Questions about Cocoa Butter

[softlight]

I am a newbie here and I have a questions concerning cocoa butter contained in dark chocolate. I'll appreciate if anyone can provide some answers.

1. Is cocoa butter saturated fat? If so, should I stay away from consumption of it?

2. Dr. McDougall recommends we stay away from saturated fat. Does that recommendation also applies to plant saturated fat, such as coconut/palm oil?

Thank you.

Softlight

[AlwaysAgnes]

I am a newbie here and I have a questions concerning cocoa butter contained in dark chocolate. I'll appreciate if anyone can provide some answers.

1. Is cocoa butter saturated fat? If so, should I stay away from consumption of it?

2. Dr. McDougall recommends we stay away from saturated fat. Does that recommendation also applies to plant saturated fat, such as coconut/palm oil?

Thank you.

Softlight

Cocoa butter is 100% fat. About 60% of that is saturated fat. Not all dark chocolate contains cocoa butter in the form of an isolated or refined ingredient. Some dark chocolate is made using the whole bean, retaining the fiber. These dark Guittard chocolate chips are one example that have been mentioned here before. https://www.guittard.com/our-chocolate/ ... late-chips

I didn't look through the ingredients for all of these https://healthyeater.com/dark-chocolate-best-and-worst but this one by Taza is on there https://www.tazachocolate.com/collectio ... icked-dark and this is its ingredients list: Organic cacao beans, organic cane sugar.

I don't think Dr. McDougall would encourage eating large amounts of chocolate. He classifies dairy-free chocolate as a rich plant food (high fat) and says "These rich plant foods may account for a small portion of your daily food intake (less than 10 percent of your calories per day) but only after you have attained the level of health you are striving for. In general, these foods are more harmful than health-supporting. Never eat these foods if you have problems with your health that remain unresolved. They can easily add to your body fat. If you begin using this group of foods and find that you are also gaining weight or getting back some of your old ailments, then stop eating these foods immediately." https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/dec/nyr.htm

[Willijan]

Dr. McDougall recommends staying completely away from all oil, plant-sourced or not, including coconut oil and palm oil. Just plain NO OIL. Of any amount at all.

[AlwaysAgnes]

On oils, Dr. McDougall says they are at best medicine and at worst poison. He talks about oils in this 2016 webinar. https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... -03-17-16/

[softlight]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm still bit confused. I understand oil is either liquid or solid form of plant oil that you can buy in store. But what about the natural oil contained in plants and seeds. I know nuts and seeds can contain both saturated and unsaturated oil. Does that mean I need to stay away from eating avocados, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, and etc? Thank you.

[calvin]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm still bit confused. I understand oil is either liquid or solid form of plant oil that you can buy in store. But what about the natural oil contained in plants and seeds. I know nuts and seeds can contain both saturated and unsaturated oil. Does that mean I need to stay away from eating avocados, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, and etc? Thank you.

We need more information. What are your goals? Are you looking to have your cake and eat it too? In other words, are you hoping to consume a calorie-dense diet and not gain weight? Are you hoping to justify a sweet tooth by only eating "healthy desserts" like "Nice Cream"? Do you find the "All Things In Moderation" philosophy attractive? Do you substitute smoothies for healthy meals, e.g. breakfast?

Because, first of all, processed oils are unacceptable in a healthy diet. Next, naturally occurring plant fats are in calorie dense foods and so not good if you have symptoms.

What outcome(s) are you looking for?

[softlight]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm still bit confused. I understand oil is either liquid or solid form of plant oil that you can buy in store. But what about the natural oil contained in plants and seeds. I know nuts and seeds can contain both saturated and unsaturated oil. Does that mean I need to stay away from eating avocados, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, and etc? Thank you.

We need more information. What are your goals? Are you looking to have your cake and eat it too? In other words, are you hoping to consume a calorie-dense diet and not gain weight? Are you hoping to justify a sweet tooth by only eating "healthy desserts" like "Nice Cream"? Do you find the "All Things In Moderation" philosophy attractive? Do you substitute smoothies for healthy meals, e.g. breakfast?

Because, first of all, processed oils are unacceptable in a healthy diet. Next, naturally occurring plant fats are in calorie dense foods and so not good if you have symptoms.

What outcome(s) are you looking for?

My goal of switching to a pure healthy vegan diet is out of moral and environment concerns. First, I don't have any illness that requires taking medicines. My BMI is 20. For all my life I have relatively been eating healthy. Before completely switching to vegetarian diet last June, I normally had eaten one egg white every day, and only had meat once a month since I finished college more than 40 years ago. I hated fish and dairy. So almost never had I consumed any fish and dairy products.

I discovered this web site when I googled healthy vegan recipes to broaden my palette. 90% dark chocolate, avocado, nuts and seeds have been everyday food/snacks for decades. I understand the rationality behind Dr. McDougall's No Oil recommendation but I haven't found out his perspective on my everyday go-to food/snacks. Out of that concern, I posted my questions here. Thank you.

[AlwaysAgnes]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm still bit confused. I understand oil is either liquid or solid form of plant oil that you can buy in store. But what about the natural oil contained in plants and seeds. I know nuts and seeds can contain both saturated and unsaturated oil. Does that mean I need to stay away from eating avocados, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, flaxseeds, and etc? Thank you.

Dr. McDougall talks about that in the webinar I linked. If you aren't trying to lose weight, or if you're trying to gain weight, and if you don't have health issues that would preclude eating them, you can eat the higher fat plant foods that you mention. See the high fat plant foods listed under rich plant foods in this link:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/dec/nyr.htm

(If you include them, you wouldn't want to eat large amounts of these foods because it could shift the overall diet to a higher fat diet.)

[softlight]

AlwaysAgnes, thank you again for the link. I watched it and it seems Dr. McDougall is OK with nuts and seeds but he didn't say anything about non-dairy dark chocolate. I'll eliminate dark chocolate from my diet since cocoa butter is saturated fat. I don't want to lose or gain weight. Because my weight has stayed almost the sane since my college days. On the other hand, I have eaten fairly good amount of nuts and seeds everyday all these years, and I even make my own soy milk, almond milk, rice milk,and tofu. But I have never gained weight or lost weight.

[AlwaysAgnes]

AlwaysAgnes, thank you again for the link. I watched it and it seems Dr. McDougall is OK with nuts and seeds but he didn't say anything about non-dairy dark chocolate. I'll eliminate dark chocolate from my diet since cocoa butter is saturated fat. I don't want to lose or gain weight. Because my weight has stayed almost the sane since my college days. On the other hand, I have eaten fairly good amount of nuts and seeds everyday all these years, and I even make my own soy milk, almond milk, rice milk,and tofu. But I have never gained weight or lost weight.

Dr. McDougall talks about dark chocolate in this 2012 newsletter. https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl/jan/fav5.htm Dark Chocolate Can Be a Small Part of the McDougall Diet

You sound like you're doing fine to me.

Here are a couple of videos that show people extracting cocoa butter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7v3mGBRFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMLsebNMAQ
Here are a couple for Mexican chocolate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CltsqNyVyE8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlAg7zIR57k

Sorry if I got sidetracked.

[softlight]

AlwaysAgnes, thank you again for the link. I watched it and it seems Dr. McDougall is OK with nuts and seeds but he didn't say anything about non-dairy dark chocolate. I'll eliminate dark chocolate from my diet since cocoa butter is saturated fat. I don't want to lose or gain weight. Because my weight has stayed almost the sane since my college days. On the other hand, I have eaten fairly good amount of nuts and seeds everyday all these years, and I even make my own soy milk, almond milk, rice milk,and tofu. But I have never gained weight or lost weight.

Dr. McDougall talks about dark chocolate in this 2012 newsletter. https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl/jan/fav5.htm Dark Chocolate Can Be a Small Part of the McDougall Diet

You sound like you're doing fine to me.

Here are a couple of videos that show people extracting cocoa butter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7v3mGBRFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMLsebNMAQ
Here are a couple for Mexican chocolate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CltsqNyVyE8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlAg7zIR57k

Sorry if I got sidetracked.

AlwaysAgnes, those are great videos. I don't like sweet stuff so sometimes so I always eat 90% and 100% dark chocolate. For those who like to eat less dark chocolate, you can add
liquorice root. It's far sweeter and long-lasting than sugar with nearly zero calories.

[calvin]

At about 13min into this Q/A between Chef AJ and Dr. Lisle is some info regarding cravings in general and chocolate specificly:

Healthy Living LIVE! With Dr. Doug Lisle on co-dependency, mindful eating and health at any size