Anyone Tried to Suppress Their Appetite with Dark Chocolate?

Styggian
Styggian Posts: 465 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi

I been on 'maintenance' for nearly a year.

Am still on the 'learning' phase of this journey, so I tend to read various articles on the internet.

One article (sorry can't find the original link, will have to summarize from memory ) stated " Eating a piece of dark chocolate before a meal, can help suppress your appetite"

Not normally a dark chocolate fan, but have been craving extra food to nibble on after meals.

So bought a bar of Green & Black's Organic Dark 85% Chocolate and tried 5 to 8 grams prior to a meal.

The result for me was absolutely zero effect. So I marked the experiment as a fail.

However pondering on it maybe I should have left more time for the relevant chemicals to 'activate' before starting my meal ?

Anyone have knowledge in this area, would appreciate the feed back.




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Replies

  • vollkornbloedchen
    vollkornbloedchen Posts: 2,243 Member
    edited October 2018
    While I love chocolade as such it wouldn't cross my mind to use it as "appetite-suppressor".
    It has by far too much calories for this purpose.

    When trying to reduce appetite (cravings, hunger, or whatever else you may call it) I used low-calorie stuff (raw vegetable, broth, etc ...) that filled my stomach and thereby reduced appetite.
    But such "tricks" are scarcely needed since I'am in "Maintaining-mode" (2 years now). While maintaining it is more a matter of "when to eat, what to eat and how to distribute this over the week" than a question of having to reduce appetite.

    Learn to trust your body: Eat when you are hungry, don't when you are not. Stop as soon as you are saturated, cleaning the plate doesn't earn you bonus points.
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @bpetrosky
    Just tried to find the original article, but no luck there does seems to be a lot of material on it, admittedly a bit 'click baity'. As I said, dark chocolate is not my normal choice for a treat so thought would test the concept.

    @SabAteNine After my experience I agree with you, I should have looked closer at the article, may have been sponsored by a dark chocolate manufacturer :smiley:


  • Cuttios
    Cuttios Posts: 1 Member
    I use(d) 99% chocolate to satisfy my cravings for sugar and sweets by letting it melt on my tongue, when I was on the keto diet.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Presumably you’ve successfully lost weight and are now a year in maintenance, if I read your OP right? Are you hungrier now than you were when losing weight? Have you made any recent dietary changes? Rather than looking for something to suppress your appetite, why not just focus on ensuring you are eating a satiating balance of foods you do enjoy? Is it that you are hungry after a meal or you just have a craving for something? And if you are craving something sweet after a meals, find something that scratches the itch that fits within your calories.

    No need to over complicate things, look for gimmicks, eat things you don’t enjoy in order to game the process.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    Nope m, but tried it with icecream, very limited success! Lol🤤
  • OHFlamingo
    OHFlamingo Posts: 239 Member
    I don't care for dark chocolate, so I wouldn't try that. They say eating a handful of nuts works, too, (But that has plenty of calories.) "They" say so many things. So far, for me, the only thing that works is paying attention to CICO; eat less, move more!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I've never heard of that...dark chocolate is my usual desert though when I have it.
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
    I had read articles about how dark chocolate satisfies a chocolate craving with just one or two ounces. Nope, nope, nope - my little bag of individually wrapped dove dark chocolates was gone in an evening. Clearly not an appetite suppressor for me :/
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @Cuttios
    Glad it worked for you, did you have a set time (before or after a meal) and was there a set amount ?

  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @WinoGelato
    Sorry this is going to be a long answer.

    Yes I got to my target WT and relatively successful at maintaining it (2Kg deviation depending on my activity level)

    Losing the WT 'seemed' to be easier as I just had one goal to focus on (this could be my memory playing tricks on me).

    Not sure if hungrier is the right description of my problem, I have set meal times and only eat at those meal times, if I have a drink outside of those meal times it will be water. Normally I will pre plan my menu for the day the night before, I can prepare the menu, eat it and most times before I pack everything away I will want eat something impromptu used to be rice, then nuts/peanut butter, then figs, then tomato, then grapes and right nor it's raw oat.

    The strongest craving was for the nuts, I did some homemade aversion therapy, by having 'feasts' that included a lot of nuts so I would be 'tired' of them. Eventually this tactic worked, but after a while I craved something else after my meal the latest incarnation is raw oats.

    I was looking for something that would stop my craving after I ate my meal, so when I read about suppressing appetite I thought that would be the answer.

    Can't say am ever 'sated' after a normal meal, (unless its one of my 'feasts' ) however once I walk out of the kitchen I don't have a problem. It's just trying to stop craving while am in the food preparation area.

    The only changes to my diet is the seasonal food, grown in the garden, but is fairly consistent Morning = oats + extras Midday = protein + extras and evening = anything left over from Midday + try to complete my protein macro for the day.

    Another tactic apart from the 'feasts' which can't be done very often, is to eat a raw carrot on the way out of the kitchen, this seems to subdue the craving while I get out of the preparation area. But the carrot is still a extra item above the planned menu.

    Just reading the above paragraph, has given me an idea, add a carrot to each planned meal. My next test :)

  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @psychod787
    Yes, I agree 4 litres of your favourite ice does suppress your appetite, but....... :smile:
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @OHFlamingo
    Agree CICO is the key to success, oh i know about nuts, nearly 7 times their weight in calories, I absolutely love them :)
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @cwolfman13
    Am still learning and testing stuff out, so I realise am quite susceptible to 'click bait' head lines / titles :smile:
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @mph323
    That's two of us, and milk chocolate is always my first choice :)
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    Don't just add carrots, add lots of different coloured veggies to your meals. If you are a volume eater these will fill you up without having excessive calories like nuts and dark chocolate.
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @ Lillymoo01
    Thanks, good tip, chewing a raw carrot in this case is not part of my nutrition but a distraction to my craving of a calorie heavy food, so I can get out of the food preparation area :)
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I've never heard of that. I love dark chocolate. Some people say it's more satisfying because it's rich (so it allows them to eat less of that than some other type of sweet) but I don't know, I could still down an entire bag of dove's dark chocolate promises so I'm not sure that holds true for me.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    edited October 2018
    @Styggian I save 500cals for mixed nuts for my bedtime snack every day. :blush:

    Maintenance is still about learning yourself. Getting wise to all the nonsense your brain tries to perpetrate. We're quirky. I need to have a bedtime snack. I've tried going without. It doesn't work. I end up eating something. But I don't mind going a little hungry in the afternoon to save calories for my favorite snack in the world, those rotten little calorie bombs, nuts.

    I've also learned other things.
    • I cannot weigh myself anymore. It makes me ridiculous. I flip out about fluctuations. So I have a piece of clothing that I use to test. If it's fitting nicely, then I know I'm still good.
    • I stay better compliant if I eat less during the week and bank those calories for the weekend. My family and their schedule is unpredictable. So that gives me the wiggle room I need if we go out to eat, or my teen daughter makes brownies, or hubby makes theatre popcorn (he has a legit popcorn maker. Uses coconut oil. SOOOOOOOOO delicious! :love: )
    • Gum is my friend when I'm munchy. Extra, Sweet Watermelon. I never get tired of that flavor. If gum is in my mouth, food isn't.
    • Diet soda is a good sweet treat for me to stave off the crave when I don't have the calories left to indulge.
    • I'm still an idiot sometimes.

    All that blabber to say, keep trying to troubleshoot. Like with the carrot thing. You're a tricksy hobbit. And that's what it takes.
  • swatson99
    swatson99 Posts: 53 Member
    Styggian, I couldn't find an article saying to eat it before meals but I found this article at livestrong and it quotes mindbodygreen as a source as well. It mentioned that it acts as a appetite suppressant when you smell and eat it.

    I eat one piece of dark chocolate per day usually and I find that it helps me get that taste without over indulging and keeps me focused and I'm losing consistently. So I say do what works for you! For me, gimme a little of that dark chocolate. 😁

    https://www.livestrong.com/article/432664-the-best-medically-proven-appetite-suppressants/
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    swatson99 wrote: »
    Styggian, I couldn't find an article saying to eat it before meals but I found this article at livestrong and it quotes mindbodygreen as a source as well. It mentioned that it acts as a appetite suppressant when you smell and eat it.

    I eat one piece of dark chocolate per day usually and I find that it helps me get that taste without over indulging and keeps me focused and I'm losing consistently. So I say do what works for you! For me, gimme a little of that dark chocolate. 😁

    https://www.livestrong.com/article/432664-the-best-medically-proven-appetite-suppressants/

    Livestrong is an article farm with no credentials needed to publish, and mindbodygreen is a clickbait site. And the study linked to on Livestrong was a one time measurement of the grehlin level response in 12 women who smelled dark chocolate. So hardly scientifically proving anything :smile:

    I like to have a square of dark chocolate when I'm snacky but not hungry. I've not noticed any appetite suppression, it's just a lower cal way to get some chocolate! I suppose if one really wanted to, you could sniff some dark chocolate before a meal and see if it helps.
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @hesn92
    Think, if your a dark chocolate lover, this particular 'placebo' is not for you :)
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @baconslave
    Great name :)

    Once am away from food, the craving stops. The craving seems to evolve to different food types.

    I weigh officially once a week, but if am near the scales I tend to jump on them, just to 'see'.

    The way I manage 'party' food, is similar to your method, go in calories deficit before hand, then sort out any extra calories by continuing the deficit and/or increase my activity.

    My moment of madness is every few months I 'feast' till I can't fit anything else in my stomach.

    Am going to test a carrot at the end of every meal, the act of chewing should get me out of the kitchen :)


  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    edited October 2018
    @swatson99
    Agree if it works keep doing it, as the old saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Thanks for the reply :)
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @kimny72
    For me the experiment was a fail, will see if I can track down the original article, because it did mention the active ingredient. Originally I thought I was not giving it enough time to get into my system. Thanks for your input :)
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    5-8 grams is very little of anything, particularly since whatever active ingredient they were referring to would only be a fraction of that. I'm calling bull *kitten*.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    I like the Green & blacks dark chocolate with sea salt. I have a small piece at the end of my day and find it very satisfying. It helps keep me from feeling deprived but it does not trigger me to want to eat the entire bag. Lower percent chocolate does often make me want to binge.
  • bigbandjohn
    bigbandjohn Posts: 769 Member
    Styggian, Not sure about appetite suppressing, but it definitely has some good elements. I try to have a little every day. I liked "ChocZero 92%", but they seem to have stopped making it. I say if you have the calories, try it for yourself and see. If it helps, then great. if not, then no harm no foul.
  • Styggian
    Styggian Posts: 465 Member
    @pinuplove
    I agree with you :)

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