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Chocolate is my nemesis. I go to get some chocolate, and if it is not super dark (90% or more) I end up eating most of it and then feeling ill. I also lose any satiety I may have had from my actual meal. I usually eat two meals a day anymore, sometimes my third meal being a snack like a handful or two of nuts and a bit of chocolate. Or the chocolate is for a bit if dessert. But, other than the chocolate issue I'm consistent with being paleo / primal.

Any tips on restoring satiety / recovering from a binge?

What is it about chocolate that causes the binge -- i.e. is there something in it I need I could get elsewhere in my diet?

I was doing okay handling binges, but chocolate has knocked me off the bandwagon twice this week. My body is not pleased. Please help?

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Some think that chocolate cravings are for magnesium. You could try supplementing (Chris Kresser recommends magnesium citrate for absorbability). – Beth-WeightMaven Feb 14 2012 at 23:36
I think you answered your own question: Only purchase, keep and eat 90%. Fat+sugar is a potent combo for reward for alot of ppl.Cut the sugar out by buying 90%. – Atkins-witha-loincloth Feb 15 2012 at 5:23
@Beth - I think Chris Kresser recommends glycinate for absorbability, saying that citrate pulls too much water to the gut. He uses Pure Encapsulations. – j3wcy Feb 15 2012 at 14:43
I just did the same thing myself and I feel physicly sick :( – Julia May 12 2012 at 12:32

8 Answers

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Ok, let me 'hack' that for you:

Stop eating chocolate.

You're welcome! ;)

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try replacing the chocolate with some coconut oil. I have found that when I want chocolate, that craving usually can be curbed by taking fat of some kind and the nearest smell, texture and pleasure sensation to chocolate I find is coconut oil.

Or it may be that your body is telling you that you need more carbs, so try a handful of nuts when the cravings come.

If you really cannot give up chocolate then get some raw cacao nibs, a couple of these will usually do the trick.

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I haven't had nibs since pre-paleo. I'll look into that. The coconut oil too. I keep it stocked in my kitchen. – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 14 2012 at 23:10
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Caleb, I have very similar experiences with sugar, even a mild amount turns off my "don't do it" switch and usually triggers a binge.

Are you eating unsweetened cacao or an actual 90% bar?

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For a while I was eating 100%. If I couldn't handle it, I'd add a touch of honey or eat some berries. But apparently going for 60-70% chocolates is too much sugar... – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 14 2012 at 23:09
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Caleb I had this same problem. 85% chocolate was the ONLY sugar I was getting in my diet. I am super strict about sugar in every other way, but somehow chocolate just slipped past. So I decided today that my no sugar rule applies to chocolate too. I just made my own chocolate with raw cacao powder (high in minerals and antioxidants) which I mixed with almond butter, walnuts, and dates in the food processor. Then you roll that into balls. It rocked. I only ate two, put the rest in the freezer for another day.

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I don't have a food processor, but I am going to try something similar to this. Thanks a bunch. – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 15 2012 at 1:16
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Be careful with overdoing it on dark chocolate. I had a similar indulgence control problem when it was the only sugar in my diet, and it led to me being zinc depleted and experiencing all the symptoms of low testosterone. Apparently dark chocolate can carry a large phytic acid load and interfere with digestion.

For the time being I'm taking small amounts of honey in tea when feeling stressed instead of stress-eating dark chocolate, and upped my d3 and zinc to rebalance my minerals and testosterone. Doing much better.

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Do you have studies to support this? This sounds alot like me. – Knarf Feb 17 2012 at 4:22
High phytic acid load in cocoa products: chriskresser.com/… Increased phytic acid restricts zinc absorption from food: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2998440 Zinc deficiency tied to low testosterone: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8875519 The last study shows how strong the effect of zinc can be: restricting zinc for 20 weeks cut testosterone concentration to 1/4 their pre-study level, and supplementing zinc in deficient men doubled their testosterone. – alwayscurious Feb 17 2012 at 13:19
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In addition to the magnesium that Beth mentioned, chocolate is high in iron, manganese, and copper. It also contains theobromine, a caffeine-like substance--plus traces of true caffeine, and a cannabinoid that is also manufactured by the human brain.

Cravings for any of these could be combining with sugar cravings to make the chocolate habit hard to kick.

More info in the article "11 Things You Need to Know About Chocolate", on my blog. While the blog focuses on low carb, I do go paleo whenever I can, and the basic info here is applicable to either.

(Sorry about the self-promotion, btw, but you did ask! ;) )

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thanks. Very helpful. – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 15 2012 at 15:49
You're welcome. Glad you liked it! – Frugal Jen Feb 15 2012 at 18:05
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Eating unsweetened baking chocolate melted with some coconut oil helped stop me plowing through Trader Joes' 72% chocolate. Sometimes I'll throw some coconut and crushed nuts in the mix and freeze it on wax paper. Adding the nuts/coconut helps me forget that the chocolate is lacking sugar.

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Caleb: I feel your pain. My mother couldn't make baked goods when I was a kid because she would eat them all the night before. She's like an addict. I'm just like a recreational abuser. She has found that since dramatically upping her fat intake on paleo, the crazy addict behavior has gone away (this is after 60+ years of addiction). At the risk of sounding like a broken record, eat more fat, and see if you feel better (seems like the answer to every question on this board is to eat more fat, right? Why should this question be different).

Also, if you think of the problem as an addiction rather than a preference, then your attitude may change. I know that when I give in to chocolate, it's a preference. When I give into Diet Coke, it's an addict --oh, I'll only have it after lunch, oh, it's only just one and I've had a hard day, etc. If it's an addiction, then you don't get to have a little bit, or only high cacao content. You just don't have any--it's for some people, but maybe not for you? This attitude only makes sense if you think you're an addict, but give it some thought and see if it fits.

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thanks, HA. I don't think I'm addicted to chocolate. But sugar, maybe. The more I cut it out, the better I feel. I think I need to stick to extremely pure chocolate for a while, or make my own desserts. – Caleb the Hobbit Feb 15 2012 at 1:18

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