effects of chocolate

[becky139]

I have noticed that after eating chocolate, I feel extremely tired, spaced out and confused and I cannot concentrate for about an hour afterwards. I intend to keep a food diary to see what this may be, but I've also read about a condition called hypoglycemia, what is this? I've never had my blood glucose levels tested. Any help much appreciated!

[Lynxcat]

Hi Becky, Is your chocolate gluten free? Does it state gluten free on the packet? If you are not sure about the brands of chocolate that you are eating then you may find one that you like at Aldi - but check the back of the packets first - they do a wide range of gluten free chocolate from milk through to strong 85% dark chocolate - as well as a cheaper range that are about 30 pence to 35 pence.

I tend to go for the darker chocolate as it is high in magnesium, iron and other minerals but they also do milk versions.

If your chocolate is gluten free then perhaps it might be wise to visit your doctor and explain what happens when you have eaten some.

Hope you sort it out soon. x

[meanioni]

Could be a sign of milk intolerance. Most chocolates, even plain ones contain small amounts of milk. Might be worth trying one of the gluten and dairy free chocs you can get from Free-From suppliers.

Hypoglycaemia is low blood sugars and can be caused by low insulin levels, but there is a form called reactive hypoglycaemia which is where if you consume a meal heavy in sugars, your body will create a surge of insulin. If it produces too much, it can leave you with low blood sugar levels. The symptoms will be lack of energy, feeling weak, being pale, confused, feeling hungry. Often you may crave food/sugar. This can cause further problems in that if you take on another sugary load, the cycle repeats. General advice if you suffer from this is to eat little and often and to avoid large sugar rushes.

The food diary should help identify patterns of consumption/reaction.

[LolaBlogger in reply to meanioni]

"Hypoglycaemia is low blood sugars and can be caused by low insulin levels"

Correction - hypoglycaemia is low blood sugars and is caused by high insulin levels.

[meanioni in reply to LolaBlogger]

Sorry brain went faster than my fingers You are of course absolutely right!

[hilly2]

i had hypoglycaemia symptoms before i went totally gluten free, i don'nt have any symptoms at all now x

[Allie65]

I cannot tolerate gluten and was religious in checking for gluten on the chocolate packet but still felt ill after eating it. I have since after many months of elimination found that I am also intolerant to Soya (which is contained in nearly all chocolate) and that is what was making me ill. I also cannot eat any curries that have soya (or gluten) in them and even the gluten free soy sauce I now cannot eat.

I also was hypoglycaemic before coming off gluten and still am but not as bad. As long as I eat regularly (I find approx every four hours) and do not get over hungry I am ok. If I leave it too long to eat, I feel faint, sick, light headed and get the most immense stomach pains along with shaking hands.

Check out the soya thing by keeping a diary or go back and see your doctor if I were you.

[becky139]

Thanks for the response, that is really helpful, I never thought of soya. I will take this all on board, but i guess a food diary is the best way to really figure it out

[freelancer]

Definitely check the brand of chocolate - I'm a dark chocolate addict and I've found as I got more and more sensitive after going off gluten that more and more of them that I once used to eat quite happily are now off limits, presumably mostly through cross-contamination.

This information isn't always clear on the label but can be found on the company websites, eg Lindt which has barley in quite a lot of its products.