Chocolate

[Charlie Arnold]

Does anyone know whether chocolate or cocoa are safe. I keep catching glimpses of the words chocolate and inulins or fructans in the same sentence. I was about to post a recipe for chocolate cake but now wondering if I have made a mistake giving it to Meg

[FMmom]

I was researching that very question...

I've been giving Kaelin a "melted ice cream" drink (cream, vanilla, and sweetener) and she asked if I could make a chocolate one. I added cocoa powder a couple of times rather than vanilla and she was noticeably more animated after drinking that concoction. Last night I learned that she has been eating packets of drink mixes and chewing gum without my knowledge, so I concede that cocoa may not be the culprit. However -- her voice volume and her activity level increased instantly after drinking the cocoa and she was in front of me the entire time, so I do suspect that it has some affect.

She also ate a chocolate bar without my knowledge and was definitely wacko that afternoon and evening, even though I was pretty careful about buying a bar that had no HFCS. So I've been googling "chocolate and fructose malabsorption" and this is what I've found at www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/08/us-popular-food-additive-can-cause-stoma-idUSTRE6675QC20100708:

Inulin may be in chocolate bars, drinks, and snacks around the house.

Food manufacturers, faced with demands to reduce calories, fat, and sodium while increasing fiber and flavor, are increasingly turning to products like inulin. They have discovered they can chemically manipulate the chemical structure of inulin to mimic tastes and textures consumers want in food. "It's like a food manufacturer's nirvana," Slavin said.

So that leads me to believe that I should avoid chocolate bars (and just about any processed foods now... Eek!) But the cocoa that I use is 100% cocoa, so I googled that as well. And then I found this on an IBS forum:

100 grams of cocoa powder has 33 grams of fiber in it--about 1/3 of it is fiber! Dark chocolate has 11 grams (or more) of fiber per 100 grams. Do we know what KIND of fiber this is? No, and none of the chocolate company reps I've spoken with have been able to point me to any more details about whether the fiber in chocolate is highly fermentable and osmotically active (FODMAPs) or not!

So it remains an open question to exactly what type of fiber it contains, but in Kaelin's limited exposure, it's not looking like it's good for FM.

[Charlie Arnold]

Hmm, not looking promising is it, I got some pure Cacao its called from Waitrose made from Cocoa beans but I think it maybe isn't good, trouble is it could be the combination of the sugar added to the recipe too that sends them doolally blood sugar rush high.

I think chocolate is going to be Megs downfall, she was perfect about not sneaking food not allowed until just after Christmas when she started to experiment. One day I left her playing and was clearing up in the garden for quite a long time. When I came back into the kitchen she looked very guilty and had brown smeared all round her face. At first I didn't twig what it was but then remembered a bar of toblerone chocolate I had been given at Christmas had been on the unit.

Well the story she concocted was pure brilliance. Our little terrier dog Millie had apparently jumped 3 feet onto the unit and found the toblerone bar, eaten some then licked it all round Megans face!!!!!! Meg had then hidden the rest of the bar from her. Oh, ok I said, well you'd better wash your face incase you accidently lick some. Later that evening I tiptoed into the larder to look at the bar to see how much had gone and the clever little dog had peeled back the strip where you open it and carefully peeled the foil off 2 blocks and left the rest!!!!!
Needless to say Meg did feel rather sick later, but it is very sickly stuff so I'm not surprised.

Since then a little mouse has been tiptoeing into the larder every so often and nibbled at things so I have to make sure there is nothing in there for now that she can't have.

[penguinlobster]

The list our doctor gave us said that we were to avoid all chocolate and cocoa. It really is hard finding what you can eat with FM.

[Charlie Arnold]

B****r, I was hoping it would be OK. I have gone back to basics again and will start adding more slowly as I think we went a bit mad with adding new stuff in and have regretted it. It is the age old problem of getting your head around what is a treat and the need to give sweets and puddings to kids. We are due to see a dietitian about this diet next week so I will go armed with questions, that may or may not get answered depending on whether she has experience of this or not..

If anyone else has any questions I can add to my list send them to me and I'll see what I can do.

[FMmom]

I'd love to know what type of sweets are possible. We are entering candy season in the states: Halloween, Thanksgiving (which is more of an apple pie holiday), Christmas, Valentines, and finally Easter. The stores aren't even done with one holiday before hauling out the candy for the next... It's so hard telling a kid that they simply can't ever have any.

We aren't going Trick or Treating this year, we're going out to dinner. But Kaelin's already asking if she can pleasepleasepleaseplease have some dessert. I try to find the least offensive item -- and I'm pretty sure that is cheesecake since there is very little flour in it. It's mostly cream cheese, eggs, cream -- and sugar. Of course, if it's commercially made, then it's loaded with HFCS so that is definitely out. Maddening.

I hope you get more information from your nutritionist than I received. She had me fill out a ten page form checking off all the foods that Kaelin could definitely eat (about seven items), foods we haven't tried, and those we know she cannot eat (the bulk of the items.) She was supposed to design a few meal ideas from those foods and leave the info with our doctor.

I never heard from her again. Apparently she took one look at that list and gave up. Hah!

[Charlie Arnold]

Thats easy for her to give up and walk away, Kaelin has it for life. You'd think they would like to investigate something unusual rather than the run of the mill things they have to deal with. We have sent in 3 day diets over the past few years and had no feedback from any!!!

Trick or Treating, we don't do it here, we have a tea party at home. To be honest I don't agree with it anyway, we spend the whole year telling our kids not to talk or take things from strangers then we pack them off to bang on doors and take whatever is offered on Halloween!!!?

Have you tried my panna cotta recipe, it is so easy and Meg loves it, I have made it with no sugar in at all as the cream makes it sweet enough. You could put it in moulds. Pancakes are easy too if you use the British Recipe, they come out a slightly different texture with GF flour but seem to work if you keep whisking it up while using the batter. I will post it if I haven't already.

Have you tried smarties in the states, in England they are different but I think in the US they are HFI safe so prob FM safe too. If you go on the HFI proboard there are lots of posts about them.

[FMmom]

Have you seen the nutritionist yet? I hope that this time you'll get some help. I feel like the only thing I ever see is more items to take away from Kaelin and more symptoms of godknowswhat...

I admit that I looked at the Panna Cotta recipe and I'm intrigued, but not smart enough to do it. I do not know what a gelatine leaf or a sachet is, so I'm not sure how much to use. Also, I bought some Double Cream once (which is in the Imported Food section and rather pricey) because I loved the name. I'm always looking for calorie-dense foods, so I thought double the calories over regular cream -- what a score. But when I popped the lid, um, is it supposed to smell like week old fish? I ended up throwing it away because it just wasn't a nice smell. I've been afraid to buy it again because I just don't know if I got a spoiled one or if it's supposed to smell that way.

However, should I get over my fear of double cream, it does sound like exactly the type of thing Kaelin would love...

[Charlie Arnold]

Hi, got appointment next Thursday. I know what you mean about the food, I thought this would open up her diet more and make things easier but to be honest I think its made it harder taking wheat out. I have to be really careful with sugar it seems to send her too hyper. Maybe the problem is we can pick up the reactions quicker now so know what doesn't suit more and more. Back to the same old foods then, luckily Meg doesn't seem to mind the same old meals so I shan't complain too much.

Cream, it may have been off, or processed, it certainly shouldn't smell like that. Don't you get cream in your dairy section? You can just make it with plain milk, it just isn't so rich but it would still set ok. You could add safe fruit pureed into it too. I must say I think we are quite spoilt in England, it does seem easier to source home cooking ingredients.

Try this website it explains about gelatine, its brilliant if you can source it as you can make homemade jellies, etc then. www.britishlarder.co.uk/how-to-use-gelatine/

I buy Dr Oetker gelatine sachets and I found there is an american supplier but they don't do gelatine out there, but they may be able to source it for you. Their mousse powders look very loaded with sugar but don't have wheat in them to they may not be too bad either, got corn syrup in them though if she not good with that. www.oetker.com/

[Catherine]

Wheat and sugar, are supposely ok if they are lower than five on the ingredient listing. According to my daughter aunt who has DS of FM.

Regards

Catherine

[Charlie Arnold]

Hmm, that may depend on how sensative the person is, especially the wheat bit as fructans are fructans no matter how many there are in the food. I suppose sugar is a safer bet if lower down the list as Meg can only tolerate small amounts.

Saw the dietitian yesterday but without any new advise really, I really had to pump her for ideas. especially how to keep Megs going in the afternoons, she just said keep trying new foods on the OK list and see what happens, see again in March. Ho hum, back to using my common sense then, I was really hoping she knew about this diet as it was a different person this time but I guess they have just swapped patients about. She didn't really seem to know anything about it.

[catherine]

Table sugar contain fructose. I think it also depends on where you live. As table sugar in Australia is made from sugar cane. Ratio between fructose and glucose in pretty close to even.

Do you know how much fructose daughter can cope with daily. For some it is 1g or less per today. Other can cope with close to 25 g per today from what I have read.

Regards

Catherine

[catherine]

Saw the Shepherd Works dietian yesterday.
Chocolate in ok as long as inulin has not been added it.

Inulin is an artificial fibre used in some processed foods. eg low fat dairy products, 'high fibre' or 'fibre enriched' products.

To avoid Inulin best to stay away from low fat products. Also found in some lactose free chocolates and yohurts.

Should be listed on the label for Australia.

Catherine

[Charlie Arnold]

Oh Ok thanks Catherine for finding that out, will have a look out. Not sure it is listed in British chocolate, maybe the purer forms like Green and Blacks etc are safer.

Maybe, will try again when she is on an even keel - ha ha, like that is ever going to happen!!

[Arcss]

I know this is an old thread, but what is the veredict on cocoa powder? I've been eating a table spoon on my cup of milk everyday...