Cacao as a main meal
You probably haven't heard of the Kuna Indians on the Caribbean island of San Blas and their cacao?! Me too recently when I became aware of a Harvard Medical School study examining the health benefits of cacao. For this, the diet of the Kuna was studied, as they are known to drink a lot of cacao - on average 5 cups a day! I drink 1-2 cups a day and not every day either. At 5 cups of cacao I would probably start glowing and flying like a firefly.
But back to the kuna. The Kuna use unprocessed ground cacao beans for their cacao drink and sweeten it with bananas. 5 cups of this rich drink are one of the main meals of the kuna throughout the day. Since cacao is a superfood and no other place in nature contains so many nutrients and active ingredients in such a small space as in the cacao bean, it is not surprising that that the Kuna are one of the healthiest people on planet earth.
Cacao keeps you fit and healthy
As the Harvard Medical School study has shown, it is the high consumption of cacao that keeps the Kuna Indians fit and healthy. This is because the Kuna have very low blood pressure, live longer than other peoples in the region and have a reduced incidence of heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and cancer. Certainly the Kunas lead a more relaxed life on their Caribbean island than a city dweller like me in Berlin. Just the idea that there is a people on our planet that lives under palm trees by the sea and drinks cacao all day relaxes me. I'm aware that this may sound a bit dreamy, but dreaming is welcome over a cup of cacao. Look how it looks there :)))
This photo shows one of the San Blas Islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama
Further information for you:
If you'd like to learn more about the history and health benefits of cacao, check out our All About Cacao post.
Here you can find the Harvard Medical School ➚ study on the positive properties of cacao among the Kuna Indians.
