Food of the Gods

Continued from our Retreat & Renew Daily Tip.

By Katherine Stewart

With a history as rich as its flavor, cocoa is one of the world’s most craved ingredients. Among scientists, it’s also earning a reputation as a nutritional powerhouse. Here’s a look at how cocoa is faring at the spa.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America. Ten years later, he discovered something even better: cocoa. For two thousand years, the civilizations of Central and South America had been enjoying a drink made from the fruit of the cacao tree. The Mayans ground up cacao beans with water, vanilla, black pepper, and spices for betrothal and marriage ceremonies. To them, the cacao bean was the embodiment of Earth’s treasures, so valuable that its seeds were often used as currency.

Columbus and his fellow conquistadors were quick to see the virtues of cocoa. Hernan Cortes, who got his first cup from Aztec emperor Montezuma II, described it as “The divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits man to walk for a whole day without food.”

On his return to Spain, Cortes brought back galleons laden with cacao beans and an Aztec recipe for xocoatl (a chocolate drink), and life in Europe changed forever. The famous Swedish naturalist Linnaeus called cocoa, ‘the food of the gods.’ Several writers and poets have also waxed lyrical about the magical stuff. Above all, they’ve linked cocoa with love. In fact, they sometimes confused the two. “Forget love!” one anonymous commentator said, “I’d rather fall in chocolate.”

In recent years, nutritionists and scientists have begun to unlock the secrets of the cacao bean. Its most famous processed products, cocoa and chocolate, are now regarded as nutritional superfoods. They are rich in antioxidant polyphenols, which fight free radicals that damage the body tissue. They are good sources of B1, B2, and D vitamins as well as magnesium and iron. A study at the Athens Medical School found that cocoa consumption is associated with vasodilation, which improves stamina during exercise. According to the American Heart Association, cacao-rich cocoa and chocolate appear to improve levels of insulin resistance in diabetics, as well as lower blood pressure.

Central to the cacao bean’s magical powers are theobromine and methylxanthine, two mildly addictive caffeine-like substances, and phenylethylamine, a stimulant similar to adrenaline and dopamine. Phenylethylamine influences the brain’s ‘mood centers’ and “induces the feeling of falling in love, which might explain why chocolate has inspired so many poets.”

Throughout its long and delicious history, it has always been assumed that the path from the cacao tree to the brain must pass through the mouth. What if you could have the health benefits without the extra calories? What would happen if you ‘literally’ fall into chocolate? The spa world is just beginning to find out.

The chocolate revolution in spa treatments got its start, naturally, in Mexico and Central America. The Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont Mayakoba in Cancun, Mexico, honors its Mayan heritage by incorporating local cocoa products in its therapies. In the Food of the Gods Body Nourisher, dark tablets of pure cocoa are melted and spread over your body. As a powerful aroma of cocoa permeates the room, you are wrapped, cocooned in towels, and given a scalp and foot massage. Then, you’ll enjoy a rinse-off in a Vichy shower, followed by another full-body massage. At the end of the treatment, you’ll enjoy an offering of Mayan-inspired dark chocolate.

As Alan Young notes in his book The Chocolate Tree (University Press of Florida, 2007), “Cocoa has served to bind the people of the American tropics, where it originated and was first cultivated . . . with the consumer nations of North America, Europe, and the rest of the world.” Deep in a bio-diverse rainforest in Costa Rica, La Costa de Papito’s Pure Jungle Spa advances the union of north and south by coating its European and American clientele with cocoa. Its Ultimate Total Body Chocolate treatment begins with organic, locally grown beans. These are roasted over an open fire, then hand-ground into a coarse chocolate paste, which provides a vigorous scrub, while the cocoa butter nourishes and softens the skin.

The Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa on Maui takes advantage of locally produced cocoa butter with their Cocoa Butter Massage & Wrap. The massage therapist fits half-inch-thick pieces of Hawaiian cocoa butter in her palms. As she glides the bars over your skin the butter begins to melt, providing a rich, nourishing lubricant.

If a vacation to the tropics is not on your agenda, don’t worry; cocoa-themed treatments have made their way to North America’s urban jungles. At Manhattan’s Bliss Spa, the Double Choc Pedicure starts off with a hot chocolate milk skin-smoothing soak. The milk acids act as a gentle exfoliant, and the soak, scented with pure cocoa, is fun and indulgent. The pedicure includes a sugar scrub to further exfoliate the feet, and a cup of creamy hot cocoa is served on the side.

At Sofitel Los Angeles’s LeSpa, the ‘Treatments of the Seasons’ listing for winter calls for a Dark Chocolate Body Mask and a Peppermint Milk Bath. After a light massage, a Dark Chocolate Body Mask, made with pure unsweetened cocoa, grapeseed oil, almond oil, and shea butter, is gently spread over your body. You are then wrapped in the slithery mixture and given a deft scalp massage. After washing off in a Swiss shower, you’ll enjoy a soak in a luxurious bath containing peppermint and other essential oils.

Spa Angels, a Santa Barbara, California-based outfit that offers spa parties in clients’ homes in addition to treatments in a studio, offers the Hot Cocoa 4-Handed Massage, which is performed with 85 percent cacao chocolate, that is melted and combined with organic raw coconut milk and grapeseed oil. The same cocoa-coconut concoction is warmed and gently poured over the forehead for the Cocoa Shirodhara.

With the opening of the Spa at the Hotel Hershey, the chocolate conquest of the spa world has clearly reached its pinnacle. Since 1893, Milton S. Hershey’s company has been bringing the delights of cocoa to the masses. Until recently, however, the menu was pretty much limited to milk or dark confections. In 2006, Hershey introduced its ‘Cacao Reserve’ chocolate bars containing a higher percentage of cacao. The Spa at the Hotel Hershey, located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, offers the Whipped Cocoa Bath, a ten-minute soak in a whirlpool tub filled with Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder, nonfat dry milk powder, a signature service that creates cocoa-fragranced bubbles and offers skin-softening properties. Cocoa-scented candles surrounding the tub intensify the experience.

Things that smell this good should not be good for you. But that is just one of the wonders of the magical bean first discovered in the Amazonian forests. Of course, for those who indulge in the new spa treatments, the only difficult part may be dealing with the cravings that are bound to arise in the presence of such delights.

At Home Therapy:

Compliments of Billi Jo Starr and Monique Rodriguez of Spa Angels, Santa Barbara, CA.

A Sweet Treat for your Body

Here’s an aromatic treat that leaves you smelling and feeling lovely. Choose chocolate or cocoa products with high cacao content, as they will contain the most antioxidants.

Ingredients

2 cups honey

1/2 cup grapeseed oil

6 tbs. grated dark chocolate or dry cocoa powder

2 cups coarse sea salt

Preparation

In a bowl, combine honey and grapeseed oil. Stir in the cocoa or chocolate and salt, mixing completely. Consistency should be grainy and thick. Apply scrub to skin and massage gently over the body. Remove with warm damp towels or rinse in the shower.

Cocoa in the Spa

Food of the Gods Body Nourisher
Fairmont Mayakoba
Cancun, Mexico
(800) 257-7544
www.fairmont.com/mayakoba

Ultimate Total Body Chocolate
Pure Jungle Spa at La Costa de Papito
Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
(506) 750-0080
www.lacostadepapito.com

Double Choc Pedicure
Bliss Spa
New York, N.Y. and Bliss spas nationwide
(888) 243-8825
www.Blissworld.com

Cocoa Butter Massage & Wrap
Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa, Maui
Maui, HI
(800) 875-1234
www.grandwailea.com

Treatments of the Seasons,
Winter Sofitel
Los Angeles, CA
(310) 278-5444
www.sofitella.com

4-Handed Cocoa Massage, Cocoa Shirodhara
Spa Angels
Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 259-8414
www.spaangels.us

Whipped Cocoa Bath
The Spa at Hotel Hershey
Hershey, PA
(800) HERSHEY
www.hersheypa.com

Cocoa Concoctions

Jaqua
Cocoa Buttercream Frosting Sinfully Rich Cocoa Body Butter
www.jaquabeauty.com

Dagoba
Dagoba Organic Cacao Soap
www.dagobachocolate.com

100% Pure
Organic Chocolate Mocha Body Scrub
www.100PercentPure.com

Carol’s Daughter
Healthy Hair Butter
www.carolsdaughter.com

Philip B
Chocolate Milk Body Wash
www.philipb.com

Aqua Dessa
Chocolate Espresso Body Scrub
www.aquadessa.com

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