To help you see why I can only recommend one healthy chocolate (sold through network marketing, or MLM) in good conscience, I have compared three major brands of chocolate side by side in this review. All are sold through MLM, but you do not need to refer the chocolate to anyone else unless you prefer to engage in the income opportunity.

 

Each of these chocolates is also reviewed on its own, as I'll also do with store-sold dark chocolates that I consider healthy enough to review. (See Gnosis Chocolate for my only high recommendation of store-bought chocolate.)

 

The three brands reviewed on this page are Xocai(TM); IsaDelight(TM); and Tru Chocolate(TM). (In the case of Xocai, I only refer to their Nuggets and Power Squares. I would personally avoid their other products, based on the ingredient lists.)

 

 

Elements of Cacao as Primary Ingredients

Xocai Nuggets say exactly how much "cocoa" (properly, "elements of cacao") is in the chocolate, and in this case it's 70%.

 

IsaDelight claims to have "more than 70% non-alkalized cocoa powder" in some of their marketing materials, but I believe they're also referring to all cocoa content, since they use no separated cocoa powder. (They use chocolate liquor and cocoa butter.) I'm confused by this claim, since 35% of the product appears to be sugar, and that gives us more than 100%.

 

Xocai Power Sqaures fail to list their cocoa content. So does Tru Chocolate, but I received an e-mail from the inventor, who said that it's around 68%. I need to follow up on this because, based on the ratio of xylitol to serving size, I don't know how this is possible. I will update this page when I learn more.

 

Even more important, the antioxidant value of cocoa comes from the solids rather than the butter. The more solids, the more antioxidants per gram of chocolate -- which means you can eat LESS (less fat, fewer calories) and still benefit well in terms of health. The stated amount of cacao or cocoa doesn't tell you the percentage of solids, so ideally you'll want an ORAC score on the chocolate to help determine the benefits. (See below.)

 

Also, the more cocoa solids in the overall cocoa content, the less BUTTER, which is the fat portion of chocolate. Although cocoa butter is a natural fat, a lower fat content should be beneficial when eating healthy chocolate on a diet.

 

Considering only the ORAC scores per ounce, it would seem that Xocai Power Squares hold the title for the highest cocoa solid content. But they are so loaded with sugar and fat (which would mean more cocoa butter), I don't know how they would pack in enough cocoa solids. So admittedly, it's hard to make any conclusion based on the labels.

 

Tru Chocolate is the LOWEST in terms of fat, and has a higher ORAC rating per gram than Xocai Nuggets, so it may have a relatively high amount of cocoa solids (although these are in their natural setting of cocoa liquor; they do not have any separated cocoa solids).

 

 

Organic

Most of the healthy MLM chocolates on the market are NOT organic. This means that any health benefits from the cacao are compromised by the fact that the chocolate is probably laced with pesticides or contaminated with other toxins. I believe this means that part of the ORAC rating in non-organic chocolate will go towards fighting problems in the body caused by these issues, so the effective ORAC rating (what actually helps your body) will be diminished. (See ORAC scores below.)

 

Also, almost every chocolate on the market (MLM or otherwise) contains lecithin, and this is usually derived from soy. Soy can be a highly toxic product, and is one of the most genetically modified crops (GMOs) out there. If you're not getting organic lecithin, you're very likely getting a genetically modified and toxic version. You may hear a lot of debate about whether or not GMOs are a problem, but that's because there's a LOT of money into promoting them. If you research this, there is NO QUESTION about the dangers of GMOs.

 

Of those chocolates reviewed, Tru Chocolate is the only brand using organic cacao and lecithin ingredients.

 

 

Xylitol vs. Sugar

Most of the healthy chocolates on the market use sugar to sweeten their chocolate. (This includes Xocai and IsaDelight.) This is absurd, because sugar does nothing good for the body, and contributes to a long list of health problems. Many of these chocolates are touted for their use in balancing blood sugar and in helping with weight loss -- yet the chocolates are 25-39% SUGAR. (Other chocolates, not reviewed here, may have more than 50% sugar content.) The nature of the cacao in chocolate might help to even this out, but it will NOT do all the good that it could do if you didn't have the sugar.

 

Please note that Xocai promotes the fact that they use "raw cane juice crystals," which is fructose rather than sucrose (which IsaDelight appears to use). This is much better for dieters and diabetics than sucrose, because it is far lower on the glycemic index; but it's far higher than xylitol.

 

Tru Chocolate adds NO SUGAR, opting instead for the more expensive but highly beneficial xylitol. With a super-low glycemic index rating of just 7, xylitol may help to balance blood sugar (good for both diabetes and weight loss), can promote tooth health through its anti-bacterial nature, and much more.

 

 

Proprietary Formulas

Many healthy chocolates add something extra to their chocolate to help market it, and the three reviewed here are no exception. So the question we have to ask is how much these ingredients are just hype, and how much they actually help.

 

I cannot provide an accurate answer on that for any product, partly because we don't know the amounts of each ingredient, but they are probably quite small. Plus, all of these ingredients are out of their natural setting. I believe different people will respond differently.

 

But I can summarize what these formulas are SUPPOSED to help achieve in each product:

 

Xocai adds acai and blueberry powders to their chocolate, apparently to mainly enhance their ORAC scores. This is strange, because cacao is supposed to boast the highest ORAC score of any food I know. So this would effectively LOWER the overall ORAC score (but to a small degree, because these are minor ingredients). Of course botanicals like these can offer various health benefits as well, and may provide a greater variety of antioxidants, which can be useful.

 

IsaDelight adds an amino acid complex that seems to be aimed at boosting the "feel good" qualities of chocolate. (They call their product "The Happy Chocolates that Satisfy.") Here, I'll mention my major issue with IsaDelight -- they promote their chocolates with the idea that they represent a good "cheat" during diets; it's supposed to satisfy the emotional addiction to food. This fails to address the emotional addiction, which means any short-term success would likely be followed once more by weight gain. And what's more, you shouldn't be "cheating" on your diet. With Tru Chocolate, you wouldn't be cheating, but helping your diet because of the "xylitol vs. sugar" issue.

 

Tru Chocolate adds an herbal blend aimed at enhancing the sweetness of the chocolate and making the flavor last (see below), in addition to stimulating metabolism and nutrient use in the body. Along with the xylitol, this makes Tru Chocolate the best bet for use along with a diet (or, again, for diabetics).

 

 

Long Lasting!

It's worth mentioning that Tru Chocolate uses two patented food extracts that make it a truly UNIQUE EXPERIENCE. First of all, when you eat a piece of Tru Chocolate, the immediate experience is potent not only because of the chocolate, but because one of these ingredients enhances the flavor on the tongue.

 

Then comes the real bonus: after eating the chocolate, it's ideal to follow it with a big glass of water. This helps with weight loss efforts and -- because water is essential in every body process -- is healthy regardless of weight loss efforts. And when you drink the water, get ready for a surprise: the water is likely to taste SWEET (some say like chocolate) for up to 30 minutes after the chocolate is gone!

 

So although you're only eating a small piece of chocolate (their serving size is the smallest of those reviewed), the TASTE will last a long time, giving you a luscious and HEALTHY experience.

 

 

Value

Any MLM chocolate will be more expensive than most retail chocolates. Partly this is because of the nature of MLM and its income opportunity. Having said that, when you start spending on chocolate as a SUPPLEMENT rather than as a candy, you'll find that the best chocolates actually cost about as much as (or even more than!) MLM chocolate. So it's important to know what you're trying to invest in: a treat, or a health supplement.

 

If you're going to spend money on chocolate as a treat (i.e., sugary chocolate), then I highly recommend buying retail chocolate. You can get a much better value buying something like Lindt's Extra Dark chocolate rather than buying IsaDelight (which is loaded with sugar), and a somewhat better value than buying Xocai (which won't spike blood sugar quite as much, but is much more expensive).

 

If you're going to spend money on chocolate as a health supplement, then Tru Chocolate is the only legitimate option in the MLM field. This is because it's ORGANIC and uses XYLITOL in place of sugar. Its price also compares with health supplement chocolates, like Gnosis Chocolate, sold through retail. But with Tru Chocolate you can, of course, earn money through the membership opportunity to reduce your costs or even to earn a living!

 

Tru Chocolate also provides an incredible value because of the "sweetened water" phenomenon discussed above. For your one piece of chocolate, you get a large sweet drink to go with it, just by following it with a glass of water.

 

 

Magnesium

Any quality dark chocolate should represent a good source of magnesium, so this isn't a KEY item to consider, but it's worth noting because magnesium plays so many important roles in our health, and most people only get 50% of the recommended amount.

 

A serving of Xocai Nuggets contains 20 mg of magnesium; (I'm not sure about their Power Squares); IsaDelight contains 32 mg; and Tru Chocolate contains 40 mg (or 10% of the recommended daily amount).

 

 

ORAC Scores

If you've read my page on ORAC scores, you know that this topic can be misleading. Experts recommend that we get up to 5000 ORAC units in a day, and that anything more may be redundant. Those promoting ORAC scores will probably argue against this.

 

At just over 3000 ORAC units, a serving of Tru Chocolate and Xocai Nuggets are just about identical; IsaDelight contains closer to 6000 units; and Xocai Power Squares contain over 10,000 per serving. (The extra ORAC units may be beneficial since these chocolates are not organic, as mentioned above.)

 

As you'll see in a moment, however, the amounts are partly due to the difference in serving sizes.

 

 

Fat, Calories, and Sugar

For all the benefits that Tru Chocolate provides, one serving of this chocolate is actually smaller than any of the others. As mentioned above, however, because the taste sticks with you through a whole glass of water (it can actually reside on your tongue for up to 30 minutes), it seems that it is an ENORMOUS serving.

 

A serving of Tru Chocolate is only 8 grams, while IsaDelight provides an 11.3 gram serving; Xocai Nuggets offer a 12 gram serving; and Xocai Power Squares offer an 18 gram serving.

 

Between ingredients and serving size, then, these three products offer substantially different amount of fat, calories, and sugar:

 

Xocai Nuggets

Fat: 4.5 grams (3 saturated); 70 calories; 25% sugar (fructose; 23 glycemic index).

 

Xocai Power Squares

Fat: 6 grams (5 saturated); 100 calories; 39% sugar (fructose; 23 glycemic index).

 

IsaDelight

Fat: 4 grams (2.5 saturated); 50 calories; 35% sugar (I believe sucrose; 65 glycemic index).

 

Tru Chocolate

Fat: 3 grams (0 saturated); 36 calories; NO ADDED SUGAR!

Note that there is sugar alcohol, which is called xylitol (7 glycemic index). But again, xylitol provides health benefits, rather than health problems as sugar does. There is also a tiny amount of natural sugar in cacao that may in fact make up 2-4% of a piece of Tru Chocolate. But this is not processed sugar that's been added to the chocolate.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE

For all the reasons above, I can only fully recommend Tru Chocolate among MLM chocolates. Getting involved is easy -- it only costs $10 to become an independent distributor, which gives you access to wholesale rates. If you want to earn an income from recommending it to others, you can. But you don't have to.

 

As a distributor, your cost per serving is only $1.40. (Retail is about $1.70.) And remember, when you follow this with 16 ounces of water that all has a chocolate flavor to it, this is an OUTSTANDING experience and value!

 

To learn more about the opportunity aspect, please click here.

 

To get started with Tru Chocolate, please talk with the person who referred you to this site. Or if you found it on your own, then please contact Steve, an independent distributor of Tru Chocolate.