100% Cacao -- quality fat? page

[PrimalStudent]

I'm eating one big meal per day which is packed with quality meat and veggies, so nutrition is not an issue. That big meal comes around 6:00pm. During the rest of the day, I've just been nibbling on a 100% cacao bar (Ghiradelli, no sugar... the entire bar is 4oz) and I find it keeps me really satiated.

Although I rarely get through all 4oz, is there any problem with doing this? On average I'm doing 3/4ths of a bar, which comes to 412 calories, 43g fat, 26g carbs (half of which is fiber, so only 13g net), and 9.5g protein (although obviously I don't count this towards my daily protein total). It wards off any temptation for the bread and sugar which is around me all day, so I can get home safely to my primal dinner

[PrimalStudent]

(I should note, I'm doing no dairy, no fruit, no nuts... just the cacao, meat, greens, and an avocado here and there)

[noodletoy]

by itself it's not a bad food, but it's basically just squares of non-nutrition. if you feel compelled to nibble and snack, you either need a bigger meal, or another smallish one during the day. bring some hard-boiled eggs or something.

[Derpamix]

by itself it's not a bad food, but it's basically just squares of non-nutrition. if you feel compelled to nibble and snack, you either need a bigger meal, or another smallish one during the day. bring some hard-boiled eggs or something.

chocolate has a very sizable amount of minerals and has bounds of health benefits. The only problem is the high phosphorus content.

[noodletoy]

many of which are destroyed by roasting which is needed to turn them into bars. the same cannot be said for eggs, oysters or liver.

[PrimalStudent]

by itself it's not a bad food, but it's basically just squares of non-nutrition. if you feel compelled to nibble and snack, you either need a bigger meal, or another smallish one during the day. bring some hard-boiled eggs or something.

I just think of it like my version of coconut oil (I know a lot of people take spoonfuls when they're feeling low-energy... I just hate coconut, haha)

[cori93437]

many of which are destroyed by roasting which is needed to turn them into bars. the same cannot be said for eggs, oysters or liver.

No, sorry... roasting does not destroy the minerals, though the process used can change the content some.
For instance the iron in dutched cocoa is slightly more available than in regular, but regular favors magnesium.

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened, processed with alkali [Dutch cocoa]
Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened

My package of organic raw cacao powder at home says this:
One ounce organic raw cacao powder contains:
Calories: 120, Calories from Fat: 23
Total Fat: 2.5g, 4% Recommended daily value
Saturated Fat: 1.5g, 7%
Sodium: 20mg, 1%
Total Carbohydrates: 19.0g, 6%
Dietary Fiber: 7.0g, 28%
Protein: 5.0g
Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 4%, Iron 16%

So processing actually increased the iron content per the weight of the product.
Since my home bag doesn't have an extensive mineral list like Nutritiondata I can't make a full comparison to how it affected the other minerals.

[PrimalStudent]

No, sorry... roasting does not destroy the minerals, though the process used can change the content some.
For instance the iron in dutched cocoa is slightly more available than in regular, but regular favors magnesium.

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened, processed with alkali [Dutch cocoa]
Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened

My package of organic raw cacao powder at home says this:
One ounce organic raw cacao powder contains:
Calories: 120, Calories from Fat: 23
Total Fat: 2.5g, 4% Recommended daily value
Saturated Fat: 1.5g, 7%
Sodium: 20mg, 1%
Total Carbohydrates: 19.0g, 6%
Dietary Fiber: 7.0g, 28%
Protein: 5.0g
Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 4%, Iron 16%

So processing actually increased the iron content per the weight of the product.
Since my home bag doesn't have an extensive mineral list like Nutritiondata I can't make a full comparison to how it affected the other minerals.

Thanks for your input! saved me having to do that extra research

[noodletoy]

isn't there a difference between a bar and powder? the latter of which is simply pulverized bits?

am not trying to be cantankerous.

[DeeDub]

So processing actually increased the iron content per the weight of the product.

The extra iron is coming off of the machines doing the processing ("Dutch" cocoa is very highly processed at not "natural" or paleo in any meaningful sense of the word). That's not a joke - companies have been working on "iron-free" processing equipment to reduce this effect - it comes from tiny filings off of the equipment.