Cacao, Cocoa, Chocolate - Food Or Pyschoactive Medicine?
It's the day after Halloween, and the thing on my mind is: cacao, cocoa, and chocolate.
Because what else would be on my mind the day after the biggest candy/junk food/sugar fest of the year?
Actually, cacao, cocoa, and chocolate are substances I don't typically keep in my house.
No, not even for Halloween.
That may seem so cruel to some. Bordering on abuse to others.
No chocolate? Not even on Halloween???
No. Not even on Halloween.
But that's because I know too much about plants now.
And I've seen the effects it can have on some.
And I seriously question the hidden effects that may be harder to see in others.
Cacao - the raw form of chocolate - and cocoa - the heated, or cooked, form - are 'medicines'. Not food, like some of us might assume.
It's a substance that you wouldn't eat in great amounts in nature. Most likely, you wouldn't eat it in any amounts.
Raw and unprocessed, it's simply not appetizing. Not in the least.
(Go ahead and try eating some, raw. I dare you. You won't get past the first 'nib'.)
It's bitter - quite honestly.
And bitter should be your first inclination to 'use with caution', and 'respect as a medicine' rather than 'eat in plenty as a food'.
When we decide what is food and what is not, it all begins with that first bite, right?
And you have to go straight to the source. To the one, single ingredient, of it all to get to the real food.
How would grabbing an apple from a tree and eating it raw feel to you?
How about a cucumber?
Quite different, right?
Because those are actual foods.
In the herbal world, 'bitter' is literally a classification in plants with medicinal value.
When we want to study a naturally occurring substance in nature, we always test it out as our ancestors in nature might: by touching it, smelling it, studying it with our eyes, and finally, by eating it. Then it is ready for classification.
Cacao is bitter.
Bitter always means there is medicinal value.
So now you say, well, herbs, and medicine, are good right?
Right. Of course.
After all, chamomile herb is considered a 'bitter', and we herbalists love our chamomile, don't we?
Yes.
But no one would call chamomile a food, per say.
It is an herb.
And that is an important, even critical, differentiation.
Because when things are classified in the plant world as a medicine we have to look further. Dive deeper. And ask more questions before ingesting, especially in great quantities.
In ancient times, cacao (kaw-kaw, according to the Aztecs) was known to be a drug. It was used in Aztec ceremonies to make people feel a certain way, achieve a certain thing, and maybe even act a particular way. It was even used as currency at one point in Aztec culture.
It had nothing to do with necessary nourishment.
Ancients understood its powerful effects as a psychoactive stimulant.
They knew exactly what they were doing.
Fast forward to today, and chocolate, cocoa, and again, in more recent years, cacao is everywhere.
Go ahead and google the question 'is chocolate a food?' and see what you get.
Yes, today, it is considered an actual food.
But how?
Culture.
Most of the world's people today have such little connection to nature, they're simply unaware of these basic, basic things.
Chocolate, cocoa, cacao.
It's always eaten with sugar of some sort.
Or blended in a smoothie with fruit.
Chocolate, cacao, cocoa.
They are not foods.
So what does this leave us with?
It is a medicine, at best, and a complete and outright inedible toxin, at worst.
Because let's face it, some plants really should never, ever be ingested.
But for now, let's assume it's a medicine.
After all, people have been ingesting it since antiquity.
And most (none?) don't outright die from the stuff.
So let's now ask some questions, shall we?
Questions we would ask in any medicinal situation.
(I'll use the word cacao here, since we are getting to the basics, and cacao is the most basic form of chocolate).
Questions to ask ourselves:
1. What are the effects of cacao? Good? And bad?
2. Who can safely ingest cacao without side effects? Are there age restrictions?
3. What amount of cacao is safe to ingest at one time? At what age? At what weight?
4. What are the exact medicinal effects of cacao?
5. What are the benefits of cacao?
6. What are the side effects of cacao?
7. What are the benefits and side effects of cacao at certain ages, weight groups?
8. Are there certain other drugs that should not be used cacao? (Including both natural and synthetic drugs).
9. Are there secondary effects of cacao? (For example, first, euphoric and stimulating, and second depressive and dis-ease?)
10. Are there individuals with certain conditions who should avoid cacao all together?
11. How does turning the cacao into a cooked form (using heat) change cacao and its medicinal properties? Its side effects? And all the other questions above?
12. What are the medicinal effects of cacao when taken through the skin, if possible? And when processed, what are the medicinal effects when taken through the skin, if possible?
13. What are the effects of cacao on the body, long term?
14. What is the daily allotment, per age group, per weight group?
Believe it or not, we are only at the very tip of the iceberg in answering any of these questions when it comes to cacao, cocoa, and chocolate.
Yet it is everywhere.
We now consider it a food.
And your kids probably ate a bunch of it last night.
As always, I'm not here to judge. Not at all! But if we are to understand our bodies better, best, we have to ask all the questions.
And I believe it starts at learning to decipher the difference between foods and medicinal plants/herbs.
There are two known substances in cacao, amongst many many more.
Theobromine, a methylxanthine plant constituent related to caffeine. And anandamide - a naturally occurring arachidonic acid derivative, present in some plants and in mammalian brains, where it acts as a messenger molecule and plays a role in pain, depression, appetite, memory, and fertility*. It is also considered a plant chemical with the same endocannabinoid receptors in the body as THC - the chemical in cannabis known to cause psychoactive responses - good and bad.
Today, I'm sharing some found studies on these two plant constituents specifically.
Enjoy the reading, studying, and questioning.
And maybe put down the chocolate while you do it (it's addicting, I know!).
Or don't. I am just as likely as anyone else to be wrong about these things.
But be sure to take a look at the studies first! ;-)
STUDIES & RESOURCES:
(The studies below are nowhere near an exhaustive list. Always continue your own research and read the papers within each paper below.)
1) Association Between Dietary Theobromine With Depression: A Population-Based Study
2) Psychopharmacology Of Theobromine In Healthy Volunteers
3) Association Between Dietary Theobromine With Depression: A Population-Based Study
4) The “Dark Side” of Endocannabinoids: A Neurotoxic Role For Anandamide
5) Endocannabinoid System In Psychotic And Mood Disorders, A Review Of Human Studies
🤍🤍🤍🤍 🤍🤍🤍