I'm going to donate blood tomorrow but last time i went i was told my iron was too low so they couldn't take it.
A bit of googling reveals that dark chocolate is high in iron - even better than red meat!!! Only trouble is it's in a form that your body finds difficult to absorb - ah well we can counteract that by eating / drinking things rich in vitamin C
As a result i'm sitting here enjoying a bar of dark chocolate and a tangerine And i may just have to do the same tomorrow before my blood appointment hehe
And if Philomela's signature is correct it'll also give me extra help asthma-wise hahahaha
I didn't realise dark chocolate was good for iron. I knew it was good for you but yet another reason to eat it regularly. I like!
Now we're talking! Love dark chocolate and even more once I found I was lactose intolerant
There has been several threads previously on this very topic of the properties of dark choc and also coffee
Does that mean that a dark chocolate orange does both?!?!
mmm, this thread is very much to my taste!
I will say I've been a chocoholic for years (even at 6 I wanted dark chocolate not sweets), as well as a carnivore and have never been anaemic or had issues donating blood (well I do now but that's because they're not keen on badly controlled asthmatics who are waiting for tests). Not sure which of these is responsible but my blood shoots down to the bottom of those things they use to test it - and that's even with all the nosebleeds I used to have!
I'm hoping my signature is correct as I'm still stuffed from eating a stupendous choc brownie with choc sauce (brother's birthday lunch). If I'm right I should be bouncing right out of my flare-up and going off to train for a marathon lol!
Angelica *EDIT oops sorry for wrong name earlier! - good thinking on the dark choc orange, mmmmm.
Now that sounds like a very good trial, dark chocolate, yummy!!!
Dark chocolate orange. Nom nom nom. AND on offer in Tesos!
I know it's a bit early - steroid munchies and much needed stress reliever for my exam which is in two hours.... maybe I should get back to the revision...
Its never too early for the steroid munchies!
Good luck with your exam
I guess you're in your exam now but good luck Ally!
Have a choc orange afterwards to celebrate finishing that one.
I think chocolate (particularly dark chocolate) is high in potassium. I don't eat bananas when things aren't great and I'm heaping on the meds..... I eat loads of chocolate!
A benefit of asthma!
Of course, some scientist might think that chocolate isn't healthy. I have, as Philomela has, done my own personal trial. For me, chocolate works - makes me feel loads better.
mmm thanks TS, now I know I can eat lots as despite what I already eat which is supposed to be high in potassium (red meat for one) I am still very twitchy (literally, not just lungs - muscles twitch randomly).
Not a problem in itself (it's vaguely annoying at most) but apparently can be caused by slightly low potassium so making a vague effort to eat more potassium-rich foods. Bring on the chocolate!
I'm not sure if it helps asthma but I'll keep trying anyway lol. I have some Lindt 86%.
I have to say I am really upset, why, oh why could it not be milk chocolate that was good for you! As you may have guessed I am not a fan of dark chocolate...
plenty of trials have said dark chocolate is good for us, however our body only craves it when we're stressed. bear in mind about dairy though, it increases the mucous production in the body.
Woody-som agree with you on that one! Monday's and Fridays are the worst at work. Myself and a colleague are guaranteed to hit the chocolate massive! Not good when the shop in the hospital is selling the big bars for a quid!
Well i can confirm after conducting my own clinical trial that dark chocolate is indeed good for iron!
100g dark choc over the course of thursday and approximately 50g dark choc on friday (both supported by vitamic C rich foods / drinks) and when i went to give blood last night my blood drop sank to the bottom of the tube like a stone!!!
It then took quite a while to stop the bleeding once they took the needle out - i'd say it was a success! Now i now what to do - eat lots of dark choc 2-3 days before donating blood What a good excuse
Maybe somebody should consider conducting a similar trial into the merits of milk chocolate
How did I miss this thread, Dark Chocolate yummy yummy!! Recently bought some dark chocolate with coconut which was delicious and dark chocolate with chilli which was nice but wouldn't buy it again. Chocolate with Marmite, now that's a mistake, luurve marmite but it doesn't work with cholcolate.
I'm willing to conduct a trial on milk chocolate but it would have to be Cadburys, that's the only milk chocolate for me!! And white chocolate, well thats a poor excuse .. not even chocolate, yuck!
i don't fancu chocolate with coconut, chilli or marmite - yuck!
i do like chocolate with mint flavour or orange - and right now i'm chomping through fererro rocher - i'm in heaven!!!!!!
And i so agree on the white choc - it doesn't even deserve to be called chocolate!!
Green & Blacks Mayan Gold......yuuuummmmmmm!!!!!
Chocolate with marmite??? you've ACTUALLY tried this combo? A step beyond experimental that one....
I too btw, am willing to sacrifice myself to a dark chocolate trial should the need arise
no i don't like mayan gold, i've tried it before and it's the spices i don't like
Angelica, of course you should conduct a dark chocolate trial - all trials need more than one 'guinea pig'
Hmm, dark chocolate with chilli
Has anyone else tried the new Lindt dark chocolate with wasabi? That is odd too, not for anyone who does not like hot/spicy food!
uggh, I really don't like it when they put chilli in dark chocolate. It's supposed to enhance the flavour but I find all I can taste is the chilli! Love Maya Gold though the percentage is a little below my usual preferred. I used to melt a square or two in plain hot choc at uni - mmmmm.
Completely agree re white chocolate - it's not real chocolate!
I think we're definitely getting enough people for a trial here. Though not sure how we're going to do it - placebo-controlled? How do you do a placebo substitute for dark chocolate when we'd all know as soon as we tasted it that it wasn't the real thing? Is it ethical to feed people fake chocolate lol?
uggh, I really don't like it when they put chilli in dark chocolate. It's supposed to enhance the flavour but I find all I can taste is the chilli! Love Maya Gold though the percentage is a little below my usual preferred. I used to melt a square or two in plain hot choc at uni - mmmmm.
Completely agree re white chocolate - it's not real chocolate!
I think we're definitely getting enough people for a trial here. Though not sure how we're going to do it - placebo-controlled? How do you do a placebo substitute for dark chocolate when we'd all know as soon as we tasted it that it wasn't the real thing? Is it ethical to feed people fake chocolate lol?
Maybe we should not bother with the placebo-controlled part and just stick with the dark chocolate!!!!
Asthmagirl, you may be onto something there
Here's a discussion of some more research suggesting dark chocolate is good for your heart.
I really think we need to persuade these researchers to recruit us for a study on how good it is for your lungs. It's the logical next step
Mmm, I am willing to sacrifice my time / waistline for this experiment
Rather than conducting a randomised controlled experiment with placebo, we could just try different quantities of chocolate on different people then extrapolate our results to the 'no chocolate' group. I'm happy to join the 'high chocolate' group!
I'm willing to sacrifice the scientific method for the sake of chocolate. (No-one knows who I really am on here, right? As in any potential PhD supervisors who happen to have stubborn lungs...?)
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And i may just have to do the same tomorrow before my blood appointment hehe
Not good when the shop in the hospital is selling the big bars for a quid! 
A step beyond experimental that one.... 
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