frozenveg wrote:AlwaysAgnes wrote:I have two cans of baking cocoa in my pantry. One is Kroger 100% cocoa, and one is Hershey's special dark 100% cacao. Let's see what they say.
1 tbsp (5g) Kroger: calories 20, total fat 0.5g, sat fat 0g, total carb 3g, fiber 1g, protein 1g. Iron 4%. Vit C 4%.
1 tbsp (5g) Hershey's dark: calories 10, total fat 0.5g, sat fat 0g, total carb 3g, fiber 2g, protein 1g. Iron 10%. Vit C 0.
At those levels, I don't see the problem with this ingredient. If someone's going to make a dessert every day using 1 ounce of cocoa (or 5 tablespoons) and eat the whole thing, then maybe there would be something to worry about. How much of the fat in potatoes is saturated fat? How many potatoes does one need to eat in a day before it becomes a problem? How about brown rice? When does its saturated fat content become a problem? Perhaps when it's added to cocoa and soymilk and made into chocolate rice pudding and eaten by the gallon with a cup of almonds on top? I dunno, but now I'm wondering if my cocoa is expired.
OK, on my Nestle's can: 1Tbsp. 15 cals, total fat 1 g, calories from fat 5 (although 1 g fat = 9 cals), so this cocoa is 33% fat according to their Nutrition Facts, or 9/15=60% fat, according to the rough measurement.
I am not really nitpicking, but Agnes, many people on here have come from a place in which "OK" means "allowed" means "good for me" means "all I can eat!" I'd rather be forewarned about cocoa powder, and I really don't know why the labels and nutrition facts vary by 1000%, but I have a feeling there is a misplaced decimal in the labels.
Whatever the %fat in cocoa powder, the overall calories are low, and it's an ingredient and generally not a food item one eats in large amounts as a meal. If you know what I mean. Some perspective is required. (I always have to go back to the big picture, because that's the only thing that makes sense for me.)
As for the numbers, manufacturers follow the labeling guidelines and round up and down by 0.5 for fat. So, if something has less than .5g fat, they'd round it down to 0. If it has more than 0.5 for fat they'd round up to 1g.
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplia ... 064932.htm So, if the fat cals are 5, I would guess that your Nestle cocoa has just over half a gram of fat in a tablespoon.
From
http://www.livestrong.com/article/26726 ... nal-facts/ :
"Although whole cocoa beans contain about 50 percent fat, about 75 percent of these fats are removed in the process of making cocoa powder. One tablespoon of Nestle Cocoa Powder only contains about 0.5 g of fat. The main types of fat in cocoa beans are the saturated fatty acids, palmitic and stearic acids, and to a lesser degree, the monounsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid."
I wouldn't say you're nitpicking. Not any worse than I am, anyway.
It's fine to take a closer look at individual food items so we can understand them (and how they fit into the bigger dietary picture), but sometimes people get distracted and stuck there under the microscope and forget Dr. McDougall's fundamental message: Eat more starch. Like the good doctor says, "This is not an all or nothing program." Some may choose to buy Wonderslim cocoa powder. That's fine. I never have. I don't use cocoa that often. (My one can of cocoa has a sell by date of 2008.
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Oatmeal has fat. Quinoa has fat. Barley has fat. Even sweet potato has fat. Almost all foods are a combination of carb, protein and fat. Cocoa powder has fat...about 6 calories worth in a tablespoon. I wonder how many tablespoons cocoa powder one would have to eat in order to gain a pound of body fat....
Sorry. This does not compute.
Here's the usda nutrition data for cocoa powder:
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/6039