I eat Lindt 85% chocolate (2g per square, I think), and love it! It's ruined me for other chocolate. I usually limit myself to 2 squares a day, but have eaten up to 4. It's plenty sweet for me. Last night I ate some semi-sweet chocolate chips, which I used to LOVE, and I thought, "these are GROSS." I'm spoiled now.

G'day Serrelind, Australian low carbers are spoilt by a local manufacter called Well Naturally, who only use erythritol/sucralose in their choc - available far cheaper than the Lindt range in supermarkets. I've emailed them to ask about U.S distributors.

But I tried googling 'erythritol chocolate' and there are stacks of US suppliers of erythritoled Choc.

This company use oligofructose as well. No idea what they taste like.

Anyway, I'll let you know about Well Naturally. I can recommend their dark choc ( mint, plain, orange valencia) and their milk (actually far lower in carbs than the dark) without hesitation.

Stuart.

Elle, the Well Naturally choc is less than half that. Every dark choc addict I know who has tried both confirms my own opinion that if anything, the erythritol stuff tastes better, particularly the valencia orange dark. The most wonderful thing about erythritol ( apart from the zero GI, no laxative effect, non cariogenic) is that it has practically zero calories.
Can you tell I think erythritol is a low carbing gift from the gods.

Stuart.

I make my own "candy bar" by melting one square of unsweetened chocolate w/ one TBLS of butter. Add a tiny splash of vanilla and 1-2 packets of splenda. I pour it onto a wax paper square and put it in the freezer for a few minutes or until hardened. It is so creamy and rich. Sometimes I add chopped nuts to it as well. Very satisfying.

Suze, the cocoa solids content of choc anything determine its flavonoid/ antioxidant power. The sweetening (or lack of it) doesn't affect this beneficial punch. Calorific sweeteners pack their own carb/other unhealthy punch of course. And some people don't trust artificial intense sweeteners like sucralose.

Unsweetened cocoa with cream cheese alone is truly disgusting. Believe me unsweetened cocoa is completely unpalatable. With sucralose as well as the cream cheese, it becomes bearable. But you can't just use sucralose to sweeten cocoa. It needs the carbs in spoonful Splenda (or sugar, erythritol, or some other sugar alcohol, or the cream cheese) to make it sweet.

And cocoa/cream/ erythritol/ sucralose/ almond or hazelnut meal makes a wonderful low carb Nutella.

Stuart.

Hi Didy,

Wow, that sounds almost like fudge! I will try it :-)

I don't think cocoa powder offers the health benefits that the dark chocolate does, does it?

We really need to start a new thread. I guess NancyLC isn't with us? I will start a new one tomorrow if she doesn't.

All this talk about chocolate--oh my!

Elle, in answer to your earlier question on the thread, I don't plan what I'm eating right before my fast starts as I don't generally eat throughout my entire window. I make sure I have at least a meal and then a snack or fruit or nuts. When I'm done, I'm done, even if there's still time to eat. If I'm not done I eat something else.

Today I had a ceasar salad with chicken and some salami thrown in, then raspberries with cream, a small handful of cashews and an Atkins candy bar at work for a treat. I was full and starting work so didn't eat any more. I probably ate the above within 3 hrs of my window, but will still go until 1pm tomorrow to eat again.

I don't eat the bars all the time, but today I was in the mood for it so had it.

Elle, it's my understanding that the health benefits in chocolate come from the cocoa powder. Chocolate is basically a clever combination of cocoa solids (cocoa powder is powdered roast cocoa beans, with some of the cocoa butter removed), cocoa butter (which also comes from the cocoa bean), lecithin (emulsifier), usually a small amount of vanilla, and sweetening of some sort.

About the new thread. Be bold, take the wheel .

Stuart

I used to go crazy for chocolate. I would put cocoa on anything! But then I read it's really your body in need of magnesium. I added it, and now I don't care about chocolate anymore! It's so amazing!

What should I add for my "cake donut with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles" addiction?

I had my first major slip-up today after nearly a week of 20/4. Something came over me and I had a mini-binge between 10-11 am. I was able to stop, that in itself is pretty amazing, but I had some help.

I thought about making that my eating window for the day, but I'd never make it thru tomorrow. So today's a modification day: 2 eating windows -- 10-11am and 5-7pm, which will be 1 hour (in total) less than usual. Not ideal but better than eating all day long :-)

Is this something that happens to anyone else?

Uh, YEAH.

Binges can occur for me at any time of the day. One of the 4 I had last week was in the afternoon.

Your plan sounds like a good one!