• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Need carb advice from chocolate connoisseurs

B

brightstation

Active Member
Hi

I love chocolate and I like to have a little every day! I am also lucky in that I prefer dark chocolate and since my diagnosis I have built my palette to appreciate 90%-100% cocoa chocolate.

Now apart from Lindt it is very hard to find nutritional information for these bars, however, I made the assumption that 100% cocoa bars will be very low carb. After a number of unexplained meter readings I am revisiting this assumption.Done some research on the Web and it seems that some of the 100% cocoa bars have a relatively large carb content. There is no concrete information and the web content is a little vague.

I would really appreciate any information on this? how can 100% & 99% cocoa bars have such a different carb content (if indeed they do). I have gone back to 90% Lindt for now.

Some of the brands I tried: Francois Pralus 100%, Chocolat Bonnat 100% & Michel Cluizel Nor Infini 99%

Have I been using up my precious carbs?

CAN 100% COCOA BARS REALLY VARY FORM 4% TO 28% CARB CONTENT?? TELL ME I AM WRONG!

B
 
As it is comes from a natural product the carbohydrate content will vary a bit but I think a lot of the problem you're finding is to do with the source of the information.

I once bought a bar of chocolate from Yves Thuriès who is in Albi, not far from me in France. I was quite shocked when I read the carb count on the label. Then the penny dropped it was a US type label not a European one. Presumably it was labelled for the US market and as they don't have to put nutritional labelling on chocolate in Europe then it's legal (?)

If it is labelled for the European market the fibre content will have been deducted from the carbohydrate content (and listed separately on the label). If it is labelled for the US market then that fibre will not have been deducted from the carb count.
Fibre is quite high in cacao so that would make quite a difference. They may also label in serving size rather than as a percentage so then you have to check what they consider to be a serving. (My Thuriè bar did that)
US websites will also include fiber as part of the total carb count.
eg.
I have a bar of 76% chocolate here. It is from Poulain and has a European label.
It contains 27.6g/100g carbohydrate and 11.2g/100g fibre
If they gave the product a US label It would apparently have 38.8g of carb of which 11.2 g would be fiber.


One site I found suggests that unsweetened chocolate contains 30-35% carbohydrate and 15-20% dietary fiber (note the spelling this is a US source. That would suggest that unsweetened choc could have a range of about 10-20% carb.

Lindt doesn't have a label on their product in France and of course big companies do change their recipes for different markets.
What you find on the net varies tremendously and as it is often submitted by individuals can be inaccurate.
Livestrong data base :13g of which 6g is fiber for a 40g bar
Fatsecret: 4g of which(?) 3g is fiber for a 50g bar
Lindt US site: Carb 12g of which 7g fiber for a 40g gram bar (ie 12.5% carb)


Acually what matters is how it affects your glucose levels and if you eat enough of it the calories
 
I eat the green and blacks 70 or 85% cocoa one - few squares of that each evening has no affect on my sugars.
 
Try. DAFNE. (Dose adjustment for normal eating ) course
I can have chocolate if I want ( although not recommended ) but adjust my insulin for the amount of carbs shown on the pack So I can have a treat every so often .... Good luck


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I just recently converted from Green and Blacks to Moser Roth from Aldi. It's 85% cocoa and they come in little measured bars of 25g (i think about 5g carbs per bar), I love that because I actually feel like I am having a bar of choc as opposed to a few squares. It is lovely and costs half the price! Found out about it from someone else who posted on here!
 
Tweetypie said:
I just recently converted from Green and Blacks to Moser Roth from Aldi. It's 85% cocoa and they come in little measured bars of 25g (i think about 5g carbs per bar), I love that because I actually feel like I am having a bar of choc as opposed to a few squares. It is lovely and costs half the price! Found out about it from someone else who posted on here!
Click to expand...
Have you tried their dairyfine dark too?

Sent from my KFTT using DCUK Forum mobile app
 
I always buy Sainsbury's - Taste The Difference Fairtrade chocolate 85% cocoa solids 125g bar split into 5 x 25g individually wrapped bars each containing 4.5g of carbs. Each individual bar is the rough equivalent of 2 squares of Lindt or Green & Blacks :thumbup:

choccy.jpg


Now Ive opened it I'll have to eat it I suppose :shifty: nom nom nom :P


Another thing to consider when eating chocolate is because of its fat high content it is slow to digest and releases its carbs over a longer period so is kinder than an equivalent amount of fast acting carbs. Not all carbs act the same way :D
 
*sigh* I've a nasty feeling that Easter eggs are going to be a no-no this year :( :(. And I LOVE Easter eggs.

I am working my way up to liking dark chocolate (never even ate plain chocolate before - I was white and milk all the way). I now do quite like 70% - different but really nice in its own way - and when my bar of that is finished I will try some 85%. I do have a very occasional Thorntons diabetic chocolate, which I have to say I think is almost as good as the real thing (but I only ever have one or two a day). I'm kind of hoping they might bring out an Easter egg?


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (64), average BS now between 5 and 6 mmol.
 
Sid Bonkers said:
I always buy Sainsbury's - Taste The Difference Fairtrade chocolate 85% cocoa solids 125g bar split into 5 x 25g individually wrapped bars each containing 4.5g of carbs. Each individual bar is the rough equivalent of 2 squares of Lindt or Green & Blacks :thumbup:

choccy.jpg


Now Ive opened it I'll have to eat it I suppose :shifty: nom nom nom :P


Another thing to consider when eating chocolate is because of its fat high content it is slow to digest and releases its carbs over a longer period so is kinder than an equivalent amount of fast acting carbs. Not all carbs act the same way :D
Click to expand...


I'm definitely going to try that. Haven't got an Aldi near me unfortunately, because theirs sounds really good too.


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (64), average BS now between 5 and 6 mmol.
 
Finzi said:
Sid Bonkers said:
I always buy Sainsbury's - Taste The Difference Fairtrade chocolate
Click to expand...


I'm definitely going to try that. Haven't got an Aldi near me unfortunately, because theirs sounds really good too.
Click to expand...

I like it because of the individual bars it makes it harder not to eat more than I should :wink:
 
MCMLXXIII said:
Tweetypie said:
I just recently converted from Green and Blacks to Moser Roth from Aldi. It's 85% cocoa and they come in little measured bars of 25g (i think about 5g carbs per bar), I love that because I actually feel like I am having a bar of choc as opposed to a few squares. It is lovely and costs half the price! Found out about it from someone else who posted on here!
Click to expand...
Have you tried their dairyfine dark too?

Sent from my KFTT using DCUK Forum mobile app
Click to expand...

Ooh thanks, I will also try the dairyfine dark too! I am lucky I have a 15 minute walk away from an Aldi, so get chocolate, eat chocolate, then walk it off! I also like the look of the Sainsburies one too - why does loooking at chocolate make you want to eat it? I'm going to try and find a high cocoa content easter egg this year, I'm not sure if any of the chocolate brands do any.

Did anyone else read the recent article on this website about cocoa and good glucose control - very interesting!
 
I've just bought a bar of Lindt 90% chocolate and realized it doesn't have any nutritional information on it. Does anyone know what the carbs are per 100g (I'm having one square, which I think will be 10g)


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (64), average BS now between 5 and 6 mmol.
 
Woo hoo! That's pretty good :). I'm sure I will, ummm, come to like it, in time ;)


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (64), average BS now between 5 and 6 mmol.
 
Back
Top