Think — Jessica Mahler

Here at ALOHA, we take pride in our health, keeping our collective finger on the pulse of all the buzzy trends in the world of wellness, so when we hear about a food or supplement that has been touted as some sort of magical substance with medicinal properties, we obsess about it, research it, and write about it, all for the sake of empowering you with more knowlege… case in point: Activated charcoal. What is it? A special form of carbon, made from carbon-containing materials like coal or wood, it becomes “activated” when heated at extremely high temperatures (say, 600–900º...

From ceremonial use to safeword, we have been turning to the chocolate stuff for centuries as a means to satiate our collective sweet tooth. Considered sacred by both Aztec and Mayan cultures, cacao was consumed back then as a health elixir and in medicinal rituals by royalty. Today, chocolate is found everywhere and available to everyone as a tasty indulgence, but many of the “superpowers” that had been the lure of the beans has been lost as commercialization of the cacao bean has lead to cocoa. Cacao is the raw bean of the Theobroma cacao tree, while the cocoa found in the chocolate...