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Chocolate: can you handle it?

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Posted 9/4/2015 3:51 AM (GMT -6)
Quick question for those of you who have noticed links between what you eat and your symptoms, and have identified trigger foods. Can some of you handle chocolate, or does it seem to be a universally problematic food?

I'm asking because I'm on a restrictive version of SCD (with no honey, no nuts, no dried fruits, and no dairy) that has greatly improved my symptoms, and I'm dreaming of the day I feel stable enough to try eating small amounts of very dark chocolate again. (I realize chocolate is not SCD-legal, but it is my single most-missed food so I'd be willing to "cheat" with 100%-cacao chocolate, if I can make it work.)

I'd love to know if some of you can eat it without negative effects, to know if I can hope for it myself! :)

Thanks a lot.
Posted 9/4/2015 4:39 AM (GMT -6)
I can eat 1 York peppermint patty at night watching TV
It is the only chocolate candy I can handle
Used to eat Mounds Bars no more
Wow the diarrhea get is not worth the candy turn
Posted 9/4/2015 4:47 AM (GMT -6)
Most people with sensitive digestive systems find any chocolate that's 85% Dark or above and doesn't contain emulsifiers is quite safe. Ingredients should be something like:

Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Powder, Sugar, Vanilla Extract

If you have a very long ingredients list or a bunch of stuff that doesn't look like it needs to be in there (soya lecithin for instance) then it could cause an issue.

Most Lindt Dark Chocolate is good, Black's Organic Chocolate is another. If you live in the UK, Tesco do a range of dark chocolate in their 'Finest' Range - I like the Dominican Republic one the best.
Posted 9/4/2015 5:17 AM (GMT -6)
I absolutely looove chocolate and have zero willpower around it. Fortunately, it doesn't affect my uc at all.
Posted 9/4/2015 5:26 AM (GMT -6)
Soda and most candy are bad for me but I can eat moderate amounts of chocolate without problems. I suspect it might be that most chocolate is made from real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup.

But I have to be careful that it is pure chocolate and not, for example, chocolate covered wafers with added ingredients besides chocolate.
Posted 9/4/2015 8:20 AM (GMT -6)
well technically cocoa has a laxative effect. It has caffeine. It also has tons of antioxidants, loads of fiber, and is a great source of iron and magnesium. (UCers tend to be low in both.)

I say the benefits far out weigh the laxative effect. :) Just don't go crazy with it.
Posted 9/4/2015 8:29 AM (GMT -6)
I agree with Kevin Watson that dark choc. without dairy is better handled by my gut than choc with other ingredients. However….I made a choc. soufflé the other night with just 2 ingredients, bittersweet choc (Bakers) and eggs and whuh-oh BM-alert. Just too much of a good thing. My share of the soufflé had 4 oz. of choc. so guess that is over my limit haha.

Yesterday though I made hot cocoa with powdered cocoa, coconut cream and sugar and no problems.
But I cannot eat candy bars from the store, mostly because they put dairy in them and other non-tolerated ingredients.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 9/5/2015 5:56:19 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/4/2015 1:18 PM (GMT -6)
I pretty much ate chocolate everyday...then it seemed to add to my constipation issues with my IBS so I don't eat it everyday anymore, seems as long as it's more on an occasional basis I do okay with it...it's never caused me to have diarrhea, so far anyway. I love chocolate, always have but I'm glad that I don't get the strong cravings for it everyday like I use to.
Posted 9/4/2015 1:34 PM (GMT -6)
Hi, My name is Bad Gut and I'm a chocoholic. It is true I can hardly make it 24 hrs without a fix, it started as a child and has festered into a larger addiction as I age. I don't care if it is cake, milk or solid I just need a fix. I will eat some amount of it if I'm in a flare, remission or my death bed, a user is gonna use and that is all there is to it. Sure I cut back while flaring only because everything else is cut back, but don't ever put it where I can't find it or reach it, you will end up dead, that is a promise not a threat. I don't think it hurts my UC, but that could be the addict in me speaking. I would like to think the issues from stress, depression and withdrawal would bring on many more UC issues than just reaching for my fix will cause. So I find my fix, smile and move on. Oh and if I ever catch any of you UCers mittens on my chocolate, I will kill ya' :). Enjoy the weekend everyone!!
Posted 9/4/2015 1:54 PM (GMT -6)
I love chocolate, but like yourself I am not supposed to eat it, but sometimes I need something, and what I have found works for me is to keep a bowl of intense dark chocolate mousse in the fridge, so that when I have a craving I will take a large teaspoon of that and add it to some fruit, something like fresh chopped pears or raspberries is good, it's not exactly the same, but it does the trick, and stops the cravings..I use dairy free chocolate mixed with coconut cream and its really delicious.
Posted 9/4/2015 2:24 PM (GMT -6)
I've never found that any particular food hurt things. The best diet for me while having a flare up was always fasting. :)
Posted 9/4/2015 8:54 PM (GMT -6)
I eat it everyday
Posted 9/5/2015 4:07 AM (GMT -6)

Somebody said...
Hi, My name is Bad Gut and I'm a chocoholic.


Ok ok I guess it is time to share confessional stories....

I was in the hospital during a really bad flare and asked to go for a walk. The nurse told me that I couldn't because I had an open IV in my wrist. I just laughed and said, "come on. I have UC. I am not a heroine addict."

I walked to the nearest Whole Foods (quite far) and got a bar of super dark chocolate. I was on gut rest. That chocolate never tasted so good.
Posted 9/5/2015 4:31 AM (GMT -6)
I handle chocolate about as well as I handle every other food under the sun, i.e. not very well at all. It has to be milk chocolate though - none of this ultra dark chocolate. I don't mind some dark chocolate, but any dark chocolate which has over 70% cocoa solids is so bitter, I may as well just go and dig up some mud for free and eat that.
Posted 9/5/2015 4:41 AM (GMT -6)
I don't have any issues and came across a study where it claims, it should help. Started a new thread for that, www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=3490542
Posted 9/5/2015 6:24 AM (GMT -6)

Bad Gut said...
Hi, My name is Bad Gut and I'm a chocoholic. It is true I can hardly make it 24 hrs without a fix, it started as a child and has festered into a larger addiction as I age. I don't care if it is cake, milk or solid I just need a fix. I will eat some amount of it if I'm in a flare, remission or my death bed, a user is gonna use and that is all there is to it. Sure I cut back while flaring only because everything else is cut back, but don't ever put it where I can't find it or reach it, you will end up dead, that is a promise not a threat. I don't think it hurts my UC, but that could be the addict in me speaking. I would like to think the issues from stress, depression and withdrawal would bring on many more UC issues than just reaching for my fix will cause. So I find my fix, smile and move on. Oh and if I ever catch any of you UCers mittens on my chocolate, I will kill ya' :). Enjoy the weekend everyone!!

Lol that's me in a nutshell.
Posted 9/5/2015 2:12 PM (GMT -6)
Of all delicious chocolates, I love beer most :)
Posted 9/5/2015 6:40 PM (GMT -6)

ewafromwarsaw said...
Of all delicious chocolates, I love beer most :)

Why not have both:experience.usatoday.com/food-and-wine/story/best-of-food-and-wine/beer/2015/04/08/chocolate-beer-brewing/25460699/
Posted 9/5/2015 7:13 PM (GMT -6)
OMG might have to forego my beloved locally brewed ginger cider!!! Chocolate beer!!!! YES!!!
Posted 9/6/2015 11:21 AM (GMT -6)
I can eat many foods with no problems even chocolate
Posted 9/6/2015 10:48 PM (GMT -6)
I most def cannot have any chocolate - unless a night of crying is what I want
Posted 9/7/2015 9:16 AM (GMT -6)
Ipoop - the beer advertised in this article is very popular in Poland now, but I am very conservative about beer and don't tolerate any other than its "real" flavours. What enrages me in Warsaw restaurants is that they always bring me beer with a straw thus encouraging me to sip it elegantly and then look at me with disgust when I drink it in huge gulps. I've recently witnessed a funny incident in a pub when one local drunkard was really perplexed why he had been given a straw in his beer. He said to the waiter: "leave my beer on the table man and then you can stick this straw up your butt" :)
Posted 9/18/2015 3:11 PM (GMT -6)
I apologize for not coming back sooner to thank you all for your responses. You are giving me hope that maybe I can have chocolate again in the near future!

I've recently read about the concept of food rotation, which recommends not eating the same foods every day, but rather having potentially problematic foods only every three days. I think perhaps that will be my strategy regarding chocolate when I reintroduce it, otherwise I could easily go overboard. :)
Posted 9/18/2015 8:40 PM (GMT -6)
Dark dark like 80% yes. Not milk chocolate because I'm lactose intolerant
Posted 5/4/2020 11:52 AM (GMT -6)
you can get raw cacao instead of cocoa which is 0.3g of sugar per 100g so much less sugar and use that to make chocolate. or Montezuma do a 100% absolute black chocolate with similar amount
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