Cocoa Powder vs Dark Chocolate
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4LeafMint
Posts: 65 Member
What is better for you? Pure Cocoa Powder or pure dark chocolate...plain without any sugar or other ingredients.
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Replies
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By what metrics are you using to determine whether one is "better" than the other?12
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It depends on how you define "better," I suppose, but both are just fine within a balanced diet.2
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If you're eating a good variety of foods, you probably have your nutrients and macros down. Eat whichever one fits your calories, decide based on what you think tastes better.
You remember the tortoise and the hare, right? You're in this for the long haul, you're not going to drop X pounds and then gain them back. So make sure your nutrition is good, but make sure you get enjoyable treats too, that helps keep this sustainable.2 -
What is better for you? Pure Cocoa Powder or pure dark chocolate...plain without any sugar or other ingredients.
Chocolate by its nature must have other ingredients to be called chocolate. Even 99% dark chocolate will have cocoa butter and probably some sugar.
Pure cocoa powder doesn’t (or shouldn’t) have any other ingredients.
I know it’s crazy high in antioxidants but is extremely difficult to eat plain. I’ve tried!
If you want to try something very tasty, mix pure cocoa powder and some honey.
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What is better for you? Pure Cocoa Powder or pure dark chocolate...plain without any sugar or other ingredients.
Chocolate by its nature must have other ingredients to be called chocolate. Even 99% dark chocolate will have cocoa butter and probably some sugar.
Pure cocoa powder doesn’t (or shouldn’t) have any other ingredients.
I know it’s crazy high in antioxidants but is extremely difficult to eat plain. I’ve tried!
If you want to try something very tasty, mix pure cocoa powder and some honey.
I love making a spinach smoothie with a couple tsp of cocoa powder. Gives it a nice chocolate kick without too many added calories. A banana and almond milk sweeten it up.3 -
Unless you have a medical condition that requires it there is no reason to go 'pure'. There is also no reason to overthink food. Eat one or the other or both.
There are only 2 reasons to judge or compare food items.
1) One of them will make you sick.
2) The one you choose will make up a large percentage of your weekly calories.
If you had diabetes and asked if a candy bar or a cheese stick was better the choice is the cheese stick.
If you were trying to determine if the bulk of your weekly protein was going to come from baby back ribs or fish the choice is fish. Which does not mean there is anything wrong with BB ribs here and there.
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Cocoa powder is an ingredient or a flavor where chocolate is a food you can eat. Cocoa powder is a nutrient dense food.0
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It depends what you are trying to do.
Dark chocolate for eating, cocoa for baking and stirring into porridge.
I have both, both are good in different ways. Also cacao nibs are good, sprinkle on granola, yoghurt etc.0 -
Better for you how?1
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I put the cocoa powder in chilis and stews and that sort of thing, and put the unsweetened chocolate in desserts, because I think that's what each is best for. (In common terminology, "dark chocolate" commonly has some sugar or other sweetener in it; "baking chocolate" is the unsweetened stuff.)
Both have some useful antioxidants and potassium, but there's no point in eating lots of either one (unless you love them, in which case, just don't eat so much that it drives out necesssary nutrition).
Bottom line: It's useful and IMO important to get good, balanced overall nutrition, which includes adequate macronutrients and micronutrients. Any one food needs to be evaluated in the context of overall diet. In that light, all other things equal, I'd probably be more likely to pick the chocolate if I was under my fat goal (it has some fat), or the cocoa powder if I was already at/over my fat goal (it has very little).
Neither one is all that tasty on its own, but either can be a good ingredient in something.2 -
Milk chocolate is better for me, because it tastes yum and the others don't.3
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Dark chocolate is very rich in antioxidants, but you would have to eat a ton of it to get any measurable amount (or get enough to make a measurable difference in your health).2 -
I read at another site that the amazing health benefits of cacao are antagonized by the sugar in milk chocolate.
So, if you're consuming it for the amazing health benefits of cacao, the less sugar included, the better.
I make a fat bomb recipe with peanut butter and coconut oil. I add cacao to it to make an integer number of 1 oz servings.5 -
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This isn't a facetious question, but why are you eating a lot of things you don't really like? Unless you have an extraordinarily small list of foods you like, I can think of a lot of ways to get a well balanced diet. And to be transparent, I have definitely tried to get myself to like various foods with generally poor results. I sometimes will eat cauliflower because, turns out, I like it in the context of Indian food. Once I realized I liked it in limited areas I tried to broaden those areas with no success. Yogurt is another food that I tried to get myself to like because it's a quick, easy, and cheap source of protein that some people also like as a snack. I still hate yogurt. That said, I've found other snacks that can tide me over and there's no real need for me to eat cauliflower.4 -
I eat 99% dark chocolate and I like it. It's expensive AF though. $5 a block of Lindt. However, you can't really eat more than one row anyway. I have it pre workout. It's good. Very delicious.
Seeing as you don't care what things taste like, then do a Google of the nutritional properties of cocoa powder vs dark chocolate and make your decision based on that.
Happy spoonfulls of cocoa powder.2 -
WinoGelato wrote: »
It is all about your goals. I eat somethings I like and somethings I don't. Food can be like medicine...you take it even when you don't like it. Plus I start liking some of the things I use to not like. Also it is similar to alcohol...no one liked the taste of their first drink (unless there was tons of sugar in it). Absolutely some are going to lie and say they did.9 -
I use both. Cocoa powder in my smoothies and pancakes and baking, pure unsweetened chocolate as a snack.0
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WinoGelato wrote: »
It is all about your goals. I eat somethings I like and somethings I don't. Food can be like medicine...you take it even when you don't like it. Plus I start liking some of the things I use to not like. Also it is similar to alcohol...no one liked the taste of their first drink (unless there was tons of sugar in it). Absolutely some are going to lie and say they did. And please woo me as much as possible. I am trying to be the WOO champion on MFP! WOOOOOOhooooo 😁
What illness are you trying to cure?0
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