Re: cocoa powder

[Guest guest]

At 01:30 PM 5/31/2009, you wrote:

An ND I just started seeing has

recommended raw, organic cocoa powder, mixed in

water or smoothies, for regulating blood sugar levels and for gut

problems.

Anybody have any experience with this?

Cocoa is not SCD legal. No matter what the ND says.

Well, I'm the kind of person who sticks her finger in the fire to find

out if it's really hot.

Sooooo... this comes under the heading of another Marilyn Did It Yet

Again. In my early days on SCD, the topic of chocolate came up over and

over and over again. (Those of us with gut issues seems to be dedicated

chocoholics, which really ought to give us a clue, since really bad

cravings can be the bad bugs demanding their preferred food.)

Elaine was absolutely adamant about NO CHOCOLATE. Like you, I thought it

had to be the sugar. I was certain that if I could work out a honey-based

chocolate candy, it would be SCD legal and the delight of every

SCDer.

I bought pure cocoa powder. Tried mixing it with butter, vanilla and

honey: hadn't yet found a good source for cocoa butter. Also tried it

with coconut oil, honey, and vanilla. And I tried it with pear sauce

instead of honey. I had some great mixtures. And every single one of them

gave me the runs. Didn't matter what other well-tolerated substances I

mixed several different types of cocoa powder (just to be sure it wasn't

a specific brand), it all gave me the runs. I gave up on SCD-legal

chocolate using real cocoa.

A craving for chocolate, intriguingly enough, can indicate a need for

extra magnesium. I crave it much less now that I'n working on getting my

magnesium balanced.

Originally, btw, my gut issues took the form of urgency, soft, mushy

stool, sometimes diarrhea, occasionally soft mushy stool accompanied by

inability to go, gut cramps... and obesity. Yep. So many people with gut

issues struggle desperately to gain weight. Me, I'd be glad to give the

Thin Brigade my extra pounds!

I've lost 180 pounds on SCD.

For the last 18 months, though, I've been really struggling. I have

another 100 pounds to go. And I can't seem to get there, although about

95% of the time, my stools are now normal.

I discovered that eating as little as 10 grams of Lindt 85% cocoa once a

week will cause me to gain weight, even though my calorie expenditure is

otherwise the same. Ditto if I try an otherwise legal mix.

So, I conclude, once again, that even if I don't understand the why of no

cocoa, that Elaine knew what she was talking about. (Although nutritional

information on raw cacao nibs indicates it is very high in complex

carbohydrates, so that may be why we cannot have it. In addition, since I

originally wrote the " I don't know why, " , someone else did some

research, and learned that

cocoa is a starch comprised of 36% amylose and 64% amylopectin. If you

read the section about " starch " in Chapter 5 of BTVC, you'll

realize that the amylopectin is one of the more complex starch chains;

ergo, not good for our guts.

I don't like it. I really don't like continuing to give up chocolate.

Barring the experiments, I haven't touched chocolate in over 7 years.

But I have to conclude that in someway, most likely those complex

carbs/starches, the cocoa feeds the bad bugs which are continuing to keep

me from fully normalizing my weight and reaching the full healing that

I'm working towards.

So... no chocolate. And NO experiments until I've lost that remaining 100

pounds. SCD. By the book.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

[Guest guest]

Tom, it's illegal on scd, sorry. Katy

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