But, be careful.

I just took a major confidence hit on my "let's split the calories between candy and food" strategy.

Let's lift a paw each and everyone of us who at times has consumed more than 28.35g of dark chocolate per day for more than a day or two at a time? I know one paw that has to be lifted!

Can't say that I ever associated dark chocolate with lead and cadmium! OR cocoa powder.

Can't say how I feel about it either! Sunflower seeds are getting it too! On the PLUS side there are claims that my brain is in permanent arrested development and won't be as affected!

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/09/well/eat/dark-chocolate-metal-lead.html

Since it is sometimes behind a paywall:

Q: There were a number of news articles about cadmium and lead in dark chocolate recently, and it made me incredibly anxious as someone who eats very dark chocolate every day — including during my pregnancy and breastfeeding! What would experts say about how much I should worry?

The bad news came in mid-December: Consumer Reports published an investigation showing that 23 of the 28 dark chocolate bars it had tested from various brands contained concerning levels of lead, cadmium or both. Research has previously shown that consuming dark chocolate may have several health benefits, including lowered blood pressure, better cholesterol and a reduced risk of heart disease. So the news that it could also contain toxic heavy metals has worried many consumers.

Melissa Melough, an assistant professor of behavioral health and nutrition at the University of Delaware, said she was curious to see the actual data as soon as she read the headlines: “These types of reports always get sensationalized.” When she took a closer look, though, she agreed that the results were worrisome.

“If you’re a regular consumer of these dark chocolates, I would be concerned,” she said, especially if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding or have a child who enjoys dark chocolate, as the health effects of these metals are most concerning during early brain development.

How much lead and cadmium are we talking about?
The Consumer Reports investigation was not peer-reviewed, but the levels of cadmium and lead found in the dark chocolate were similar to those reported in a more comprehensive study of cocoa and chocolate products published by researchers at the Food and Drug Administration in 2018. The F.D.A. study found that dark chocolate had, on average, 7.6 micrograms of cadmium and 0.8 micrograms of lead per one-ounce serving, and some products had three or four times as much. (Milk chocolate, which contains less cocoa, had much lower concentrations.)

Compared with more than 300 other foods tested by the F.D.A. in a separate study, dark chocolate had the third-highest concentrations of both cadmium and lead, exceeded only by baking powder and cocoa powder for lead, and cocoa powder and sunflower seeds for cadmium.

Researchers and chocolate companies have been aware of the high levels of lead and cadmium in cocoa products for decades, said Jerome Nriagu, a professor emeritus of environmental health sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. In a 2005 study, he and his colleagues also found that the lead concentrations in cocoa powder and chocolate products were among the highest of any foods. As You Sow, a corporate responsibility nonprofit, has since put pressure on chocolate companies to address the issue, outlining strategies that can reduce the amount of cadmium and lead in chocolate.

“Food safety and product quality remain our highest priorities, and we remain dedicated to being transparent and socially responsible,” the National Confectioners Association, which represents many chocolate manufacturers, said in a statement following the Consumer Reports investigation.

How do these metals end up in chocolate in the first place, and are the levels high enough to be harmful?
Lead and cadmium are both natural elements in the Earth’s crust, but human activities like mining, manufacturing, transportation and agriculture have increased their levels in the air, soil and water. Because of their presence in the environment, these metals are ubiquitous in the food supply, said Kantha Shelke, a senior lecturer on food safety at Johns Hopkins University and a consultant to food manufacturers, including cocoa processors. “Total avoidance of lead and cadmium is impossible,” she said in an email.

But it’s clear that cadmium and lead can cause harm to the body, especially during pregnancy and childhood. Long-term exposure to cadmium can lead to bone fragility as well as kidney and lung damage. Lead can affect nearly every organ system in the body, especially the nervous system.

Since potential toxins can’t be tested directly on humans, it’s difficult to estimate how much of a substance is enough to be harmful. What’s more, different agencies have different food safety standards. European safety standards, for example, state that a 130-pound person should consume no more than 21 micrograms of cadmium per day to avoid health risks; therefore, an ounce of dark chocolate that contains seven or eight micrograms is unlikely to be harmful, Dr. Shelke said. (People who weigh more or less would have different limits.)

On the other hand, the “minimal risk level” for daily cadmium intake set by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is about six micrograms for a 130-pound person. A single one-ounce serving of dark chocolate could exceed that amount, and people in the United States consume an average of five micrograms of cadmium per day via other food sources, according to a 2019 study by Dr. Melough and her colleagues.

There is no established safe intake level for lead in the United States, because even the lowest blood lead levels are associated with adverse neurodevelopmental effects in children. However, the F.D.A. does have a recommended maximum for lead in candy, above which the agency may take action to limit a product’s sales. The amount of lead typically found in dark chocolate is lower than this maximum.

Despite the variability in safety standards, it’s clear that dark chocolate is relatively high in both metals and can significantly increase a person’s overall daily intake.

What’s a chocolate lover to do?
The upside is that you don’t have to give up dark chocolate entirely. Just enjoy it in moderation, and as part of a varied diet, Dr. Melough said.

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.

Because of the greater risk of harm from heavy metals during early stages of human development, she said, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding should consider eating dark chocolate only once or twice a week. The same goes for children.

But in the longer term, Dr. Melough said, consumers shouldn’t have to carry the burden of worrying about heavy metals in their chocolate. “I do think this has to fall on industry and producers to change their methods” to reduce cadmium and lead in their products, she said.

Alice Callahan is a health and science journalist based in Oregon and a frequent contributor to The New York Times.

Ah, that doesn't worry me, PAV. I'm an artist - all the oil paint is full of that stuff - and I'm OKAY

(on a more serious note though. Thank you for posting this. Fortunately (or not) I don't eat that much dark chocolate - my 100 grams of dark chili pepper chocolate over that past two days is a once a year or so thing.)

You probably don't really want to be as okay as I on that front - with the recent cancer surgery and all

Naz_2020 wrote: »

I am feeling very down since I checked my weight on Wednesday. I binge ate.

Today is a new day. Put it in your past and move on.

Past is past. Unless you're actively learning from them and using the opportunity to develop strategies and plans, dwelling on past failures is an exercise in self flagellation. Understandable? For sure. Useful? No as much.

If you have a plan, as Laurie said, get right back to it without trying to compensate and make things harder.

If you don't have a plan, start logging everything you're eating. Everything. By weight. BEFORE you let it get into your mouth! And to make it even more interesting, verify the entries you're using on MFP as "accurate" using sources such as food data central.

Yes, it will take time. That's not a bad thing. You're spending self care time, similarly to brushing your teeth! And if you don't have time to self care... see below and consider this as one thing you ought to start exploring!

Then look through your log and see where you spent your calories during the previous few days or week. Were they good investments? Would it have been more satiating to eat something else instead? Or, was an indulgence worth it or would you rather spend the calories on something else next time? The most basic mindset is "which swaps of higher for lower calorie and more satiation can I LONG TERM tolerate and even enjoy, such that the extra calories aren't worth it"?

And keep making changes while trying to get each day and week and month within the parameters you set for your totals

This is a long game, but absolutely worth it.

Seriously. At just over 300lbs you're looking at way more than the customary few months of diet followed by regain. You have to slowly take charge of your eating and start working on both controlling your intake and figuring out what situations make you eat more than you need to--and how to reduce or avoid or make changes to them. And to commit (decide) that you've had enough of where you're at and truly are willing to make gradual changes to move to a different place.

By that I don't mean wholesale changes today. All that's required is that you're willing to have an open mind and explore the "why" "when" "how" that's leading you to over-eat and change things gradually so that less and less of "this" happens. Both because there is less opportunity for it to happen and because you've developed alternative strategies and options.

Your weight is just a data point. truly. if you embrace that you're on a trip that will position you to better enjoy your future, your weight will follow and you can look at it as data points that do validate OVER TIME the direction you're heading to.

You do things that influence the direction your weight will head towards. And then that follows in time. If it doesn't follow you re-examine what has been happening and re-adjust. This is subtly different as a mindset from the more common "I've sacrificed my muchos nachos today in order to see a 5lb drop on the scale and the universe failed to reward me for my sacrifice, this is useless, the world sucks, I'm having muchos nachos times two tonight"!

One is embracing and exploring change that will position you to better enjoy life in the future. The other is a sacrifice-reward almost punitive outlook which I personally believe has a lower long term probability of success.

OK then.... 'nuff spouting! Have a good weekend soon y'all! And healing thoughts to those in need!

did I mention that ChatGPT is actually fairly good so far at giving correct answers to calories especially if you preface that it should limit to reputable government and university databases? It may be an interesting quick check for values in the future!

Aw....Thank you, Yooly! You are right on the money, honey

Happy birthday Laurie!

Thank-you 💖 it's been a ridiculously wonderful day.

Was that a sugar free Sprite Athijade? I’ve found that sugar free things give me tummy problems- maybe aspartame? Don’t know but I avoid them per doctors suggestion.
But happy to hear you’re well and off to having fun at your convention.

After being wired as all get out immediately post-surgery until the last guest left Sunday evening - I am now just wanting to nap. lol. Last week was my "recovery" time when no one expected anything of me and I was just running full tilt on crazy adrenaline - but now that I have kind of slumped - it is my "back to life" week.

That is not going to happen.

I'm healthy and healing and all - just feeling truly post-adrenaline. Logical maybe even? My body kept the adrenaline up so I could escape from the attackers...now it figures we are far enough away we can nap.

Thank goodness I kept cooking and stocking the freezer. I can hole up until Easter no problem

Happy light hibernation❣️

Athijade - sounds like McDonald's just doesn't get along with your body

We are so far away from 90 degree days that I can't even imagine.

But for just an hour or two it would be so nice to warm up and let the sun chase the chill from my bones!!!!

Was beautiful day... and I was inside with blinds shut. Last beautiful sunny day... for the next TEN! Two days from now? The rain will be snow too, before switching back to rain!