Ultra Processed Foods - Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate

[Wheninromme]

I bought ‘the book’ a while ago and have only got round to reading it recently. I feel disgusted, as I assume most did, with the food industry. I have cut out every possible UPF from the family’s diet (with the exception of some moderately processed condiments - mainly soy sauce, stock). We are now consuming up to 5% PF/UPF (previously 15-20%).

I have also recently switched to One-meal-a-day for its health benefits. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and it has definitely helped my cognitive functioning, especially during work.

In the past week, I have really enjoyed a dessert to follow my main: Greek yogurt, frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries or raspberries), Manuka honey and crushed cashew nuts. With a few calories to spare, and previous knowledge that dark chocolate has health benefits; I purchased Lindt Excellence 70% Dark Chocolate.

After eating it with my coveted dessert, I went to research the benefits of dark chocolate again - only to find this exact brand and bar is linked with high levels of heavy metals.

I am gutted and don’t understand how these companies continuously get away with playing with the public’s health (rhetorical question). AIBU to bin the chocolate? What are the alternatives you enjoy…

I eat this chocolate practically every day

i also would like to see actual evidence based research to back up these claims !

Just eat the chocolate.

It is a cult. The Facebook groups are full of 'the book' which in the beginning has the word and the word was with Dr Chris and the word was Dr Chris himself.

Followed by lots of swooning about Dr Chris.

I agree. OP seems obsessional about what used to be called ‘clean eating’ a decade ago, but is now called avoiding UPFs. (I bet in 10 years it will have another shiny new name).

She is also severely restricting her intake by only eating one meal a day. I’m not saying this is necessarily a negative, but whichever way you look at it, it’s pretty restrictive and extreme.

I’m with the posters upthread who said the whole avoid UPF thing is just a new way for some people to make lots of money from the worried well.

I think we'd all do better if we just saw food as fuel and not as a treat.

Funny how no one thinks a salad with prawns or chicken is a treat or that a thick vegetable soup is.

Oh piss off!

Not you op, but I really used to get sucked into all this stuff. I was constantly researching, reading articles and books.

I got seriously unwell. The stress probably did far more harm than if I'd just had the bloody chocolate bar.

Nowadays I just assume it's all bollocks.

We have a couple of centurions and healthy 90 year olds in the family and wider social circle. One was a vegetarian, one lived for a daily pork jelly pie but loved to bike, one ate pretty much only cooked dinners and one was a wine guzzling, chain smoking walking miracle.

The only thing I can think of that they actually had in common was not their diet, it was that they were generally relaxed and happy (well, except the walking miracle, she was a grump but relaxed as long as you didn't bother her with 'inane bullshit' 🤣)

YABU for eating Lindt in the first place.

What does the UPF book have to say about meat, a known carcinogen?

What's with the Lindt bashing? I love their dark chocolate.

What's the book called please?

Lots of food unfortunately contains heavy metals. Just make sure you eat lots of cruciferous vegetables as they help to remove them from the body.

I didn't know this, and I eat a couple of squares a day. Will have a read of the links later. On balance though I don't think I would worry about it too much, I personally think a lot of UPF is more harmful.

I would also very careful eating one meal a day unless you are very obese or have a specific medical reason for doing so. You are likely to loose a lot of lean muscle mass which is very important as you get older. You will probably not be getting your protein, fibre or nutrient requirements for healthy aging.

Isnt there a limit on heavy metals in the UK

Wow I mean I eat 50/60g a day of very dark chocolate. This is faintly worrying to hear!

And I've just googled signs of lead poisoning and they are the same as signs of peri menopause...which is the reason I need to eat so much dark chocolate 😂

It tastes like plastic. Cold or warm.

I eat it in extremis, when I was in NYC last year and I'd run out of my own chocolate I resorted to buying some lindt. (it had EU ingredients not the even grimmer American lindt that you sometimes get over there).

Try making your own with cacao and cocoa butter and coconut sugar and add nuts etc or have a look at the wonderful Cocoa runners virtual tasting with some super quality chocolate and an online tasting it's great fun! And a super value last minute gift as the box can arrive later in time for the tasting but you could make a voucher with details Cocoa runners the monthly subscription is lass good value but wonderful.

What should I buy then? I love Lindt noir intense because it's really rich in taste (don't like the other Lindts). I would love some suggestions of chocolates that are rich in taste and contain btw 70-80% cocoa. And that are not stuffed with lead 😱

I find the lead in UPF to be generally beneficial.
It gently seeps down through my body and settles in my feet. This has helped me remain upright in the recent windy weather and, hopefully, should improve my ability to walk on icy pavements.

We can't live forever. We all have to die some day.

Isn't it better to go through our limited years embracing each moment, each taste etc., rather than constantly worrying whether this food or that food is OK?

We all know the basics. Don't eat too much of something. Eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies. And don't worry about the rest.

Would have thought the strain on the body from the constant anxiety over food would be doing more damage than the odd bit of Lindt chocolate.

I buy the Waitrose 90%. They do sell 70% and 80% too.

I also like the lidl 85% but it has several additional ingredients.

The Waitrose one has three. No idea about the lead though!

From a fairly recent New York Times article:

’If you eat chocolate often, it may be worth choosing products with lower heavy metal concentrations, she said. As You Sow’s website keeps track of cadmium and lead levels in products from several chocolate brands.
A general rule of thumb is to consume no more than an ounce per day, Dr. Melough said. Eating more than that raises concerns not only about heavy metals, but also about high levels of saturated fat, she added. And research has shown that you can reap the health benefits of dark chocolate by eating as little as one-third of an ounce per day.’

Thanks for posting @Wheninromme

really good thread. can you explain what you mean by having one meal a day improved your cognitive functioning? I'm interested in this. Thank you 😊

Well done OP on cutting down on the UPF. I enjoy the same dessert but with chia seeds. Can I ask what brand of manuka honey you use?

I can’t comment on the dark chocolate. I do like Divine Fairtrade dark chocolate but don’t know about the heavy metals connection.

Agree with @Autumnblackberries re: Zoe, and would add lentils, fermented foods and olive oil to the list.

I tried Zoe and, while the continuous glucose monitoring (2 weeks), blood test (at the start) and stool sample tests (one at the start and one after 4 months on Zoe) are interesting, at the end of the day it’s nothing you don’t already know. CGM showed that my blood sugar spiked with carbs and that eating protein with/before carbs or doing exercise would help flatten the curve (what’s new). The blood test showed I could tolerate fats such as cheeses better than DH, who also went on Zoe with me. The stool sample tests showed my gut biodiversity profile wasn’t great pre-Zoe, and after 4 months of more or less following Zoe it improved.

The Zoe app essentially helps monitor what you eat in terms of fibre, UPF content, gut friendliness, etc. and congratulates you for hitting targets plus gives tips on how to improve your diet. I’ve attached screenshots of what my app told me earlier this year when I was religiously following it.

I suppose it’s nice to think that I have a ‘personalised’ list of good / less good foods (see screenshots), which differs slightly from the list on DH’s app, but really it’s not rocket science to know that lentils, tofu and green beans are good for one’s gut and that burgers, bacon and UPFs are bad.

I eventually got tired of weighing and logging in everything I ate, and I also enjoy eating out (Sticks n Sushi, gastropub tasting menus) so found it difficult to log restaurant meals. Admittedly the app has been designed to make logging foods as easy as possible with features such as the ability to enter recipes, scan food barcodes, save favourite foods and to get the Zoe team to score and add new items to the list (e.g., a specific brand of olive oil). The little quizzes imparting information are also a bit tiresome, but maybe it depends on your level of interest.

I think you can try Zoe and maybe find things to tweak further in your diet using it, however you can save £££ by simply watching the Zoe podcasts on YouTube. The themes include intermittent fasting (you will have already smashed that), perimenopause and it’s effects on health, enhancing gut biodiversity, exercise and food, olive oils and polyphenols, you get the drift.

You can also buy their Zoe Daily30+ wholefood supplement online or from Waitrose, however we’ve had to bin 4 packs recently due to a product warning about contamination with bits of metal or small stones.

OP restricting yourself to one meal a day isn't indicative of a healthy relationship with food, far from it.

If you have issues around eating you should be avoiding books and articles on the topic.

Lost the Zoe pics I was going to share with my earlier post