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Does Dark Chocolate Help?

Posted , 11 users are following.

jackie00198
jackie00198

I recently learned that Dr. Jose Montoya, a well-respected ME/CFS doctor at Stanford, prescribes dark chocolate as part of his regimen. Have any of you tried this? If so, have you noticed any results? I've tried 70% to 80% dark chocolate, and it does make me feel better, at least for a few hours. It elevates my mood, which you expect from chocolate (I'm not depressed, though), helps my neuropathy symptoms, and generally helps.

1 like, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • wknight
    wknight jackie00198

    Posted

    Yes tried it, I did 85% Lindt, still do, it may have helped, verdict still out 

    i recovered, but did it via pacing 

  • bettybetter
    bettybetter jackie00198

    Posted

    I hadn't heard about this. I love dark chocolate but have recently been trying to cut out sugar so had stopped eating it. I was also having it in the evening and thought, as it's a stimulant, it could be impacting my sleep.

    I welcome an excuse to reintroduce it though! I'll try having it during the day. Is there any guidance as to how much is helpful?

    • jackie00198
      jackie00198 bettybetter

      Posted

      I don't know how much is recommended. If you eat chocolate that's in the high 70%, or 85%, as wknight did, the amount of sugar isn't that high (I don't think). 

  • Beverley_01
    Beverley_01 jackie00198

    Posted

    Hi Jackie,

    There's someone here in the UK who says chocolate and raw foods have meant she can now live a more normal life.  if you Google "deliciously Ella" . I eat dark chocolate and tend to eat the higher percentage stuff. I can't eat milk products anyway and prefer the strong stuff. I find if it has a high sugar content  I have a sugar dip sadly.

    Beverley

  • janet71271
    janet71271 jackie00198

    Posted

    The dark chocolate suggestion has been around a while now . I can't stand chocolate though.! Always gave me migraine. Haven't eaten it for many years. Even the smell I find repellant .

  • Fidd
    Fidd jackie00198

    Posted

    There was one poor quality study which claimed to show dark chocolate was of some help. It's almost certainly nonsense, but there you go. If you like eating dark chocolate, it's got less sugar than milk chocolate so it's healthy in that sense, and doing anything that is nice is likely to help people feel a bit better.

  • rosie34970
    rosie34970 jackie00198

    Posted

    Dark chocolate is a mega source of magnesium, which is often recommended for cfs so that could be why it helps.  I enjoy it and can’t tolerate magnesium supplements so I intend to continue :-)
    • janet71271
      janet71271 rosie34970

      Posted

      I can't tolerate oral magnesium. Awful stuff isn't it !

      I had it by injection years ago. But it caused a lot if pain and problems in my legs. Felt like it was being injected into a nerve . Was dreadful .

  • Ally01381
    Ally01381 jackie00198

    Posted

    Yes you are right - I have had the 70%-80% dark chocolate -it does elevate my mood as well
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