TRUVIBE ORGANICS Organic Cacao Powder, 8 OZ

After reading about the benefits of cacao, I decided to try TruVibe organic raw cacao powder. I first tried it in my morning smoothies which I make using Pure Protein powder drink mix French Vanilla flavor, Silk blended Coconut and Almond Milk, TruVibe Chia seeds, and cold milled flax seed. I typically also add either frozen blueberries or frozen strawberries and for a healthy fat I may add organic peanut butter or coconut oil. I also add a teaspoon of cinnamon which helps with processing glucose. The cacao makes my smoothie seem like a rich dessert. This week I have also tried adding cacao to oatmeal. It's December and getting cold so a I wanted to try a nice warm bowl of oatmeal. I added cacao, chia and cold-milled flax seed as well as Maca powder. I find that I need to add a cup and a half of water to a half cup or old fashioned rolled oats when I add these extra items. First I cook the oats in the 1 and 1/2 cups water. It will seem watery but once you add the flax, chia, cacao and maca it becomes thicker. The last thing I add is a half cup of organic apple juice or cider. This adds sweetnes along with a nice dose of vitamin C. I also add some dried cranberries which adds sweetness and fiber. It is very delicious and a very healthy and powerful combination of foods to start your day. There are so many benefits to adding cacao to your diet. It is truly one of the most amazing foods I have found for the health conditions I am working to correct. This article describes the benefits: http://www.secrets-of-longevity-in-humans.com/raw-cacao-benefits.html. I have found that since I have started eating cacao three to four times per week that my glucose level and LDL cholesterol levels have radically dropped. My blood glucose had been running in the high range very near that which would garner me the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes for the past several years. Even with taking prescription Metformin, I was not able to get my levels down. My doctor prescribed a glucometer so that I could start monitoring my blood glucose since I am trying to stay off of prescription meds for condition management. When I first started monitoring my glucose levels were running in the 145 to 135 range. Recently after a few weeks of adding cacao to my diet my readings have dropped. Today for instance my fasting glucose was 80 first thing in the morning. Two hours after lunch it was 114 and two hours after dinner it was 107. I have recently added Maca powder to my diet as well which I also purchase from TruVibe. Both the cacao and maca power from TruVibe are of very high quality. And as they say, their products are infused with positivity. Right now in my cabinet I have TruVibe Cacao, TruVibe Chia Seeds and TruVibe Maca Powder. Every time I open my cabinet I see the combined messages: Art is Life, Do it Now, Live your Dreams. That is a great way to start my day each morning. I can't wait until my next visit with the doctor to see what my biometrics will be this time.

So I heard about Cacao many times before I actually tried it. It wasn't until a podcast I was listening to went into detail about some of its great benefits that I actually took the dive to get it from Amazon and try it in my shakes. So far I've tried 3 different Raw Cacao's from different companies and here is my review on this one:After my horrible ordeal with Healthworks Cacao (which caused me very bad stomach pains) I decided to try TruVibes Cacao and it was really good. It mixed well and actually had a nice coco aroma to it. I could also feel the energy it brought to all my smoothies shortly after I drank them when I used it.The issue I have with this cacao is that it is made from a 'Criollo variety.' which essentially means that they can't keep the same level of consistency as a company that uses one type of Criollo bean (Like Arriba Criollo). Besides that, it's good stuff.Now about the company: TruVibe's says they are 'Fair Trade' but there is still no label on their product or on their product image. Even when you go to their website there is still no 'Fair Trade' information to be found under their Cacao product listing. They have also been questioned about this in other reviews and have said they are. Any company can say their Fair Trade but show us the certification, put it on your website, put it on your product, don't just have it in the title so you can get more clicks to your product. On top of that, it makes me wary that they have it here on Amazon but nowhere on their site. (Dodging Legal Liability?) or maybe their waiting until they sell enough to get the Fair Trade Cert. Who knows.Also, I'm not a fan of their marketing. After I purchased the product, they will sent an e-mail saying they will donate $5 for each review they receive…. (Not really a fan of that at all. If you they wanted to donate, they can go ahead and donate and write it off. Not to get us customers to push their products to the top of Amazon by giving them reviews..#shady….. That's just my personal opinion.)TL;DR version: Good Cacao. They said their product is Fair Trade but there is no sign of a certificate here, on their product or on their website. Not a fan of them sending me a e-mail to give a review so they can donate $5 to a charity.