Cacao

It’s amazing the difference in the price of raw carob powder these days and the price of raw cacao powder. I got a pound of raw carob powder this week for $6. Yes that’s right, $6!

What’s that all about?

I’ll tell you what it’s all about. In the early days, I’m talking about 30 years ago, those of us in the movement avoided chocolate in preference to carob. But now that chocolate has become all the rage, more especially with the touting of chocolate as a “superfood” by some in a most convincing manner, suddenly you can drive up the demand and charge $30 a pound.

But is it really healthy?

Consider the following from Paul Nison:

• No animal in nature will eat it unless tricked into it with milk or sugar.
• If you can convince an animal to eat it then it greatly shortens their life span if it doesn’t kill them immediately.
• The native people who ate it only ate the fruit of the theobroma (which contains all the benefits and none of the detriments) and only used the cacao seed as an addition to their psychedelic brew ahyuwasca and as a medicine in emergencies.
• Native people did not eat it as a food nor as a supplement, only for sacred use.
• Cacao is one of the most addictive substances known.
• Cacao is super toxic to the liver.
• It acts as a stimulant and agitates the kidneys and adrenal glands. This can cause: insomnia, nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night, shakes, and extreme energy shifts.
• It is extremely clogging due to the toxins carried in the oils contained within. Plus the fat chains are highly complex and require tons of work to break down.
• The result of long term use is a high level of liver and blood toxicity which can cause extreme mood swings, angry outbursts, violence, depression, paranoia, & dizziness.
• In some cases of long term use, there are also psychological effects that range from addictive tendencies, sexual dysfunction, violent outbursts, lack of reasoning, and decreased will.
• At mega doses of 40 plus beans, it acts as a hallucinogen and can cause many effects attributed to LSD or Hashish.

Probably the best advice that I’ve heard on things like this is: “if in doubt, throw it out!”