Cocoa Powder

HIT4ME

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So, I have a friend who complains that she cannot control her appetite. I have recommended Norcodrene and she said it didn't do anything for her. Ephedrine/Caffeine gives her energy, but no appetite suppression (although she's only gone to 25 mg of ephedrine at a time). So I started looking at appetite suppressants and I remember "chocamine" being a supposed appetite suppressant back in the day. So I found some threads with Will Brink talking about putting Hershey's cocoa powder in his coffee, etc. - and decided to give it a shot today. 10 grams of cocoa powder in my cup this morning and down the hatch.

I didn't think much of it until I left the office to get do some stuff this afternoon and I realized - I have been energized all day. I FEEL GOOD. I decided to take another 10 grams this afternoon, and wow - I'm really, really feeling good. This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen from a "supplement". Over the last couple of weeks my appetite has been pretty uncontrollable too, and I've had very little to eat today and don't feel hungry at all.

I've been experimenting with nootropics and mood enhancing herbs lately - Ashwagandha being one that impressed me. But cocoa powder has totally surprised me. I was just hoping for appetite suppression, and I had read about the mood enhancing/energy properties, but wasn't really thinking about it. I'm motivated, energized, calm, happy, and just feeling great.

Anyone else try this? Not sure if this should go in the nootropic section or not - but given that I've just been taking this for one day and I'm so impressed, I don't know what to say. I've bought so many herbs, nootropics, powders, etc. - and I've had this sitting in my cabinet for all this time. We'll see what I think after using it for a while...
 
HIT4ME

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Wow, I know this hasn't been up long - but I'm researching this more and I'm surprised no one has anything to say. Similar to Lecithin Granules being an easy to obtain product that produces real results, cocoa appears to be in a similar category. One of the main chemicals found in cocoa is theobromine. An interesting effect of theobromine appears to be that it is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor - which means it will prevent cAMP from being converted into its inactive form - which means this could be pretty interesting when combined with ephedrine, synephrine, forskolin, etc.
 

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I've been taking cocao nibs for a week now and have noticed similar effects. Pretty impressed so far.
 

criticalbench

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There might be a psych component to her not being able to control her appetite.
 
BCseacow83

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I have had this effect from Raw Cacao Nibs in the past. Chocolate has a nice blend of compounds in it from PEA's, xanthines, flavanols, Anandamide(endogenous cannibinoid receptor agonist also found in raw cacao) so ya the stuff can make you feel good for sure.
 

macwad

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I just bought some cocoa extract as it has solid data on improving blood flow in humans. Layne Norton has it in his pre
 
HIT4ME

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I just increased the dose to 15 g of Hershey's Cocoa 2X per day. I was reading about PEA as I thought this may be the reason I felt so great yesterday, but I'm doubting that now. Apparently oral PEA is destroyed to a very large degree in the liver on first pass, and the half life in the human body is very, very short. Like, minutes short. I am definitely calmer, more focused, and some things that I have been obsessing over are easier to get past the last couple days. Maybe it is just psychosomatic. I don't know.

Criticalbench - you may be right. I think there is often a psych component to this stuff. But there could also be a hormonal component too...I often wonder if I have leptin issues. I go for periods where I can eat enormous amounts of food and continue to want more and more and not even feel full. I'm not sure why this happens. I've been going through one of these periods lately, and the last two days, while I've been on this stuff, I've had very little to eat, and just haven't thought about food until I have dinner at night...
 
HIT4ME

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LMAO T-Bone, nice.
 
BCseacow83

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I just increased the dose to 15 g of Hershey's Cocoa 2X per day. I was reading about PEA as I thought this may be the reason I felt so great yesterday, but I'm doubting that now. Apparently oral PEA is destroyed to a very large degree in the liver on first pass, and the half life in the human body is very, very short. Like, minutes short. I am definitely calmer, more focused, and some things that I have been obsessing over are easier to get past the last couple days. Maybe it is just psychosomatic. I don't know.

Criticalbench - you may be right. I think there is often a psych component to this stuff. But there could also be a hormonal component too...I often wonder if I have leptin issues. I go for periods where I can eat enormous amounts of food and continue to want more and more and not even feel full. I'm not sure why this happens. I've been going through one of these periods lately, and the last two days, while I've been on this stuff, I've had very little to eat, and just haven't thought about food until I have dinner at night...
Yes on the short half life of ingested PEA. This would be somewhat mitigated by the fact that if one were to eat cacao nibs there is some digestion that is going to take time and the trickle of PEA will somewhat counter the half life draw backs of bolus dosing. Also once again the combo of PEA, anandamide, xanthines and who knows what else we have not really discovered/understand and the mood boost is nice.
 
HIT4ME

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I was under the impression there may be some epicatechin in there too....and I saw an article on here that suggested it reduced muscle damage from working out...
 
HIT4ME

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I have had this effect from Raw Cacao Nibs in the past. Chocolate has a nice blend of compounds in it from PEA's, xanthines, flavanols, Anandamide(endogenous cannibinoid receptor agonist also found in raw cacao) so ya the stuff can make you feel good for sure.
I had never heard of Anandamide. It looks like our bodies create anandamide out of arachidonic acid, and also create arachidonic acid out of Anandamide.

This means cocoa powder contains both epicathecin and precursors to arachidonic acid. In order to get the dose of epicathecin found in most commercial products it looks like you'd need to be using quite a lot of cocoa powder though.

I think we've found the panacea! haha.

Along the lines of T-Bone - mini-me likes chocolate. Scotty don't.
 
Jiigzz

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I was under the impression there may be some epicatechin in there too....and I saw an article on here that suggested it reduced muscle damage from working out...
It will, if it hasn't been processed out of it. I was an avid cocoa fan until I found out most NZ cocoa has all the good stuff processed out of it so it tastes better.

We had a thread on that here. I was using the amount that suppversity cited as well. If I can get some that hasnt had that form of processing ill get it again
 

NewAgeMayan

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It will, if it hasn't been processed out of it. I was an avid cocoa fan until I found out most NZ cocoa has all the good stuff processed out of it so it tastes better.

We had a thread on that here. I was using the amount that suppversity cited as well. If I can get some that hasnt had that form of processing ill get it again
I cant remember if I mentioned to you in that other thread, but there is a boutique online store in NZ that sells imported Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder, not too bad a price, if you interested.
 
HIT4ME

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It will, if it hasn't been processed out of it. I was an avid cocoa fan until I found out most NZ cocoa has all the good stuff processed out of it so it tastes better.

We had a thread on that here. I was using the amount that suppversity cited as well. If I can get some that hasnt had that form of processing ill get it again
I've been using the unsweetened Hershey cocoa powder, I don't know how to tell what's left in that, but I've read it's very lightly processed - so I hope that means it's pretty complete.

NZ is harsh with their imports. If I could ship you some I would, haha.

One of the things that is interesting about cocoa to me is that it not only contains many useful substances, but it also contains substances that help those substances become effective. PEA and Anandamide being examples - they break down quickly, but cocoa has other chemicals that inhibit the enzymes that break down these products - so what would be mildly effective may be more effective than if you just took the chemical by itself.

I'm thinking cocoa/green tea/forskolin may be an interesting fat loss combo.
 
Jiigzz

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I cant remember if I mentioned to you in that other thread, but there is a boutique online store in NZ that sells imported Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder, not too bad a price, if you interested.
Always! Flick me a PM :)
 
Jiigzz

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I've been using the unsweetened Hershey cocoa powder, I don't know how to tell what's left in that, but I've read it's very lightly processed - so I hope that means it's pretty complete.

NZ is harsh with their imports. If I could ship you some I would, haha.

One of the things that is interesting about cocoa to me is that it not only contains many useful substances, but it also contains substances that help those substances become effective. PEA and Anandamide being examples - they break down quickly, but cocoa has other chemicals that inhibit the enzymes that break down these products - so what would be mildly effective may be more effective than if you just took the chemical by itself.

I'm thinking cocoa/green tea/forskolin may be an interesting fat loss combo.
I completely agree. Cocoa was a staple of mine and if the above is a decent price, itl go straight back into my stack. Too good to not use
 
HIT4ME

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I completely agree. Cocoa was a staple of mine and if the above is a decent price, itl go straight back into my stack. Too good to not use
Haha, it is so much more interesting when you don't agree with me though :)
 

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???? . Are we talking about unsweetened baking cocoa?
 
HIT4ME

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???? . Are we talking about unsweetened baking cocoa?
Yes - non-alkalized cocoa powder. Something that is as lightly processed as possible or the actual cocoa beans or nibs.
 
BCseacow83

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Just bought some Ghirdali(sp?) baking cocoa and it expressly says on the label NOT PROCESSED WITH ALKALI. Was 3.99 for 8oz.
 
HIT4ME

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Just bought some Ghirdali(sp?) baking cocoa and it expressly says on the label NOT PROCESSED WITH ALKALI. Was 3.99 for 8oz.
Bring on the cocoa GAINZ!
 
Jiigzz

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As long as it is not Ductched (alkalized) it should be fine.
 

bb333

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I love chock-full cocoa cake, 50gr use cocoa.
No sweetened cocoa.

So?
How the used ones?

Besides, soy lecithin
we have to add the cocoa?
So we are two natural ingredients of great powers that mother nature gave us!
 
BCseacow83

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Tossed two tbsp in my post shake. Was really good. Will add to coffee as well.
 
BeardedBreast

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How many grams of raw per day?
 
BCseacow83

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Yea, because if ephedrine isnt doing it...smh
Some people have weird appetites and it has to do with all the different hormones that come into play. ECA does jack squat for my appetite. Same with almost every OTC diet aid. Dexaprine XR works decently. The only thing that helps is actually not eating. What I mean is as soon as I have my first meal for the day the appetite is switched on. By delaying the time of day I eat at I minimize total consumption. I do agree that many people have a hard time differentiating between actual hunger and things like cravings and thirst and stress for instance.
 
The_Old_Guy

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How many grams of raw per day?
0.375g per Kg is what was used in the latest study. A 90cc protein scoop is ~35g and works great for my 96Kgs. I get the big Hershey's containers at Sam's Club for about ~$7 each.
 
HIT4ME

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I didn't see the last couple updates to this thread. I agree there could be a psych component, but I also think appetite can be a really tricky thing. I am the same way as BCSeacow - the best appetite suppressant for me is starvation. Once I get into a pattern, I just continue. Once I have my first meal, it never stops. I have had periods where I eat so much food I disgust myself, and I could still eat more. I don't even feel full/satisfied.

I have also noticed that sometimes appetite suppressants aren't consciously noticed. I've taken ephedrine and not noticed that I haven't been eating as much until days into it. It can be hard to tell sometimes if it works, because if you stop and think about it, you realize you CAN eat and just the fact you stopped to think about it puts it in your head.

On the cocoa powder note - I've been taking approx. 15 grams 2X per day - early morning and early afternoon. I don't measure precisely and I'm sure I have some days where I take in 40 grams and other where maybe it's 12. I will say that I really believe this is the most powerful mood enhancer I've ever used. I am an aggressive person and over the past year or two I've had some hard times. Being aggressive doesn't help, it just frustrates me because I want to fix things that I can't just go out and make happen. I get frustrated, upset, depressed over things and it becomes overwhelming. Taking 15 grams of cocoa totally changes my mentality. I can let things go, get a new perspective, not be so bothered by things. I'm motivated, but laid back and in control rather than just being on a rampage.

For instance, I had a problem pop up with my car a couple days ago. I work on fixing things for EVERYONE in my life and I've done a TON of car work for 3-4 different people over the past couple weeks and I'm sick of car work. I had an issue that will cost me a couple hundred dollars and time to fix come up and I woke up the next day after having dreamt about it, and got REALLY upset and frustrated. I just couldn't see how I could fix things and ever get things right. About 30 minutes after my 15 gram cocoa/coffee dose I realized I had a totally different outlook...like...no big deal, I'll get it done. I've never used pot, but I can see why people make the correlation between pot and this ...it is relaxing but at least this is motivating.

I've also noticed that when I work out, I seem to be having less of an issue from a cardiovascular standpoint. When I push the last couple reps I'm not huffing and puffing the same. A lot of times before I would finish and be huffing from full exertion, now I complete the set and I'm ready to keep going from a respiratory perspective. I recover quicker between sets because of this. And this is impressive because I just took a 3 week break from the gym and you would think I'd be in worse condition from a cardiovascular standpoint. I'm getting about the same reps as my last workout before the break so I'm not stronger, but I'm more aggressive and can push harder...

Not sure how much of this actually has to do with the cocoa, but I'm really not taking anything else and I usually take a ton of stuff.
 

regdabyenoh

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Some people have weird appetites and it has to do with all the different hormones that come into play. ECA does jack squat for my appetite. Same with almost every OTC diet aid. Dexaprine XR works decently. The only thing that helps is actually not eating. What I mean is as soon as I have my first meal for the day the appetite is switched on. By delaying the time of day I eat at I minimize total consumption. I do agree that many people have a hard time differentiating between actual hunger and things like cravings and thirst and stress for instance.
This^ My prefared way of eating is Fasting and eating in a 3 hour gap, Normaly a huge meal then something small a few hours later.

Im exactly the same, If I eat early my apetite activates then I could take in endless food all day lol. But holding off means I'm satisified and Eat less.

ECA gives me Energy, A little focus but no Apeptite suppresion. Cococa Sound interesting for mood benifits also :)
 

regdabyenoh

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I didn't see the last couple updates to this thread. I agree there could be a psych component, but I also think appetite can be a really tricky thing. I am the same way as BCSeacow - the best appetite suppressant for me is starvation. Once I get into a pattern, I just continue. Once I have my first meal, it never stops. I have had periods where I eat so much food I disgust myself, and I could still eat more. I don't even feel full/satisfied.

I have also noticed that sometimes appetite suppressants aren't consciously noticed. I've taken ephedrine and not noticed that I haven't been eating as much until days into it. It can be hard to tell sometimes if it works, because if you stop and think about it, you realize you CAN eat and just the fact you stopped to think about it puts it in your head.

On the cocoa powder note - I've been taking approx. 15 grams 2X per day - early morning and early afternoon. I don't measure precisely and I'm sure I have some days where I take in 40 grams and other where maybe it's 12. I will say that I really believe this is the most powerful mood enhancer I've ever used. I am an aggressive person and over the past year or two I've had some hard times. Being aggressive doesn't help, it just frustrates me because I want to fix things that I can't just go out and make happen. I get frustrated, upset, depressed over things and it becomes overwhelming. Taking 15 grams of cocoa totally changes my mentality. I can let things go, get a new perspective, not be so bothered by things. I'm motivated, but laid back and in control rather than just being on a rampage.

For instance, I had a problem pop up with my car a couple days ago. I work on fixing things for EVERYONE in my life and I've done a TON of car work for 3-4 different people over the past couple weeks and I'm sick of car work. I had an issue that will cost me a couple hundred dollars and time to fix come up and I woke up the next day after having dreamt about it, and got REALLY upset and frustrated. I just couldn't see how I could fix things and ever get things right. About 30 minutes after my 15 gram cocoa/coffee dose I realized I had a totally different outlook...like...no big deal, I'll get it done. I've never used pot, but I can see why people make the correlation between pot and this ...it is relaxing but at least this is motivating.

I've also noticed that when I work out, I seem to be having less of an issue from a cardiovascular standpoint. When I push the last couple reps I'm not huffing and puffing the same. A lot of times before I would finish and be huffing from full exertion, now I complete the set and I'm ready to keep going from a respiratory perspective. I recover quicker between sets because of this. And this is impressive because I just took a 3 week break from the gym and you would think I'd be in worse condition from a cardiovascular standpoint. I'm getting about the same reps as my last workout before the break so I'm not stronger, but I'm more aggressive and can push harder...

Not sure how much of this actually has to do with the cocoa, but I'm really not taking anything else and I usually take a ton of stuff.
This sounds good and theres no harm in giving the Cocoa a try, Sorry did you say the brand you were using?
 
HIT4ME

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I am using the Hershey's Cocoa powder from the store - it says it's non-alkalized and that's one of the keys. This stuff seems safe enough, but it also seems powerful enough based on my experience (which may be placebo) that over-dose actually is possible, although I suspect that would be quite a bit of powder.

I just did some research and found that one of the more notable compounds in cocoa - (-)-Epicatechin - is found in cocoa beans at levels between 0.25-1.25%. If the powder yields 1%, then 60 grams would give you the dose of Epi found in Epic by OL. I'm not really recommending this dose by any means...but it is an interesting idea in my mind.
 
HIT4ME

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Sorry - I misread the study. It looks like it's between 0.122-2.8 mg of epi per gram of cocoa, depending on the brand - which makes epi content negligible. You would need age least 200 grams of cocoa powder/day to get 600 mg of epi from cocoa. So much for the gainz.
 
The_Old_Guy

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Gains from -(-)Epi? Quality of Life gains maybe. Endurance gains maybe. I think the Belgian Blue Bull Myostatin inhibited gains have left the station though :)
 
HIT4ME

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Gains from -(-)Epi? Quality of Life gains maybe. Endurance gains maybe. I think the Belgian Blue Bull Myostatin inhibited gains have left the station though :)
lol, such disappointment - what next? No Santa?
 
HIT4ME

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HIT4ME

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Yes, I am - I have been taking 30-60 grams/day most days. I take 2 big spoonfuls in the morning and another 2 big spoonfuls in the afternoon. Measuring isn't exactly accurate but I spent time using a scale to weigh it with this method and it usually comes out to about 20 grams, a little more if I go heavy and a little less if I am not making the spoon so mountainous.

Over time I've noticed a lot of very subtle changes. Honestly, I seem to be more "willing" to enjoy life and let things go. It's hard to explain what I mean by that, but there's a natural tendency that I have to obsess over things and try to kill problems. I've become less focused on what bothers me and more focused on getting where I want to go.

I've noticed some increased DOMS but this may not be from the cocoa.

I seem to be more awake during the day, but fall asleep easier at night.

Also, I've found some more interesting reading for you guys:

http://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/article/cocoa-and-chocolate

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/299440.php

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20141026/special-cocoa-drink-may-improve-age-related-memory-loss

And my favorite:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3859901/

What I'm seeing in all this research, reading it from a non-trained perspective - is that many scientists are showing there is SOMETHING about cocoa that may help with mental health in the long run. Many trials have shown cocoa has no effect on dementia or alzheimers, but recent studies have shown that a "special" cocoa with high flavonol content does appear to have some impact. Cocoa may help increase blood flow to the brain, and may actually help break down proteins that build up in the brain that are implicated in alzheimers. My thinking is, it may actually be protective, when used long-term vs. some of these mental health issues - and I've noticed that it seems that longer-term studies seem to have better results with cocoa extracts. At least it seems that way to me, I haven't methodically analyzed that statement....

And the last study shows that cocoa may actually interfere with enzymatic processes that break down tryptophan - which indirectly means cocoa can increase serotonin production.

It is interesting to me how cocoa has so many different chemicals and pathways that it impacts, but each pathway by itself doesn't explain cocoa's effects. For instance, Anandamide seems to be present in cocoa, but not in enough quantity to have an impact. Then you find that cocoa has the ability to hinder anandamide breakdown - which would theoretically make these effects stronger, but even still this doesn't totally explain the effects. Then you figure out that serotonin production may be implicated. It seems like all these things together make the sum greater than the whole.

It also seems that our mentality toward these things, which works for most herbs, is that if an herb has an effect then there is a chemical causing it and if we can isolate that chemical, we can make a medicine out of it and get better, more controlled responses. It seems we are trying to apply this to cocoa - looking for an extract - but maybe the cocoa itself is better than each chemical separately.
 
Rodja

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Chocamine had a good following here waaayyy back in the day when Avant was still kicking. Definitely underrated as an ergogenic and nootropic type properties. There were some cautions with it that are escaping me at the moment. Avoid using with yohimbine maybe?
 
HIT4ME

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Chocamine was what got me looking into this. I had a friend looking for an appetite suppressant and nothing seems to work for her - I started remembering chocamine from WAY back when and started wondering if it may work, then found some stuff suggesting raw cocoa powder has many effects and it just kind of went from there...
 
Rodja

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Just reminds me how ahead of their time Avant and PA were in the mid-00's. So much so that the vast majority of this board have no clue to whom I am referring.
 

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Just reminds me how ahead of their time Avant and PA were in the mid-00's. So much so that the vast majority of this board have no clue to whom I am referring.
I remember
 
digitalpimp

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Yes, I am - I have been taking 30-60 grams/day most days. I take 2 big spoonfuls in the morning and another 2 big spoonfuls in the afternoon. Measuring isn't exactly accurate but I spent time using a scale to weigh it with this method and it usually comes out to about 20 grams, a little more if I go heavy and a little less if I am not making the spoon so mountainous.

Over time I've noticed a lot of very subtle changes. Honestly, I seem to be more "willing" to enjoy life and let things go. It's hard to explain what I mean by that, but there's a natural tendency that I have to obsess over things and try to kill problems. I've become less focused on what bothers me and more focused on getting where I want to go.

I've noticed some increased DOMS but this may not be from the cocoa.

I seem to be more awake during the day, but fall asleep easier at night.

Also, I've found some more interesting reading for you guys:

http://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/article/cocoa-and-chocolate

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/299440.php

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20141026/special-cocoa-drink-may-improve-age-related-memory-loss

And my favorite:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3859901/

What I'm seeing in all this research, reading it from a non-trained perspective - is that many scientists are showing there is SOMETHING about cocoa that may help with mental health in the long run. Many trials have shown cocoa has no effect on dementia or alzheimers, but recent studies have shown that a "special" cocoa with high flavonol content does appear to have some impact. Cocoa may help increase blood flow to the brain, and may actually help break down proteins that build up in the brain that are implicated in alzheimers. My thinking is, it may actually be protective, when used long-term vs. some of these mental health issues - and I've noticed that it seems that longer-term studies seem to have better results with cocoa extracts. At least it seems that way to me, I haven't methodically analyzed that statement....

And the last study shows that cocoa may actually interfere with enzymatic processes that break down tryptophan - which indirectly means cocoa can increase serotonin production.

It is interesting to me how cocoa has so many different chemicals and pathways that it impacts, but each pathway by itself doesn't explain cocoa's effects. For instance, Anandamide seems to be present in cocoa, but not in enough quantity to have an impact. Then you find that cocoa has the ability to hinder anandamide breakdown - which would theoretically make these effects stronger, but even still this doesn't totally explain the effects. Then you figure out that serotonin production may be implicated. It seems like all these things together make the sum greater than the whole.

It also seems that our mentality toward these things, which works for most herbs, is that if an herb has an effect then there is a chemical causing it and if we can isolate that chemical, we can make a medicine out of it and get better, more controlled responses. It seems we are trying to apply this to cocoa - looking for an extract - but maybe the cocoa itself is better than each chemical separately.
I'm assuming this is a tablespoon?
 

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