Existing FAQs on Cocoa, Cacao or Chocolate
FAQ Healing Crow - Cocoa and Chocolate
Direct Quote from Elaine " Please do not keep asking me if you can have chocolate, cocoa and carob. I have specified in the book that THEY ARE NOT PERMITTED."
Chocolate/Cocoa solid or powder is ILLEGAL
Cocoa/Cacao BUTTER is Legal as it is nothing but the pure fat from the bean
Courtesy of Ferna, we have the following information, which she originally posted to the BTVC-SCD list on 9 March 2009:
From Elaine's Website, "Elaine writes with great finality:
We did a whole week on chocolate a while back and it is somewhere in my files but someone else can report on it or look it up on a search engine. I am sick and tired of chocolate - it is not permitted and until I get an accurate analysis of every ingredient in the chocolate, per se, I am too busy right now to give this illegal commodity any more time."
I can see why Elaine was a tad exasperated, considering there are about 300 chemicals in ONE cocoa bean, that she would have to find the time to analyze.
According to "Chemicals in Cocoa Beans" at http://coffee-chocolate.tripod.com/chemicals.htm:
Chemical Breakdown of a Cocoa Bean
Fat: 40 - 50%
Albuminous Matter (Protein): .06 - 18%
Starch: 1.3 - 7.5%
Ash: 2.0 - 4.0%
Theobromine: .88 - 2.34%
Caffeine: .05 - 0.36%
Various Trace Materials: 17.8% - 49.77%
Although chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is currently being touted as good for the general public, starch is a SCD illegal and "Theobromine (among other effects) can cause sleeplessness, tremors, restlessness, anxiety, as well as contribute to increased production of urine. Additional side effects include loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting" (according to the site referenced above).