http://articles.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/rss.xml A blog about chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com daily 365 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://articles.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/?a=35584 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>I know what you're thinking. Here's yet another proclamation about being the best, or the greatest or the finest or the absolutely, number one choice of product in the entire universe. I understand exactly how you feel, because I have felt the same way. One of the greatest benefits of the Internet is that you can research anything you want to. So, if you want to buy a new car, you can visit various car sites. <br /><br />Want a new television? There are plenty of brands out there that are singing their own praises. Can't figure out which potato chip is the healthiest? No problem, there's plenty of chip manufacturers that will happily line up and tell you why you should choose them, and therein lies the rub. How are you supposed to make an informed choice when everyone is telling you how great he or she is? Like the old saying goes, everyone can't be right. Thankfully, I can honestly say that the World's Finest Chocolate is just what the name promises.<br /><br />So why should you believe me? I'm a chocolate addict, bordering on the fanatic. That makes me an expert. Ask me anything about chocolate and I can tell you. Dark chocolate has great antioxidants that go to war on free radicals to ward off illnesses like hypertension and heart disease. I know that it has a calming effect on the body by promoting serotonin levels. Most importantly, I know it tastes good and that's really the bottom line right?<br /><br />Continuing my chocolate credentials, I have a whole library of how to make every kind of chocolate there is and I've tried every recipe. I can bake chocolate cakes from scratch with my eyes closed. My coworkers try to hide from me, since I'm always selling it to raise funds for my kid's school. Well, not every coworker. The other chocoloholics that I work with always give me the once over for the catalogs I bring in at holiday time. It's sad to see their disappointment when I come up empty. <br /><br />I also worked for an actual fundraising company. There, we had different companies vying for us to use their products for fund raisers. One of the representatives that came in to make his pitch was from The World's Finest Chocolate. The name didn't really impress me since every chocolate dealer that came in said they were the best. One taste of this rep's chocolate sample was enough to confirm that the name of his company was accurate. It wasn't just my opinion either. Whenever the rep came in to drop off samples of the products, all of the employees were prepared to duel in the lunch room to win one of the coveted samples. <br /><br />I say all this to say that out of all of the people who proclaim that they are the best at whatever it is they do, one of them is right and in the case of chocolate, we have a winner.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Chocolate Gift Baskets at <a href="http://www.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/">http://www.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com</a></p> 2006-08-26T22:20-04:00 http://articles.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/?a=35583 <p>by Gregg Hall </p><p>Chocolate has long been a favorite confection for people of all ages and now this tasty treat is receiving recognition for being good for your heart health as well. Studies have found that dark chocolate contains antioxidants, which help promote a healthy heart by improving the blood flow. This lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes.<br /><br />What is an Antioxidant?<br /><br />Antioxidants remove free radicals from the blood stream. Free radicals are a natural product of blood cells. The world is also filled with environmental toxins that also contribute to their production. There has been research that has discovered that eating dark chocolate lowers the risk of heart attacks and high blood pressure by removing the free radicals and ensuring that the blood can flow more freely through the veins. It is important to note that it is only the dark type of chocolate that has these benefits. Tests run on white and milk chocolate did not show these positive benefits.<br /><br />What Research Was Done on Chocolate?<br /><br />A Swiss team of researchers ran tests on 20 volunteers who were smokers. They were given 40 grams of chocolate and were not allowed to eat any other food that was rich in antioxidants like certain vegetables. After 2 hours, there was a marked improvement noted in the volunteers who ate dark chocolate that was made up of 74% cocoa. The improvement noted was in the improved flow of blood through the veins. The research also showed that the chocolate significantly reduced the risk of blockages by half. <br /><br />How Much Chocolate Should I Eat?<br /><br />You should try to include a portion of dark chocolate everyday, but before you run out to the grocery store to fill the larder with dark chocolate treats, remember that it also contains a lot of sugar and fat, right along with those antioxidants. Before you add it to your regular diet, decide how much you can safely eat without expanding your waistline. Naturally the more active you are, the more you will burn calories. <br /><br />This would be true of people who exercise regularly or have jobs that require a lot of physical activity. If you have a sedentary job where you sit at a desk all day, or do not follow a regular exercise plan, than you should lower the portion of chocolate that you eat. If you don't follow an exercise plan, then consider starting one. Exercising three times a week for 30 minutes has also been shown to strengthen the heart. While you are improving your health with chocolate, you can get even greater benefits by including exercise to your regimen.<br /><br />These new health benefits of dark chocolate will let you please both your heart and your palate.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Chocolate Gifts at <a href="http://www.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/">http://www.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com</a></p> 2006-08-26T22:17-04:00 http://articles.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/?a=34839 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>We usually think of chocolate as a sweet candy created during modern times. But actually, chocolate goes back to the ancient people of Mesoamerica who drank chocolate as a bitter beverage. For these people, chocolate wasn&rsquo;t just a favorite food&mdash;it also played an important role in their religious and social lives.<br /><br />The ancient Mayans grew cacao and made it into a beverage. The first people clearly known to have discovered the secret of cacao were the Classic Period Mayans. The Maya and their ancestors in the Pre-Columbian Americas took the tree from the rainforest and grew it in their own backyards, where they harvested, fermented, roasted, and ground the seeds into a paste. When mixed with water, chile peppers, cornmeal, and other ingredients, this paste made a frothy, spicy chocolate drink.<br /><br />By 1400, the Aztec empire dominated a sizeable segment of Central America. The Aztecs traded with Mayan and other peoples for cacao and often required that citizens and conquered peoples pay their tribute in cacao seeds&mdash;a form of Aztec money.<br />Like the earlier Maya, the Aztecs also consumed their bitter chocolate drink seasoned with spices&mdash;sugar was an agricultural product unavailable to the ancient Mesoamericans.<br /><br />Many people in ancient Maya society could drink chocolate at least on occasion, although it was a particularly favored beverage for royalty. But in Aztec society, primarily rulers, priests, decorated soldiers, and honored merchants could partake of this sacred brew. Chocolate also played a special role in both Maya and Aztec royal and religious events. Priests presented cacao seeds as offerings to the gods and served chocolate drinks during sacred ceremonies.<br /><br />Europe&rsquo;s first contact with chocolate came during the conquest of Mexico in 1521. The Spaniards recognized the value attached to cacao and observed the Aztec custom of drinking chocolate. Soon after, the Spanish began to ship cacao seeds back home.<br />A very expensive import, chocolate remained an elite beverage and a status symbol for Europe&rsquo;s upper classes for the next 300 years. When the Spanish brought cacao home, they doctored up the bitter brew with cinnamon and other spices and began sweetening it with sugar.<br /><br />They managed to keep their delicious drink a Spanish secret for almost 100 years before the rest of Europe discovered what they were missing. Sweetened chocolate soon became the latest and greatest fad to hit the continent. Because cacao and sugar were expensive imports, only those with money could afford to drink chocolate. In fact, in France, chocolate was a state monopoly that could be consumed only by members of the royal court.<br /><br />Like the Maya and the Aztecs, Europeans developed their own special protocol for the drinking of chocolate. They even designed elaborate porcelain and silver serving pieces and cups for chocolate that acted as symbols of wealth and power.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Get <a href="http://www.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com/">great chocolate</a> at http://www.chocolatesforeveryoccasion.com</p> 2006-06-24T15:54-04:00