Who Is Eating Chocolate Every Day? page 3

[Dirlot]

I usually have one square of dark chocolate every day.

[Kimelah]

Here's the thing for me. I used to LOVE chocolate. Like, pre-primal and quite overweight, I'd make brownie batter and eat it raw. If the brownies got cooked, I'd eat them all too.
Post-primal and wanting "healthier" chocolate, I trained my tastebuds to enjoy dark chocolate. And I did! I did enjoy it! I enjoyed it so much that I ate three bars of 75% in two days. My gallbladder was not impressed. So I stopped. That was two months ago.
This past weekend, I bought one bar, thinking "it's only one bar". I had a half of it that day, and the other half the next day. THAT EVENING my gallbladder had some words with me, and they were not enjoyable. And NOTHING could take the pain away. I even tried ACV (1/4 cup in 1cup apple juice) and... nothing. Took some tylenol... nothing. Took MORE tylenol... still nothing but agonizing pain around my right side.

I don't want to go through that again, so I am not willing to test a theory and eat yet more chocolate.

And I don't want to see a doctor about it because all he'll say is, "eat less fat". If it were the fat, my gallbladder issues would have started last year when I started eating a whole whack of fat. Not one year later.


tl;dr - if I eat any amount of dark chocolate I get a gallbladder attack. I is sad.

[gopintos]

Here's the thing for me. I still track, so I measure everything out. So I break off a square for me, a square for DH and I hand it to him and say here is dessert. That is all we get. If I use chips like in greek yogurt or something, I count them out. That is the only way for me to stay on track and within my range. Otherwise, I know me, I would eat the whole darn bag.

[Lukey]

Chocolate has very strange effects on me. A few months ago i ate a 100g Green and Blacks 85%. I felt fantastic, and really happy for about an hour or two. Then after that i felt completely Euphoric, and high. I couldn't concentrate on anything and i felt really strange, was honestly one of the strangest things i've ever experienced. So i laid off the chocolate for a while. About two weeks ago i had a 100g 70% Green and blacks bar, and i have never felt as sick in my entire life. I had a huge headache and felt so nauseas, i thought i was going to throw up. It lasted all night and i had to go to bed just to try and get to sleep to get rid of it, it was horrible. yesterday i had a 100g bar of Green and blacks milk chocolate (about 35%) and had no ill effects what so ever. I wouldn't like to regularly consume it though as it is high in sugar.

overall i think it's just the quantity of chocolate that has these effects on me. I could probably eat about 50g or so of dark chocolate and feel good. But for now i'm just sticking with raw cocoa nibs, and if i do indulge in some dark chocolate i will keep it to a few squares.

[Chris_H]

I generally avoid it as it stalls my weightloss out. Even a couple squares a day seem to stall me to less than 1 lb loss per week, where as if I avoid it and eat the same, I normally lose more than 2.5 lbs.

[Owly]

I was eating a serving of 90% dark everyday for the last week or so. It would supposedly enhance my workout and make me more vascular. While I havn't taken it long enough to really get full effect, I found it quite addictive nd I would get really hungry after snacking on it. So I've cut it out, I don't see a real need for it. Sometimes I add unsweetened coca powder to my milk though

I really hope you mean cocoa and not coca.

[Sabre]

Whoa. Two days ago I binged on dark chocolate, two whole bars--on an empty stomach--and since then I've had a pretty nasty headache. Well, that was dumb....lesson learned

[peril]

I have a mug of unsweetened 100% cocoa every evening - just cocoa and hot water

[randallfloyd]

I eat .5 - 1kg of chocolate a week. Have done for some time.

I feel good, energetic, and have only had one cold in three years - just an observation of course, but I suspect it has something to do with the cocoa. The one cold was when I really cut down on the chocolate for around two months, last winter. Since then I've upped the amount and have felt great since.

I make sure to exercise enough, particularly if I'm eating the more sugary stuff.

[Scott F]

That active substance in cocoa that is believed to boost mitochondrial health is called epicatechin.

Cocoa May Enhance Skeletal Muscle Function
The study published this week by the journal Clinical and Translational Science looked at five profoundly ill patients with major damage to skeletal muscle mitochondria. Mitochondria are structures responsible for most of the energy produced in cells. These “fuel cells” are dysfunctional as a result of both type 2 diabetes and heart failure, leading to abnormalities in skeletal muscle. In patients with heart failure and diabetes abnormalities in both the heart and skeletal muscle result in impaired functional capacity. These patients often complain of shortness of breath, lack of energy and have difficulty walking even short distances.

The trial participants consumed dark chocolate bars and a beverage with a total epicatechin content of approximately 100 mg per day for three months. Biopsies of skeletal muscle were conducted before and after treatment. After the three-month treatment, the researchers looked at changes in mitochondria volume and the abundance of cristae, which are internal compartments of mitochondria that are necessary for efficient function of the mitochondria, and measurable by electron microscopy.

“The cristae had been severely damaged and decreased in quantity in these patients,” said one of the senior investigators, Francisco J. Villarreal, MD, PhD of UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology. “After three months, we saw recovery – cristae numbers back toward normal levels, and increases in several molecular indicators involved in new mitochondria production.”


I first learned about epicatechin from reading "The Fat Switch." Dr Johnson talks about the Kuna Indians health and their consumption of cocoa.