Chocolate can be good for you
by Rachel Holt
photography by John Webster
Did you know that dark chocolate can actually be good for you? Paul Frantellizzi, founder of Good Superfoods, is dedicated to helping you enjoy your favorite treats this Valentine’s Day without feeling guilty. In fact, chocolate was a starting point for his products. “Chocolate just made sense early on because it was something everybody loved and was easy to work with. The first bar we made was the coconut bar. We made it at home and started sharing with friends, got some good feedback, and it turned into a business pretty quickly, “ Frantellizzi explained.
Based in Boise, Good Superfoods was founded in 2010. It is a functional food company that creates products using functional foods and nutraceuticals. Functional foods are foods that have ingredients that help or support you in some way more than a normal food. Nutraceuticals are nutritious foods, minerals, or supplements that provide benefits that a pharmaceutical might provide.
Good Superfoods makes a number of different super food products including sweeteners, powders, and their Good Cacao chocolate bars. Good Cacao bars are their functional food chocolate that use nutraceuticals and other natural ingredients for different health benefits.
Jennifer Gaudry, Vice President of Research and Development, said, “We look at needs in the [healthy food] industry and create products based on that. The coconut bar, our first product, has nutrients related to brain health. We also make items with probiotics for overall health, berry for heart health, and orange for weight loss.”
Good Cacao bars are typically made of dark chocolate as darker chocolate has less sugar. “Dark chocolate is better for you than milk chocolate, although we’ve also started making a milk chocolate bar for our energy line,” said Frantellizzi.
In addition to its Good Cacao chocolate lines currently offered, Good Superfoods has also created the Agami chocolate line. This chocolate bar is a “raw bar,” which means that the chocolate is not heated beyond 110 degrees. According to Gaudry, it is also made with coconut sugar instead of cane sugar; the lower glycemic index makes it a better choice for someone who is diabetic or pre-diabetic.
“Any time you can take something you are currently buying or eating and replace it with something similar but better for you, it’s a world of difference for your body. With our chocolate line as an example, if you’re already eating a Hershey’s bar as a treat and replace it with something that is good for your brain and has less sugar than a Hershey’s bar and more antioxidants, you’re doing good things just by making that little swap,” Gaudry explained.
Good Cacao chocolate products are available locally at the Boise Co Op, Vitamin Shop, and Huckleberries. For more information about the Good Superfoods company or Good Cacao chocolates, check out their website at www.goodsuperfoods.com/ or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/goodcacao
