharpen up the mind and give a short-term boost to cognitive skills".

Here's more about the study led by Professor Ian Macdonald at The University of Nottingham:

"...Increased blood flow to these areas of the brain may help to increase performance in specific tasks and boost general alertness over a short period.
The findings, unveiled at one of the biggest scientific conferences in America, also raise the prospect of ingredients in chocolate being used to treat vascular impairment, including dementia and strokes, and thus for maintaining cardiovascular health.
The study also suggests that the cocoa flavanols found in chocolate could be useful in enhancing brain function for people fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation, and even the effects of ageing."

We feel smarter already! Read more about yet another wonderful benefit of enjoying a bit of dark chocolate here.

Happy Days and Meditation...

2009-07-20T16:21:00.000-07:00

If dark, gourmet chocolate makes you smile, read about the benefits of meditation!

It's all about happiness! By Daniel Goleman of the New York Times, here's a fascinating article with the Tibetan lama, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche about the benefits of meditiation - does it include greater happiness?

Here's more from the New York Times:

"...But when it comes to his own pursuit of happiness, Buddhist theory and practice are Rinpoche’s chosen tools. He has done several years-long meditation retreats, under the tutelage of some of the most renowned Tibetan masters. Of course, what we mean by “happiness” can be elusive, what with the myriad varieties of good feeling running from ecstasy to equanimity. One flavor of happiness at which Rinpoche seems to excel has been well-studied by scientists specializing in how emotions operate in our brains.

Richard Davidson, who heads the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, has found one distinct brain profile for happiness. As Davidson’s laboratory has reported, when we are in distress, the brain shows high activation levels in the right prefrontal area and the amygdala. But when we are in an upbeat mood, the right side quiets and the left prefrontal area stirs. When showing this brain pattern, people report feeling, as Davidson put it to me, “positively engaged, goal-directed, enthusiastic, and energetic.”

Image from tergar.org

Mingyur Rinpoche came to Davidson’s lab as one of a dozen or so meditation adepts, each of whom had put in anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 lifetime hours of meditation. Research on expertise in any skill shows that world-class champs have put in at least 10,000 hours of practice; these were Olympic-level meditators."

Enjoy the entire article here on the New York Times.

"Hope and Intentionality" by New Guest Blogger, Patrice Naparstek !

2009-07-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

A beneficial new blogger!

Given the power of hope to change the world and given that we have to ability to personally create hope…. we thought a series of guest blogs on the subject of hope and intentionality might be fun. To kick it off we asked Patrice Naparstek to gives us her thoughts on the subject.

Patrice taught Dance and PE for over twenty years at the University of Wisconsin. She also worked as a somatic therapist (Rolfing - Structural Integration and Cranial-Sacral Therapy) for over 15 years.

She is passionate about many things but her top priorities are truth in relationship, knowledge of self and learning to sit still long enough to recognize both. She is currently working on classes designed to support anatomy in embodied movement.

We hope you enjoy her blog and hope it is the start of a conversation that feeds the soul.

Hope and Intentionality, by Patrice Naparstek :

The feeling of hope is often like a loosely woven shawl draped around me with no beginning and no end often accompanied by teary eyes and goose bumps. It also sometimes feels that I have little power how hope manifests. If I want to find hope it often seems that I have to look outside of myself by talking about, thinking about or connecting to something other than myself.

On the other hand – have you ever made an intention – the fully committed without a doubt throwing of yourself into a direction? Maybe you decided to follow a passion of yours, quit a job and throw your hat into the ring of your passion. Your phone rings and an old friend you haven’t spoken to in a while asks, “Are you still interested in carousel horses”, or “Would you like to be in a new play I’ve written?” Suddenly the world around you supports your decision, gives you access, shows you the way.

When I’ve set an intention I’ve found that it often resides in my body as an energetic presence. Not always in the same place but actual, sensate and real. Knowing where it is helps me to find my back to it as life and the habits of mind distract me from my intention.

Try this. Sit up and either set an intention for yourself, “I’m going to call my mother”, or “I’m going to finish that sweater I started”, or remember a time when you felt the strength of your own intention. Now, where does your intention live in your body? It might be in one of the chakra regions or somewhere in an organ, like your heart or lungs, or even in the bottoms of your feet. Take a moment to really feel where it is, what is the tone of your intention, its weight, its color, its shape. Give your self time to really feel where and what it is. By doing this you create an internal road map to your intention which in turn allows you to recommit your energies, to find the source of your commitment. The practice of setting an intention has become commonplace in our Western lives. To deepen that practice we might realize that body and mind are really one – we can’t separate them and the more we recognize that link the more clear becomes our way to realization of our intentions.

Hope is beautiful, necessary but often springs from a well outside of our selves. But intention – the fully committed, wholly present focus of our wills is what moves us to action. When we recognize that it resides in us, literally can be found in our own bodies it is like the world lines up with us to make manifest that intention. Then Hope shines from within us giving the feeling of self-reliance that we can co-create a better world.

“Corkage and Commitment” by Guest Blogger, Nicholas Waerzeggers!

2009-07-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Nic has a unique perspective to share, as Maitre D' and resident Dionysius of L’Etoile Restaurant (a personal favorite), he intentionally presides over and participates in nightly celebrations of food and wine. We hope you find Nic's contributions lively, informative and thought provoking.

Wine and chocolate share the duty of carrying intentions attached to celebrations. Wine, the drink of Europe and Chocolate, the drink of the Americas. Both ceremonial, both stepped in thousands of years of myth and legend and both informed by their own Gods. Gods who show us that the fruit of the earth is a true transformative agent. Join IC and Nic in celebrating life intentionally!!

Corkage and Commitment:

The other day I was trying to gauge just how sorry I should feel for Paul Giamatti’s character, Miles, at the end of the film Sideways. The particular scene I’m referring to is when Miles drinks his 1961 Cheval Blanc from a Styrofoam cup alongside a flattened hamburger and a pile of onion rings at the intentionally morose burger joint. When I recalled his head rocking slowly back and his eyes rolling to a close, I decided I wasn’t feeling too sorry.

Photo of "Sideways" from EW.com
Certainly, there was a whole lot more going on emotionally and artistically in that scene than commentary about drinking expensive wine alone in a vinyl booth under florescent lighting. The movie was, after all, largely about Pinot Noir (not Bordeaux) and drinking that most seductive of grapes with friends, lovers, and even enemies.

What I do know is that Miles, if nothing else, escaped paying a corkage fee.

It seems that nearly everyone these days is being exonerated from paying for this oft misunderstood privilege of bringing one’s own wine to a restaurant. Restaurants across the country, including those who’ve ‘won’ The Wine Spectator’s Grand Award, have either waived or drastically reduced the amount they charge clientele to bring in their own bottle of wine. This move has not been limited to the United States either. My belief is that both diner and restaurateur, provided each approach the subject tactfully and courteously, stand to benefit. It’s a fascinating topic, really. While it seems to go without saying that diners know not to bring their own food to a restaurant (although there are some egregious offenses in this regard) it appears that some diners don’t think twice about stopping off at the liquor store moments before their reservation and plopping down a brown paper bag on the host stand. Rather than assume, diners should educate themselves and always call ahead to check on a restaurant’s corkage policy. Better yet, they should take a moment to peruse the restaurant’s website to try to gain its philosophy on wine and the types of grapes or wines featured on its list. In the process, the diner should have found some material with which they can engage the server or wine steward once the wine begins to exchange hands at the restaurant. Most importantly, guests must acknowledge that bringing their own wine is an extension of courtesy on the part of the restaurant.

I suggest it’s a courtesy because the average restaurant will lose the equivalent of about 26 average-priced-bottles-of-wine-worth of breakage and chipped glasses in the course of a year, or the equivalent of about 125 glasses of wine. That’s in addition to compensating staff to wash and polish the glassware, which, not surprisingly, is the equivalent for servers of Miles being forced to drink Merlot.

Just as the guest acknowledges the restaurant’s courtesy, so must the restaurant carry through on that hospitality. This means that a diner should expect the same attentive level of wine service that they would have received had they selected something from the restaurant’s wine list. The moment a guest’s bottle is opened then has the potential for a beauty seldom matched during traditional wine service. A couple, in for their anniversary, shares the story behind their being gifted the wine while on their honeymoon in Columbia Valley. Meanwhile, the server contemplates what the wine means to the couple. Then, the couple gestures to the server to pour themselves a taste (which every restaurant worth its vertical or horizontal collections should allow and encourage). The server must not pour a token taste either. The amount should be at least an ounce, but ideally about two, giving the server and their colleagues a chance to share the wine and talk about it with guests in the future. The courtesy is completed once the server shares their thoughts about the wine with the guests and perhaps also a story about their own trip to Columbia Valley.

Certainly not all restaurants can go through this ritual, just as every couple dining out will not be celebrating an anniversary or any special occasion. Therefore, some of my favorite places to bring wine are pizza joints, small family-owned Mexican restaurants (I like Mexican food, though I don’t necessarily know how to spell certain Mexican dishes - tostadas) and supper clubs. Here, $3 corkage fees are not unheard of and the staff often shows the greatest appreciation for a taste of wine they wouldn’t otherwise have encountered.
So, check the restaurant’s policy about corkage. If you’re still uncertain as to whether your wine is appropriate, you should feel pretty confident about bringing it in if your wine meets one of these criteria:

-Your wine and its maker are not represented on the restaurant’s wine list.

-Your wine is made from a grape that is not represented on the restaurant’s wine list.

-Your wine is older than the restaurant (provided the restaurant is at least ten years old).

-Your wine predates the person who will ultimately be serving it.

And, if you haven’t come straight from the liquor store with your wine (no brown paper bag, no price sticker), buy a bottle of wine or at least a glass of bubbly from the restaurant during your dinner, share a portion of your wine with the staff, namely the chef,and don’t break any wine glasses…well, here’s the best seat in the house.

Intentional Chocolate's Dean Radin, Phd. Featured on NPR! Have a Listen...

2009-07-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Dark chocolate & the benefits of intentional foods...

It's a lovely summer afternoon, just ripe for relaxing and listening to a tasty podcast on the widely beloved NPR!

Here's a rather delicious podcast for you to check out featuring one of Intentional Chocolate's scientists, Dean Radin, PhD.

Here, he discusses intentional foods on the NPR podcast hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, The Splendid Table.

You can listen to the entire podcast here or forward to the segment featuring Mr. Radin here.

Enjoy!

Delicious Listening - Jim Walsh Interviewed on KCRW's "Good Food"!

2009-07-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

All about Good Food (and dark, gourmet organic chocolate, of course!)!

Below is the link to the utterly lovely KCRW's succulent podcast, "Good Food". In this episode,Intentional Chocolate's founder, Jim Walsh, chats with host Evan Kleiman about all things chocolate! Here's more about the podcast:

"...Jonathan Gold feasts on a seven-course beef dinner at Vietnam, while chef José Andréssavors flavors "Made in Spain." Ted Haigh mixes up Valentine cocktails and Jim Walsh offers blessed chocolates. Nutritionist Carol Simontacchi fights against crazy-making additives and food scientist Harold McGee has tips on using heat effectively in the kitchen and David McIntyre celebrates Chinese New Year in Las Vegas and Laura Avery finds what's in season in the Market Report."

Follow this link to hear the podcast - Happy listening!

More Spark Than Ever - "8 Inspirational Older People" !

2009-07-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Vitality abounding!

We recently found this marvelous post on Oddee.com entitled "8 Inspirational Older People". It tells the stories of 8 people ranging in age from 56 to 108 (yes, 108!) who have managed to keep their lives and accomplishments not only ultra - progressive, but truly inspiring!

Here's an excerpt from the Oddee.com post about Olive Riley, the who was "the world's oldest blogger":

"....Believed to have been the world's oldest blogger, Australian woman Olive Riley began her blog The Life of Riley in February 2007 at the age of 107 and made her final post on 26 June 2008 from a nursing home in Woy Woy, New South Wales, complaining of a cough about two weeks before she died at the age of 108. She had posted over 70 entries, as well as several video posts on YouTube. Her blog (or "blob" as she called it) was inspired by her experience with documentary filmmaker Michael Rubbo who, in 2005, made a documentary about her titled All About Olive."

Photo of Olive Riley from Oddee.com

Read more here on Oddee.com about these wonderful people that, like a marvelous wine, improve through the years.

Introducing Guest Blogger, Nicholas Waerzeggers - “The World of Intentional Food”

2009-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Take the intentional nature of food, its culture, restaurants, personalities, products, growers, producers & caretakers and their intentions, mix in wry commentary on how and why we collectively participate in the sacred sharing of food.....and you have our newest blog post, “The World of Intentional Food” by Nicholas Waerzeggers.

Nic has a unique perspective to share, as Maitre D' and resident Dionysius of L’Etoile Restaurant (a personal favorite), he intentionally presides over and participates in nightly celebrations of food and wine. We hope you find Nic's contributions lively, informative and thought provoking.

Albariño and Commitment

Albariño - the Spanish white grape which more often than not zings with juicy flavors of nectarines and salsas happily with a lush sturdiness – is not frequently seen on liquor store shelves. Unfortunately, it’s just as seldom on restaurant wine lists.

This was disappointingly brought to my attention a couple weeks back while dining at a nearby restaurant that was featuring shrimp ceviche tostados. A glass of Albariño would have been so darn perfect with those tostados that I nearly wrote the restaurant in a brooding/longing personal classifieds missed connection frame of mind.

Above photo from The Wine Blokes.

It got me to thinking about Albariño’s relative scarcity. I thought maybe it was that intimidating ñ or the general unknown of Spanish white wine. Really, I think it’s just a matter of commitment. Not in a monogamy sense, but more along the lines of a redirected summer-love-interest sort of sense. Everyone had that summer, I think, where the expected reconnection at the lake or at camp was thrown upside down by the arrival of a new, more exotic girl.

“Look, Chardonnay. If there’s time maybe I’ll meet you after lunch by the docks. Albariño and I are going out to the sand bar.”

The Spanish, I’m told, drink Albariño in bucketfuls along side shellfish. Seafood is pretty easy to come by in Northwest Spain because of the many fjord-like extensions of land into the Atlantic Ocean. The resulting inlets, or rías, as the wine books say, invite bevies of seafood into the awaiting fishermen’s nets.

Albariño is not simply from the Rias Baixas, Spain, however. California and even Australian Albariños are at the ready and possess equally steely refreshing virtues. Perhaps it’s that steely quality as to why I associate nectarine and not peach, as the accomplished tasters do, with Albariño. Or, maybe it’s a bit of personal karma.

Above photo from Gerry Dawes'Spain.

I sort of understand that peaches and nectarines are the same fruit but with different textures. Maybe that’s why as a youngster walking through the produce department I sometimes dug my fingernails into nectarines. I did this, I believe, because nectarines didn’t immediately give way as the seemingly always riper peaches did. I liked the look of that crescent moon-shaped fingernail in the nectarines as opposed to a mushy thumbprint.

I see that I regret that behavior now, and I guess I want to believe that all those nectarines that were likely thrown out by the produce clerk ended up being used in some roundabout way. Therefore, I’ve committed to trying three or four Albariños this summer and come August, when nectarines are at their juiciest, I’m gonna sit on the balcony and enjoy one with a glass of Albariño. And while I sip, I’m going to write a letter to that restaurant saying how much I enjoyed their shrimp ceviche tostados and how I’d like to try them again with a glass of Albariño.

I’ll wait a month and if Albariño is still not on their wine list, perhaps I’ll attempt to bring in my own bottle. On the subject of bringing your own bottle of wine to a restaurant… (the next blog topic).

Chocolate and Green Tea - Which Is Healthier?

2009-06-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

Benefits galore! Dark, gourmet chocolate and the vitality of green tea...

As we are finding out, dark chocolate and green tea are two very powerful foods that have an incredibly wide range of benefits. However, do we know which is healthier - green tea or chocolate? Rhonda Parkinson on About.com tells us of the interesting comparison between these two "super-foods" !

"...Chocolate contains up to four times the anti-oxidants found in tea." Sound too good to be true? In fact, that was the conclusion of a recent study by Holland's National Institute of Public Health and Environment. Researchers found that chocolate - specifically dark chocolate - contains 53.5 mg of catechins per 100 grams. "

Read the rest of this rather "delicious" article here!

Delicious for Your Skin - "Chocolate As Sunscreen!"

2009-06-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

The benefits of dark, organic chocolate are many, but who knew that it could protect your skin?

From Sciencenews.org, is an enticing tidbit - can we benefit from using chocolate as sunscreen?

"...German researchers have shown that ingesting types rich in cocoa solids and flavonoids—dark chocolate—can fight skin cancer. Their findings are preliminary because they come from a trial of just 24 women who were recruited to add cocoa to their breakfasts every day for about 3 months."

Interesting indeed! Read the full story about how chocolate could help protect your skin here.

"Brain Stretching" - Get Smarter As You Get Older!

2009-06-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Vitality and life for your brain!

By Linton Weeks on NPR.org is this very encouraging article that states : "Nowadays, some scientists say, you can exercise your brain the way you exercise your body". Here's more from this article:

"If you sleep more, eat less and get plenty of exercise — using your body and your brain — says Richard Restak, you can improve your intelligence over the years and help stave off the dementia that comes with old age.
Restak, a psychiatrist in Washington, D.C., is the author of the just-published Think Smart: A Neuroscientist's Prescription for Improving Your Brain's Performance. Research shows, he says, that the brain responds to stretching and challenging exercises in every stage of life."

It is also important to stimulate sensory memory:

"...To stimulate the sensory memory, Restak suggests testing your powers of olfaction. He writes that "eighty-five percent of the U.S. population can identify the following seven odors: baby powder, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, mothballs, peanut butter and soap."

Read more in depth here on NPR.org about the steps we can take for a healthy, happy, whip-smart brain!

Are "Brainier" Men Healthier?

2009-06-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

Credit: catsquared
© catsquared.com

A rather fascinating article by Ewen Callaway in New Scientist Magazine probes the topic - "Brainy Men May be Healthier Men". Could intelligence be linked to better heath for men? Here's an excerpt from the article with both sides of the story:

"A new study of 3654 Vietnam War veterans finds that men with lower IQs are more likely to suffer from dozens of health problems – from hernias, to ear inflammation, to cataracts – compared with those showing greater intelligence.
This offers tantalising – yet preliminary – evidence that health and intelligence are the result of common genetic factors, and that low intelligence may be an indication of harmful genetic mutations.

"It poses the question to epidemiologists: why is it that intelligence is a predictor for things that seem so very far removed from the brain," says Rosalind Arden, a psychologist at King's College London, who led the study.

One obvious counter-argument is that intelligent people make healthier choices. "You could say: 'look, brighter people make better health decisions – they give up smoking when they find it's bad for you, they take up exercise when they find out its good for you, and they eat a lot of salad'," Arden says."

Intrigued? Read the full article here.

The 83 Year Old Yogi! More Wonderful Benefits of Yoga.

2009-06-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Vitality at any age! See what a bit of dark chocolate and yoga can do...

Courtesy of the Daily Mail Online, here's a wonderful article about an 83-year old "super-gran" that stays incredibly and impressively fit thanks to her dedicated yoga practice!

Bette Calman, of Williamstown, southeast Australia, has taught yoga for over 40 years and can handle some of the most difficult asanas with ease. It just goes to show how far a bit of dedication and compassion towards oneself can go! Here's more via the Daily Mail Online:

"Mrs Calman teaches up to 11 classes a week with no sign of stopping and she keeps the 'corpse' posture strictly for her classes.

'Yoga keeps you young,' she said.

'Never have I gone to a yoga class and wished I was somewhere else, because I know I'm going to come out feeling on the top of the world. There'll always be yoga.'"

Read more about this inspiring yogi here!

The 3000 Year Old History of Chocolate!

2009-05-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Dark chocolate, in all its organic, gourmet glory, has been blessing us with benefits for quite some time...

Did you know that chocolate has been blessing us with its presence for more than 3000 years? The deliciousness dates back 500 years more than previously thought. Here's more courtesy of Cosmosmagazine.com!

"Central Americans were drinking beverages made from the cacao plant before 1000 BC, 500 years earlier than previously thought, say archaeologists.

These early cacao beverages were probably alcoholic brews, or beers, made from the fermented pulp of the cacao fruit, rather than the frothy chocolate-flavoured drink made from the seed of the cacao tree that was such an important feature of later Mesoamerican culture....

The cacao bean played an important role in Mesoamerican civilisation – the native civilisation in parts of Mexico and Central America prior to the Spanish conquest of the 16th century.

The bean was a form of currency in Aztec society, and the frothed chocolate drink made from fermented beans or seeds was central to social and ritual life throughout Mesoamerica."

Read more about the astonishing evolution of our favorite food here!

Dark Chocolate: Part of the 20 "Lifespan Essential" Products

2009-05-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

More benefits - Dark chocolate is a life span essential food!

Dark Chocolate is indeed one of the "foods of the Gods!" In a recent article on Healthinfoniac.com, dark chocolate was listed as one of the 20 "Lifespan Essential" products along with black and green tea, coffee, spinach and strawberries. Here's more about these glorious foods that are essentials for not only a healthy life, but for longevity as well!

"Gary Williamson, professor at Leeds University completed a list of 20 "lifespan essential" products that can slow down ageing process. Most of the food consists of fruits and vegetables that contain polyphenols that are known to have numerous health benefits. The high levels of polyphenols prevent different types of cancer, play a protective role for heart and vessels and protect against nerve damage. "

Very encouraging as we all love our dark chocolate, don't we? Read the rest of the article here!

The World's Fastest Chocolate? The Chocolate-Fueled Race Car!

2009-05-20T23:59:00.000-07:00

Talk about dark chocolate and vitality....

From the Associated Press, British scientists revealed a most amazing creation - a race car fueled by chocolate! Here's an excerpt from Meera Selva's article about this groundbreaking machine:

"The car runs on vegetable oils and chocolate waste that has been turned into biofuel. The steering wheel is made out of plant-based fibers derived from carrots and other root vegetables, and the seat is built of flax fibre and soybean oil foam. The body is also made of plant fibers.
Scientists at the University of Warwick say their car is the fastest to run on biofuels and also be made from biodegradable materials. It has been built to Formula 3 specifications about the car's size, weight, and performance."

Read the rest of the article here. Who knew chocolate could be this versatile?

Visualization: How to Improve Your Luck!

2009-05-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Janice Taylor from the Huffington Post wrote this article recently about using visualization to improve your luck! In this recent article entitled "13 Ways to Improve Your Luck", Janice describes to us the actions we must take to lead a more "lucky life"!

Here's more:
"After a great deal of research and experimentation, I am here to tell you that there are ways in which you can tap into positive force and improve your luck. Indeed, luck is the product of our own mental focus and attitudes. Imagine now that by changing your focus, you can intentionally increase the amount of luck you experience in all areas of life.

1) Tune in to Your Gut
Nearly all of the lucky people I've met said they trust their intuition and pay close attention to their gut feelings. A good way to increase your ability to "hear" your gut is to empty your mind. Meditation is one way to effectively clear your mind and tune in to your gut. After all, it's difficult to hear your intuitive self when your mind is overflowing with thoughts and to-do lists.

2) Face Your Fears
The only way to get beyond a fear is to march straight through it. Otherwise, you will either create a terribly long, circuitous route around it, or you will let your fear totally block your life path. If you hide from your fears, you are hiding from new opportunity that might be waiting for you. So stare down your fears and get back to your life.

3) Expect the Best
It's called the Pygmalion Effect: you get what you expect, and lucky people expect the best. They are certain that their future is going to be full of good fortune. And these expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies. Ask around and you'll find that "lucky" and "unlucky" people have astoundingly different expectations."

Read the rest of this inspiring article here. And yes...get lucky!

Chocolate - Can It Help Cure ADHD?

2009-05-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be more benefits to moderate consumption of dark chocolate, here's yet another string that this amazing "superfood" may have added to its bow - the ability to help cure ADHD! Here's more from an article by Christine Cadena on AssociatedContent.com:

"In behavioral therapy, ADHD children are taught to complete goals through the establishment of mini-goals and then focusing on the smaller tasks in an effort to achieve the final desired outcome.
With this in mind, research has recently shown the sensory neurotransmitter, phenylethylamine, increases mental activity and promotes focus. In children with ADHD, this naturally based neurotransmitter is usually deficient and is desperately needed in the treatment of the ADHD symptoms such as improving focus and concentration.
So, oddly enough, where is phenylethylamine, PEA, found? Chocolate. In prior years, scientists had found the PEA presence in chocolate was responsible for short term mood enhancement and focus. In drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall, it is commonly known that the ADHD patient’s ability to concentrate is significantly improved. What is not known is that both Ritalin and Adderall contain PEA and may offer significant improvement for individuals suffering from ADHD and show signs of deficient PEA naturally. By consuming the prescription medications, the ability to focus and concentrate is improved thus research is now focusing on the PEA contribution that may be found in a piece of chocolate..."

Read the rest of the article here!

Dark Chocolate is on the Menu for Buddhist Monks!

2009-05-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

Dark chocolate is indeed a food for everyone! Carl at Candy Dish Blog enlightens us as to how, even under the strictest diets that Thai monks follow, dark chocolate is permitted.

Here's more from Candy Dish Blog:

"They cannot eat food after noon, according to the rules they agreed to follow when taking their vows. Beverages are okay, however, as well as most liquids that do not contain a particulate. Anything containing milk is not okay. The most surprising thing I found is that dark chocolate is okay as well, even under the watch of one of the strictest Thai monks in modern history."

Find out why the healthful and beautiful "food of the gods" is permitted here.

Motherhood...The "Role Of A Lifetime"!

2009-05-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

It's Mother's Day! Here's a wonderful ode to motherhood courtesy of Intent.com, written by Cheryl Sablan, "Motherhood: How to Define the Role of a Lifetime ". Whether you treat your beloved mother to a lovely box of chocolate, a delicious mother's day brunch or simply a day at the park, Mothers everywhere are to be celebrated!

Here's more : " With that said, motherhood continues to be a defining role that many of us crave. Are you a mother? If so, you’re among friends. There are an estimated 82 million moms in the U.S. alone. If you think that your relevance as a woman is wrapped around your ability as a mother—if it gives you a sense of self-worth, value and validation—accept major kudos. Women know that it’s not enough to create a satisfying life just for ourselves. We have always been concerned with the greater good of our children, families, communities, and the world. "

Read the rest of the article here, and don't forget to check out Cheryl Saban's 2 week guide for women to define their own self-worth...very powerful! Happy Mother's Day!

Gross National Happiness! Bhutan's Groundbreaking New Constitution

2009-05-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Jigme Thinley of Bhutan, has put forth the fascinating yet simple strategy for a healthier, stronger society - Gross National Happiness! Here is an excerpt from the New York Times article " Recalculating Happiness in a Himalayan Kingdom", as reported by Seth Mydan:
"Under a new Constitution adopted last year, government programs — from agriculture to transportation to foreign trade — must be judged not by the economic benefits they may offer but by the happiness they produce.
The goal is not happiness itself, the prime minister explained, a concept that each person must define for himself. Rather, the government aims to create the conditions for what he called, in an updated version of the American Declaration of Independence, “the pursuit of gross national happiness.”

We could all learn an immense amount from "this tiny Buddhist kingdom high in the Himalayan mountains", couldn't we? Read the rest of this inspiring article here.

Left: Bhutanese children, photo from babasteve via MyHappy.com

Kevin and Bean morning show on KROQ-FM host Intentional Chocolate

2009-05-05T00:26:00.000-07:00

Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter host the morning show on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles, California. They were kind enough to have Intentional Chocolate on the show to talk about our recent Time Magazine article, the Dalai Lama, chocolate and the power of intention. As you'll hear we had a lot of fun.

How to Taste Chocolate

2009-04-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

The flavor compounds found in dark chocolate exceed those of red wine, and detecting all these notes can be an extremely fun and educational endeavor. Chocolate tasting skills will allow you to truly savor chocolate. However much of what has been written about tasting and enjoying chocolate has come from traditional European practices focused more on appearance and display. At Intentional Chocolate we feel there is are additional steps you can take to develop a deeper relationship with the “Food of the Gods”.

As people's taste for chocolate is developed and refined, they can distinguish the subtle differences in the flavor of chocolate made with cocoa beans of various origins and intensities. The final step in chocolate discrimination is to be able to discern its coherent energy levels.

Room Temperature
For best tasting, chocolate should be at room temperature. This allows the chocolate to begin to melt the moment it hits your mouth. Cold chocolate doesn't release its flavors and aromas as quickly, altering the tasting experience.

Be Still
You can't appreciate good chocolate if the phone is ringing or you are checking your e-mail. Chocolate comes from all over the world to end up in your house, so turn off the TV and give the chocolate some respect. Take a deep breath and release it. Take a moment to appreciate the intention (actual or inferred) in the chocolate arising from its journey from the chocolate maker, the grower, the cacao tree and the earth. It will reward you for it.

Clear Your Palate
You don't want other tastes interfering with your experience of the chocolate. Make sure no flavors are lingering in your mouth before you begin tasting your chocolate. A piece of apple, a bit of bread or (believe or not) a bite of a pickle are all said to erase flavors in your mouth.

Look at the Chocolate
European traditions value chocolate appearance highly as one of many criteria to judge its quality. While important for display it does not matter for tasting whether or not chocolate has a shiny even gloss on its surface. The color of the chocolate depends on the origin of the beans and the roasting process. Often the most intense chocolate is the most primitive in appearance.

Break Off a Piece
European standards have also stressed breaking chocolate to listen to the sound. They say quality chocolate produces a sharp, crisp sound and a clean edge or the chocolate's "snap." This is simply a function of the “hardness” (melting point) of the cocoa butter and its tempting. It is NOT an indicator of quality, flavor or energy.

Smell the Chocolate
Much like wine experts, chocolate experts can find an incredible array of scents and aromas. Some chocolate flavors include:
burnt bread
nutty
spicy
fruity

The list could continue forever. When you begin tasting chocolate, these aromas probably won't be clear to you. That's okay. Spend more time just smelling the chocolate. Warm it up more with your finger, close your eyes, and let your smell-imagination run wild. Eventually different chocolates will recall different odors. You will start to know which regions of the world produce chocolate with which aromas.

Feel the Chocolate in Your Mouth
Good chocolate should literally "melt in your mouth." Depending on the “hardness” of the cocoa butter chocolate will begin to melt at 88 degrees. While melting the chocolate should feel silky, rich and luscious in your mouth. Don’t chew the chocolate; just let the flavors release on their own. Appreciate the texture of the chocolate -- it can vary from smooth to grainy. A sensual mouth feel is one of the highlights of the chocolate experience.

Taste It
Finally, you should taste the chocolate. You can chew if you want, but just a couple of times. Like with smelling the chocolate, pay attention to the flavors that just pop into your head. These could be the same as what you smelled, or completely different. Most truly interesting chocolate will have at least three primary flavor release points (some have up to 7). The first flavors present just as the chocolate melts in your mouth opening up to the cacao bean or the earth notes. This is followed by the second release of flavors or the “chocolate bouquet”. It is here, in the middle of the tasting, that you are transported to the floral garden, the fruited jungle or to chocolate’s deep soul. Finally, well after swallowing, there arises a hint, a memory of a pleasure gone by, a note (if the chocolate is very special) that will call to you for up to 30 minutes after you are finished.

Feel the Energy
If the chocolate has been intentionally handled you will feel its energy emotionally. It triggers feelings similar to the emotions experienced while viewing a tropical sunset or beautiful orchid. At its height it increases or adds to your own inherent energy. Well after the chocolate experience (if the chocolate is energetic) you should have a strong sense of increased well being.

Seeking Optimal Heath & Longevity? Look To The Value Of Friendship...

2009-04-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

In a very interesting New York Times article by Tara Parker Pope, she discusses how your friends are an essential ingredient for a long, happy life. In a world that offers a dizzying array of remedies, it's comforting to know the simple healing power of having a cup of coffee ( with chocolate, of course) with a dear friend!

Here's more:

"Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.

“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t terribly well appreciated,” said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. “There is just scads of stuff on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well-being than family relationships.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Chocolate and Yoga...a Blissful Blend!

2009-04-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

Does yoga and chocolate heighten body awareness?

Kristina Markoff elaborates on beliefnet.com:

"...When asked to comment on how she first linked yoga and chocolate together, Katrina had this to say: "It's this ritual part of eating chocolate that lead me to first associate chocolate and yoga." All eating is associated with ritual, but chocolate holds a unique, if underestimated place in feasting because we eat it with our hands. While most food is eaten with a knife and fork, chocolate is held by the fingers and melts against the warmth of the body, leaving us with the impulse to lick its traces. This sensuous experience heightens our bodily awareness in a way that other foods don't."

It was following an afternoon yoga session that Katrina realized that eating chocolates post-yoga held spiritual value. "After class one day I decided-I am going to have chocolate," recalls Katrina....."It was amazing, the flavors that came out after that class. It led me to connect yoga, spirituality, ritual, and chocolate, to think that maybe in certain yoga poses you could hold on to certain textures, like flowers, or you'd be experiencing certain smells."

Read more about the yoga/chocolate connection here.

Ions Conference 2009

2009-04-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

During astronaut Dr. Ed Mitchell’s space travel to and from the moon thirty years ago he had life changing personal realization of the interconnected, undivided nature of the universe. He founded the Institute of Noetic Science to deeply explore this insight and the promise it holds for mankind. He directed the institute toward the Noetic sciences to explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world.

IONS is holding their 2009 Annual Conference and in the next few weeks we'll take time to cover some of the wonderful people and groundbreaking ideas being presented at this years Institute of Noetic Science International Conference 2009:

"Toward a Global Shift: Seeding the Field of Collective Change. The time is now, to join together in community, to share our dreams, celebrate and take action - co-creating a new vision for our shared future."

The conference explores the forefront of positive transformation, a sustainable future, penetrating insights from pioneers and engages in creative dialogue with people from all over the globe.

Below is a video from the Shift in Action Youtube channel about the IONS 13th International Conference.

Chocolate Calculator:

2009-04-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway –but the Intentional Chocolate Man will know!

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

This is pretty neat.

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!

It takes less than a minute .
Work this out as you read .
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).
2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold).
3. Add 5.
4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator.
5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 If you haven't, add 1758.
6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are YOUR AGE!

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.

Intentional Chocolate™ Webisodes

2009-03-31T16:10:00.000-07:00

My production company, A-Okay Media Group, had the wonderful opportunity to create from concept to creation a webisode for Intentional Chocolate™. I thought it would be fun for those following to hear about our process.

At inception we came up with a script that reflected the company’s beliefs while injecting into it our own concepts that of story telling with levity. The result was an entertaining educational piece helping people understand how to set intention which can seem so daunting and elusive. Production was a synergistic event; perfect locations popped up for use, an amazing crew came out of the woodwork, talented actors committed to the project. It was enjoyable to watch the words we placed on the page come to life. Once filming commenced, I switched hats and became the acting Ashley while my business partner put on the director’s cap. Juggling the many hats is always a challenge but one that both of us find not only rewarding but a total blast! It allows us to be there creating at every step.

We here at A-Okay believe in setting our intentions and find that the use of this practice has helped launch our company and lead us on the right path of success and happiness.

Visit Intentional Chocolate on youtube

Intention Jewelry—Living an Intentional Life

2009-03-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

As a part of living an Intentional life we have introduced a new item: Intentional Jewelry. Utilize this line of Intentional Jewelry as a daily reminder. Create your own Intention, wear the jewelry and then throughout the day touch the jewelry as a reminder of your Intention. That moment of remembrance will enhance the power of your Intention and the inherent energies of the gemstone.

Intentional Jewelry is made from the highest quality gemstones hand picked and hand strung. They were chosen for their inherent ability to receive and hold Intention. Each gemstone is unique in its manifesting & healing properties. The featured gemstone of the day is Lapis Lazuli:

The Technology of Intention

2009-03-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

At first glance Technology and Intention seem to make strange bedfellows. Technology has a cool, unfeeling, matter-of-fact demeanor. Intention is cozy and warm with feeling, emotion, desire, and belief. What would they be doing together? Surprisingly, the more closely we look at the power of intention the more we are seeing that it is indeed a technology. A highly evolved one at that.

Since this is my inaugural blog, I would like to share how I came to this world of intention and its beneficial technology.

Years ago, on the banks of the Bio-Bio river in the Andes of Chile, semi-paralyzed after a serious whitewater rafting accident, I was told by the expedition doctor I would never make it out of the canyon alive. He pressed me to write farewell letters to loved ones in the time left.

Little did I know this was to be my initiation to the life changing power of intention.

I wrote the letters. In a foreign country, surrounded by strangers, on top of stark, lifeless mountains, saying goodbye to my life, I experienced a crystal clear intention to survive. The intent partnered with a crazy desire in the deepest part of my being to do everything I could to make it happen. A tall order when you can’t walk and the nearest alpine hospital was 10 hours away over rough terrain. So trust and surrender were required. I had no idea at the time these were essential components of intention - clear focus, deep emotion, sacrifice, trust and surrender to relationship (more on this later).

This is my example of the personal side of intention. Similar experiences have happened to everyone in one form or another. Mind affecting the stuff we are made of. Yes, I survived. No, I didn’t know how to make it happen again.

Fast forward to today. Over my 25 years in the food business, growing crops, producing and distributing products to millions of people, it became increasingly clear to me that the food we eat is not energetically whole. The pattern of information/energy contained in food in its most natural form is whole. More often than not by time it gets to our plates the information pattern is partial at best with the only energy remaining bio-chemical. I began looking for technology to restore its whole informational/intentional pattern. The research led me to the physics department of several major universities, including the University of Wisconsin. Expecting them to suggest new methods of restoring quantum coherence through non-local interactions, I was surprised when instead they talked about an existing technology. One perfected over 3000 years. Tibetan meditators, they told me, have consistently demonstrated mind-matter interactions and there are workable theories on how to embed and capture patterns of intentional coherence that stem from meditation – particularly long term meditators (practice apparently does make perfect!).

We tried it. We tested it. It worked.

By combining ancient technology with new we were able to use intention to positively affect the whole qualities of chocolate and the well being of those who ate it (wellness is the base intention embedded in the chocolate). We confirmed our results through double blind, placebo based methods. You can read more about the experiment and its results at HYPERLINK "http://www.intentionalchocolate.com/" IntentionalChocolate.com.

Now we know there is a method for repeating intentional results. A real technology.

So what does this tell us about these strange bedfellows intention & technology? The answer seems to point to a relationship with a level of information available to us all, given the proper conditions (like my experience in Chile or the practices of long term meditators). We ask the questions. Responses come and are available to us all. The same qualities that make for a good relationship define the necessary elements of the intentional technology. We will explore those qualities and that relationship in upcoming posts.