A New Coffee Book is Percolating for the Summer of 2012

Today I'm craving chocolate and coffee. In fact, I just grabbed a bag of Hazelnut Godiva Coffee out of the freezer. And I got my dark chocolate almonds fix to get me through the night. It's superfoods, like these, that can and do help me and others feel good, stay healthy, and get the job done...

I'm sensing within a month or so I will receive a big surprise on my doorstep. No, it won't be chocolate or coffee (well, maybe)--it will be the galley of my book The Healing Powers of Coffee published by Kensington. As an veteran author of the Healing Powers book series, I can tell you straight up that it's sweet and super exciting to receive the almost finished product of your work and efforts. Think of being almost nine months pregnant and getting closer and closer to the day when your beloved baby is born.

On the other side of the coin, I'm still raising my other children: Cal Orey's The Healing Powers of Honey and The Healing Powers of Chocolate. Vinegar and Olive Oil? These two are adults and doing well. Very well. (Vinegar is in its 16th printing, 2nd edition. Both books are published in tradecover, mass market, and e-book formats. And they've both been translated in 15 languages around the globe. People believe in these ancient foods from Mother Nature.) But, people forget that chocolate and honey powers go way, way back in time, too.

So, I sit here on Sunday night with my furry companions, dark chocolate teamed with a cup of hot chamomile tea to give me that feel-good endorphin boost. Then, tomorrow I'll cherish the first sip of Joe in the a.m., and continue to spread the word of my new child on its way. Is it exciting being a health book mom? Yeah, it is, sort of. But if it weren't for chocolate and coffee it wouldn't be as easy.

HEALING POWERS Book Series: 5 Sweet Secrets to Dump Winter Weight

Enjou Chocolat's Healthy Chocolate Bars

Ever wonder how to lose those pesky pounds? I've got a secret (or five)--and it comes from my Healing Powers book series. I'm talking chocolate and vinegar, olive oil, honey, and coffee. This time of year many of us have packed on unwanted weight and we want to dump it ASAP. Well, I've got the secrets (and you can find 'em in any of my books: The Healing Powers of Chocolate, Vinegar, Olive Oil, Honey, and Coffee).
1. Dark Chocolate: No kidding. In my book The Healing Powers of Chocolate I discuss how eating chocolate (70% cocoa content) in moderation can curb your sweet tooth and help to curb cravings to eat fattening sweet stuff. And yes, the sweet bars (the ginger orange peel one is unforgettable) in the photo above will titillate your taste buds with flavor and texture.
2. Vinegar: The acetic acid in apple cider vinegar is the compound that can help you to blast those unwanted pounds away. It can boost your metabolism (calorie buring power) and suppress your appetite, too.
3. Olive Oil: Ah, yep. This monounsaturated fat is good for you and it, like vinegar, can help to satisfy you so you don't have those hunger pangs. It's the must-have healthy fat to drizzle on stir-fry vegetables and salads teamed with red wine vinegar.
4. Honey: My fave of all. Sweet, raw honey. One teaspoon in a cup of tea or solo will boost your energy and then you'll want to go do it.
5. Coffee: And java is comforting and can also give you more energy to go do it, whether it be pre-spring cleaning or walking the dog. I'm living proof. Just got back from a swim and hot tub.

P.S. The best part, by incorporating these five superfoods into your diet (4-5 mini meals per day) along with eating a Raw Caveman Diet for a few days (veggies, fruits, nuts) and drinking herbal teas and coffee (in moderation) you're going to lose up to 5 pounds or more within two days (about 1200-1300 calories for an adult woman; 1500 for a man). Repeat as needed. Get a move on every day.  I weighed myself at the spa and am back to 120 lbs., size 4, at 5' 5". Yes, the Healing Powers of these foods found in my Healing Powers books work wonders (click your mouse on the previous link and see your friendly superfoods busy at work).

Foodie BlogRoll Contest: Win Super Sweets for Heart Health Month

The Prize: THE HEALING POWERS OF HONEY & CHOCOLATE PISTOLES 

Drawing on the latest honey buzz and interviews with medical doctors, beekeepers, and researchers, this charming and enlightening book (sweetened with stories about honey bees and humans) reveals 30 healing honey varieties paired with cinnamon and teas, tells you how to incorporate honey into Mediterranean-style, heart-healthy recipes such as Honey Custard French Toast, Honey-Glazed Game Hen, and Filo Pear and Honey Tarts, and provides more than 50 home cures that combat digestive woes to skin woes. Find out more about The Healing Powers of Honey book.

And Enjoy Intentional Chocolate Milk or Dark Chocolate Pistoles!
You can also win a 7 ounce bag of chocolate milk pistoles or dark chocolate pistoles.

• 100% pure Hawaiian Vintage dark chocolate accented by notes of plum and a hint of ecstasy!
• Infused with the spiritual energy of experienced meditators personally trained with the Dalai Lama.
• The first product on the market embracing the revolutionary new field of intention-enhanced food.
• Academic study found Intentional Chocolate increased vigor, energy by 67%.
• 50% of profits donated to organizations benefitting humankind.

Sweet Powers of Chocolate for You and/or Your Sweetheart

Intentional Chocolate

Preface to The Healing Powers of Chocolate

(#3 of the Internationally Popular Healing Powers book series)

It's Heart Health Month and Valentine's Day is Coming...  It's time for heart-healthy chocolate!
One summer morning, I woke up and had chocolate on the brain. I did brew a cup of fresh Italian Roast (The Healing Powers of Coffee will be released July, 2012) splashed with organic chocolate milk and paired it with a warm dark chocolate muffin. And then, my creative juices were in high-octane gear. I got a craving to e-mail a query to my book editor. I wanted to write a new book on the healing powers of chocolate. But I hesitated and thought, “This is a crazy idea. Chocolate is a decadent food.”
Later that day I pondered the topic like I would scrutinize a truffle. After all, I had gone to Vinegar World and Olive Land in my two books The Healing Powers of Vinegar and The Healing Powers of Olive Oil. Would my publisher at Kensington really be interested in sending me to Chocolate Nirvana? Or was my idea just a sweet pipe dream of a self-professed chocoholic?
I decided I had nothing to lose, so I sat down in my study and wrote a quick query regarding writing a book on chocolate. A few hours later, I received a response from my editor, Richard Ember. I’d snagged his interest. Within a couple of weeks, the idea was sealed into a chocolate book deal. At last, I was given the go-ahead to write the book I had wanted to pen for more than a decade.
Back in 1999, I pitched the idea to another editorial consultant when I was writing those mini mags sold at grocery store checkout stands. My editor showed interest, but then there was a shake-up in the company and my chocolate-book idea fizzled like hot chocolate gone cold.
Ironically, in both books on disease-fighting antioxidant-rich vinegar and olive oil, I did mention chocolate (also chock-full of disease- fighting antioxidants). And, as a health-conscious Californian and self-professed chocolate lover, I have touched on the once forbidden food—chocolate—in health articles for women’s magazines including Woman’s World and Women’s Weekly. But I noted only chunks of its virtues, from how the good-for-you fatty food can boost your energy to how it can rev up your libido (maybe).
The amazing part is, I was assigned to write a book about my passion—chocolate—and this is how The Healing Powers of Chocolate became one of my favorite love affairs and was finally written by me, a health author who simply loves chocolate.
By being a San Francisco Bay Area native (a popular home of experienced chocolate makers and artisans), I was given the opportunity to share the real chocolate world through my research of famous chocolate makers (three major companies: Guittard and Ghirardelli, part of the Lindt empire; and Scharffen Berger, part of the Hershey moguls).
Also, olive oil, vinegar, and chocolate are linked to the traditional European diet and lifestyle, which continue to make headlines in research and news articles, and which I practice and preach to anyone who is interested in staying healthy and living longer by teaming health and indulgence.
I immediately began my mission and set out in the real world and cyberspace to discover the past and present standout benefits of chocolate: heart health, weight loss, home cures, beauty uses, and so much more. And never did I imagine what a wealth of information is in the wide, wide world of chocolate.
I took the holistic route to chocolate’s wonders and confirmed my instincts that chocolate is good for the body, mind, and spirit. I delved deep into the cutting-edge health benefits, original and edgy home cures, and anecdotes from both famous and everyday people, past and present. And that is why The Healing Powers of Chocolate will surprise you with its extraordinary surprises—like a box of healthful and heavenly chocolates, all natural, of course, and full of flavor.
So make yourself a cup of hot (or iced) chocolate (depending on what season it is), sit down, and grab a pencil (you’ll want to take notes!). I’ll show you, page by page, how this ancient “food of the gods” can be your best friend, too, for the end of time.