Dark Chocolate

[AFI82]

What is it about dark chocolate that's better for you than regular chocolate. I've read that it's high in anti-oxidants (at least, I think that's what I read). As for calorie content, they seem about the same.

I was contemplating melting some dark chocolate, dipping a banana, then freezing said banana. But this still might be very high in calories.

[RobLL]

The basic advantage of dark chocolate, is that it has more chocolate and less sugar than milk chocolate. And adding a banana makes it a lot more sugarly. Low carb people generally avoid bananas. That said, if you tolerate carbs eat dark chocolate and bananas.

[cycomiko]

Good dark chocolate is full of lovely cocoa polyphenols.

Crap dark chocolate is not

it should be rather bitter, not sweet

[Cynic]

Originally Posted by cycomiko

Good dark chocolate is full of lovely cocoa polyphenols.

Crap dark chocolate is not

it should be rather bitter, not sweet

Yeah, "rather" might be subjective. I think the proper form is pretty unpleasent to the palette.

Hershey's cocoa, the baking kind, is your best bet.

Oh, this is per Aragon, not my learned experience. But Cocoa does not shake up well. Best to use a blender.

[BamaDave]

I'm starting to think nutrition information is nothing but craziness. Recently around here I've seen negative remarks about things like bananas and peas... and positive stuff about junk like bacon, dressing, and chocolate.

[RobLL]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

I'm starting to think nutrition information is nothing but craziness. Recently around here I've seen negative remarks about things like bananas and peas... and positive stuff about junk like bacon, dressing, and chocolate.

I agree, I think, with you that labels of good and bad are ambiguous and not particularly useful.

Bananas and peas are good if you tolerate them. People with diabetes should generally avoid them. They do increase blood glucose notably.

What makes bacon, dressing, and chocolate junk food, if taken in moderation? If a person eats low carb the fat is not a problem, we have to eat about 50-70% fat to get enough calories.

[Lost Dog]

Almost any food can be good or bad, depending on your plan or goal or a condition. Rob's example of diabetes is a good one. Someone with Celiac disease needs to avoid wheat and other foods with gluten.

On the weightloss front, the differences aren't good or bad or healthy or unhealthy (usually), they are whether it works with that diet plan (and therefore for the dieter).

The thing that's inherently wrong with bacon isn't the fat, it's the stuff it's cured with. But those won't stop you from or help you to lose weight.

The problem with chocolate isn't the cocoa or the fat, it's the sugar.

Dressings can be on any side of the fence, as they can contain good fats, bad fats, sugar, etc.

Bananas and peas are healthy, they just don't fit into my diet, for instance. If I substituted the calories from the banana or peas for something else in my diet, I might do just fine, but it's not part of the diet. Bananas and peas aren't as filling or satisfying as the same number of calories of protein or fat, and they are more likely to cause me to crave more sweet and/or starchy foods. That may be my own mental illness at work, but even so, that's how I handle my diet to keep myself in control.

[RedLefty]

Yeah, Roland had a good article in his blog recently on the topic of "good" and "bad" foods. You should check it out.

He has a link to his blog in his signature, and once you go there look for the article just under the picture of the running asshorse.

[BamaDave]

I guess I just find food avoidance trends interesting and find it strange when people start eliminating low calorie / nutritionally valuable things like fruit and carrots from their diets. When I first arrived on the fitness boards, the TAP diet was the "it" plan - a very South Beachy kind of plan. High saturated foods were considered poor choices, whereas things like bananas were good choices.