Reply to "Benefits of Chocolate"

The only problem with chocolate is the presence of oxalic acid which can deplete calcium. It is the same problem with sesame seeds which are reputed to be a wonderful source of calcium.

When my ex, Karen and I were running our natural foods store in New Orleans back in 1975, there was this cat from Albion Laboratories in Utah, Clyde St. Clair, who lectured on hair analysis when it was new, and also discoursed on amino acid chelates of minerals, an example of which was iron as found in a leaf of spinach.

The best research said that if you ate a tin can like goats are alleged to be able to do, you would get less iron content from the mostly steel can measured in ounces than you would from a few micrograms (millionths of a gram) of iron as it is found in the spinach leaf.

Clyde St. Clair was lecturing to the New Orleans natural foods crowd, intending to sell us Albion's newest line of chelated minerals. Our shop was going bankrupt. We had talked to the the SBA (Small Business Administration) about resurrecting the business (happy easter) and they told us forget it. Uncle Bill had to tidy up his own mess and even if it was Aunt Eva's business, in Louisiana they still have the Napoleonic code which holds a husband responsible for his wife's debts.

So we knew we weren't going to do much business with Clyde St. Clair. I asked him if a leaf of spinach was more nutritious to you than a bucket of nails, why wasn't it also as good as his pills?

He admitted that there was no difference - "but don't tell anyone." I concluded that Clyde was a good chap, and I kept my mouth shut and we kept eating our vegetables.

Sesame seeds have the same problem as chocolate being a great source of Calcium in the case of the sesame seed, but having oxalates in the hulls, the outer part of the seed.

Oxalic acid is what is in the leaf of the rhubarb plant which is said to be poisonous. There has, however, never been a case of rhubarb poisoning, so make what you will of that. My guess is that the leaves don't taste good, like an unripe persimmon or something like that.

Some macrobiotic people argue that oxalates have their place and that oxalic acid may even be there to let you get all that calcium and to function as a preventor of calcium deposits. It's a trade off and according to one of my favorite friends in medical research - in life forms - form follows function.

His theory (which is shared by many others like Teilhard de Chardin for one) is that all evolution originates in a will to live and that we tap into the universe and we synthesize, diversify and grope.

Why not grope for that chocolate Bunny of central american origin. Surely every food was put on earth for us to be fruitful and multiply. If there is a debate about animal husbandry and the vision of Joseph (that said it was o.k. to start slaughtering and sacrificing animals) there is no question that chocolate is good stuff.

Rumor has it that when St. John the Baptist wandered about the desert that he favored St. John's Bread from the flour made from the pods of the Honey Locust tree that we know as Carob. I've been looking for a carob easter bunny, but I've been frustrated.

I once was addicted to carob vita soy in combination with my friend Phil's Cool Brew hazelnut coffee and chickory from New Orleans. The Louisiana Health Food Center did go bankrupt. Vita soy stopped making Carob flavor because there is a shortage of Carob flour and the honey locusts have been over harvested.

There are a bunch of those trees growing next to the Santa Barbara Mission and the pods just fall on the ground and rot.

I guess chocolate will suffice for now but there a reason for me to grab a backpack and take the Coastal Starlight down the coast.

As Farfel the Dachshund used to sing: N-E-S-T-L-E-S Nestle's makes the very best. . . Chocolate!

What? A chunk o' chocolate?
Hot Hershey's? That's chocolatey???

Go easy on those oxalates. Forget what Michio says (or did before he dropped dead on the Tonight Show), and buy the tahini made from the seeds that have had the hulls removed.

Where are the carob bunnies of yester-year?
"Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan?" Where are the snows of yester-year? I do believe they are here!

I like all the Chocolate Bunnies here, and I figured Yoko broke the ice for an image of another hare of the bunny that bit me too. I'm still searching for a carob bunny at 1 half off today. It is a January Sale in April for Chocolate and other kinds of bunnies!

NB