What really happens to chocolate before it lands on your grocery store shelf?

During this episode, you’ll learn what’s inside a common chocolate bar. Dr. Lerman explains how modern chocolate processing removes most cacao butter to sell it for other uses, then substitutes cheaper oils and additives.

The result is a product with hidden sugars, hydrogenated vegetable oils, emulsifiers like lecithin, and little of the original cacao’s benefits. Listeners hear about how sugar and these additives may negatively affect health, including the impact on the liver and the gut. The episode highlights how much added sugar exists in a typical American diet and why it’s so often present in unexpected foods.

Join the community to discover how food can support wellness, one chocolate at a time!

For more information, visit sinlesstreatschocolate.com or contact info@sinlesstreatschocolate.com.

Follow Sinless Treats Chocolate on Facebook and subscribe to Heal Me with Chocolate wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to Heal Me with Chocolate on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Key Takeaways

1. Most commercial chocolates, even premium brands, contain long lists of ultra-processed ingredients and hidden sugars. These are added during manufacturing to cut costs, extend shelf life, and make the product addictive, but often at the expense of consumers' health.

2. Sugar, especially in its free (refined) form, can be highly detrimental to health when consumed excessively. It’s metabolized differently depending on the type (glucose vs. fructose), with fructose being harder on the liver, and high sugar intake is linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, and long-term damage to blood vessels and proteins in the body.

3. Traditionally, cacao was consumed as a nutrient-rich, fermented food with multiple health benefits. Modern industrial chocolate production removes the most beneficial component—cacao butter—replacing it with inferior fats, which strips chocolate of its health value and turns it into an unhealthy treat.

4. Once cacao butter is extracted (usually sold to the cosmetic and pharma industries), cheap, highly processed fats and emulsifiers like palm oil, hydrogenated oils, and lecithins are added. These substitutions lead to health risks like inflammation and gut issues due to their unnatural properties and chemical structure.

5. Sugar and additives in processed foods are deliberately used to enhance cravings and drive repeat purchases, not nutrition. There are safer, more metabolically friendly sweetener alternatives, and shifting to these can help break the cycle of sugar dependence and support better health.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 "Unveiling Chocolate's Hidden Truths"

06:00 "Candy Industry's Cacao Butter Swap"

09:52 Lecithins, Sugar, and Gut Health

11:45 Sugar's Impact on Blood Proteins

16:11 "Exploring Sugar Alternatives"

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Why would a cancer researcher turn to chocolate as a tool for better health?

Dr. Beata Lerman opens up about her journey from gene therapy and cancer research to developing food as a form of medicine. After being diagnosed with cutaneous T cell lymphoma, she began investigating the relationship between sugar and disease. Her search for healthier options led to cutting sugar and processed foods, a process she describes as challenging.

Finding no chocolate she could eat safely, Dr. Lerman traveled to Costa Rica to learn traditional chocolate-making methods. Whole-plant sweeteners like stevia and chicory root replaced refined sugar.

She now incorporates microgreens, including broccoli microgreens, into chocolate to boost nutritional value. Dr. Lerman discusses using food technology to create products free from artificial ingredients for people interested in health and prevention.

Join the community to discover how food can support wellness, one chocolate at a time!

For more information, visit sinlesstreatschocolate.com or contact info@sinlesstreatschocolate.com.

Follow Sinless Treats Chocolate on Facebook and subscribe to Heal Me with Chocolate wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to Heal Me with Chocolate on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Key Takeaways

1. Dr. Beata Lerman shares her diagnosis with cutaneous T cell lymphoma and how it was a wake-up call that led her to rethink her lifestyle, diet, and approach to health. Her experience underscores how personal health challenges can prompt deep self-examination and motivate major changes.

2. Through her research and personal journey, Dr. Lerman discovered compelling scientific evidence that sugar feeds cancer. This realization led her to meticulously cut sugar and ultra-processed foods out of her diet, highlighting the importance of diet in disease progression and recovery.

3. Dr. Lerman emphasizes that quitting sugar is a difficult, withdrawal-like process, made harder by sugar’s ubiquity in store-bought foods. Her journey demonstrates the challenges of maintaining a healthy, sugar-free diet in today’s food landscape and the need for personal innovation in the kitchen.

4. Unable to find chocolate without problematic ingredients, Dr. Lerman dove into traditional methods—traveling to South America—to learn how to make and sweeten chocolate using natural, non-glycemic alternatives. Her efforts resulted in creating a chocolate that’s both indulgent and health-promoting, showing how food traditions and science can merge for healthier indulgences.

5. Dr. Lerman founded Seamless Treats Chocolate and Reva Green to develop functional foods, starting with nutrient-rich chocolate enriched with microgreens like broccoli. This theme highlights the capacity of innovative foods to deliver both pleasure and significant health benefits, especially by targeting chronic diseases and nutrient deficiencies.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 Cancer Treatment & Sugar's Role

04:02 Reinventing Diet Against Cancer

07:12 Struggles with Sugar-Free Chocolate

12:05 Rethinking Sugar: A Health Necessity

14:55 Nutrient-Rich Chocolate Revolution

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heal Me with Chocolate is hosted by Dr. Beata Lerman, scientist, cancer survivor, and founder of Sinless Treats Chocolate. Each episode explores the intersection of food, health, and science, focusing on how ingredients like sugar and processed additives affect the body.

Dr. Lerman shares her personal journey of overcoming cancer, eliminating sugar, and developing chocolate using only natural, metabolically friendly sweeteners and whole-food ingredients. Each episode is packed with evidence-based insights on nutrition, the realities of the chocolate industry, and practical advice for making healthier choices. You'll learn about functional foods, the role of fiber and gut health, and alternatives to conventional sweeteners.

Join the community to discover how food can support wellness, one chocolate at a time!

For more information, visit sinlesstreatschocolate.com or contact info@sinlesstreatschocolate.com.

Follow Sinless Treats Chocolate on Facebook and subscribe to Heal Me with Chocolate wherever you get your podcasts.

About Dr. Beata Lerman:
Dr. Lerman is a scientist specializing in gene therapy and immuno-oncology, founder of Sinless Treats Chocolate, and chief medical officer of Revogreen, a food technology company focused on dietary supplements.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.