substitute for chocolate please

[ABliske]

I have been eating chocolate which I think is causing my bladder to HURT! It could be that or stress. In the beginning, it was easier for me to stay away from chocolate, but I can't seem to do it anymore.
Do you have any good recipies or ideas for something as decident and satisfying as chocolate? With Halloween coming up, I'm seeing it all over

[systitis]

How about white chocolate? Or vanilla ice cream with caramel or butterscotch sauce? Can you eat marshmallows or marshmallow sauce? Is candy corn IC-safe?

[rosezclark]

If I need something sweet:
Vanilla Ice Cream
White Chocolate
White Chocolate Fudge
Suger cookies
Sweet Corn Muffins

[SharonA]

Have you tried those caramels that you can get in a bag? For the life of me, I can't remember the brand name. They are square and individually wrapped.

[Goldfinch]

I have a different take on chocolate, and it won't satisfy everyone or work for everyone. Part of my frustration with the IC diet is the gloomy feeling that I can never again have something that I love. I really really love good quality bittersweet or dark chocolate. I don't need a lot of it, just a small reminder once in a while of how wonderful it is. I buy as small a piece of my favorite chocolate as I can find, and cut off one square. I give the rest to my husband and make him eat it quickly or hide it from me. I take Prelief with a large glass of water. Then I wait a few minutes so I can forget I just drank a lot of water. Then I put the square of chocolate on my tongue and let it melt until it disappears, making it last as long as I can, appreciating every second. Just one square. Just once in a while. It's possible that I could eat more without a setback--I haven't had the nerve to try.

Most commercial carob products don't seem very applealing to me. However, if you have a good local farmers' market there are often some people selling vegan and healthfood items who actually know how to make it taste pretty good. My problem with most sweets is that they are just too sweet. Vanilla ice cream doesn't do much for me by itself. Good old-fashioned peppermint ice-cream has a little kick, but it isn't easy to find, so try this: take good peppermint candy and crush it, then mix it into your favorite vanilla ice-cream. One more idea. Do you have fond childhood memories of caramel apples? Great idea, but the caramel was usually plasticky and processed and the apples were mushy. My daughter used to dip nice crispy apple slices in melted caramel as a snack. Now I do it with pears. Buy your favorite caramel sauce (I found a totally natural one called "Burnt Caramel" which isn't as sweet as some and tastes a little smoky), warm a teaspoon or so on a plate and dip slices of pear in it. Pears and caramel are a very good combo.

[Briza]

white chocolate?
carob?

[JenAZ07]

I have found that fake cheap chocolate like Hersheys makes me flare, but better chocolate doesn't. I can't eat cheap chocolate ice cream....but give me some Dreyers and it is gone. Yum!!! :smile tee And candy bars....nope, can't eat them. Have you tried different kinds of chocolate -- meaning not just candy bars?

[ABliske]

I haven't tried differnet types if chocolate. It was frosting on a cupcake today that did it I think. Maybe I should try some good quality chocolate.
I love caramel and peppermint ice cream! I think I'm going to get some of those caramel squares. I love them! I used to not crave chocolate so much, but maybe because i'm nursing my body wants high fat like candy bars.
Thanks for all the ideas! I have a great recipie for pumpkin bread that I'll post.

[JenAZ07]

Icing is the worst for me....the fake chocolate and the preservatives....ouchie!!!!!

[Want2BPainFree]

It may not be the chocolate at all. If it was commercially prepared icing rather than homemade, it is likely full of preservatives, acids, and fake stuff.

[bluetou]

I love chococlate carob chips (our local superstore sells them)...they are amazing!! So when I am in desparate need of a quick fix, I grab a handful of almonds, and a handful of carob chips, and eat that! YUM!! and if I have a moment for a GOOD PICK ME UPPER!! I put together a tablespoon of almond butter, almonds, and carob chips, this is DELIGHTFUL!! better then any chocolate bar I have ever had...

...mind you I never ate chocolate anyway.....

kind regards
Peace

:pray:

[icmelis]

OK I totally get the chocolate thing. I love chocolate. If I could chocolate would be incorporated into my daiy diet. But I know eating too much chocolate causes me to flare. So I've come up with a compromise. On very special occasions (Christmas for example) I will allow myself to eat chocolate. I don't eat cheap chocolate though. I usually splurge and by Purdy's Chocolate. I make sure to stick to an IC friendly diet for a few days before so there is no chance I'm in a flare.
And then I find a nice peaceful place and eat my chocolate in bliss.
I've also found carob to be a not too bad substitute for chocolate and haven't had any problems caused by it so far. (Carob can usually be found at health food stores)

[kadi]

Carob malt balls from the health food store - wow!
White chocolate KitKats (though I've not been able to find them in awhile)
Dreyers Caramel slow churned ice cream
Dreyers vanilla slow churned ice cream
Caramel (Whole Foods) - I love to dip slices of pear in it or it's good on vanilla ice cream

[amartaingirl]

get on myspace.com
and look up your old high school enemies.

when you see they are skinnier...than you are
it will stir something inside you...

then everytime...you crave the chocolate.
yell her name


me...i ran screaming away from the mallow cups...yelling
Amy Peters Amy Peters
didnt buy the mallow cups
hope to loose 20 lbs this way...ol

people next to me..think i am bi polar..im sure
lol

[massagedoula]

The above post is one of the funniest things I have ever read! Thanks for that!

Kadi, do you know the brand of the carob malt balls? My health food store doesn't have them, but I want to see if they can order them or I can buy them online.

[judy45]

There are great candies on the IC shop! They are chocolate (really carob I guess) and toffee or caramel - they are delicious, try some.

[michreev]

I can empathize. I got into a depressive funk in the aisle at the grocery store yesterday that I had a hard time shaking. I've been doing alright (only a few months into the diet) and honestly have been craving fruit the most (though chocolate and candy is a close second) but all that Halloween candy in the aisles...well I fought back tears, picked up what I needed (stupid of me not to have purchased ahead) and rushed home to hand out candy to kids for a few hours. It was a rough night, but I got through it and feel better.
I can't personally don't like the carob chips at Whole Foods...I'm not sure if it's because its just not chocolate no matter what I tell myself or I honestly don't like the flavor. Does anyone know of any other brands? How about candy? All the candy on the shelves seem to contain citric or malic acid. I am dying to appease that sweet tooth and worried I am consuming way too much vanilla ice cream. (Speaking of which, has anyone found a low calorie version they can tolerate? I'm getting all natural Breyers at the moment, which is delicious, but not exactly low-cal.)

[ABliske]

michreev,
How is the diet working for you? i never really found much improvement from it. I have been just eating chocolate. I wish white chocolate was easier to find. I would like to see if giving up chocolate makes a difference this time. I still avoid artificial sweeteners, coffee, soda, alcohol, tomatoes, and citris. I have added mostly all the other stuff back in. I found the diet really hard at first. Hope you are doing well on it.

[ABliske]

Haha, yeah that was funny! I have a little baby weight I want to lose. Hmmmmm ... no names coming to mind.

When I'm under mild stress, I tend to eat more unhealthy foods. And things are so tough lately.

[michreev]

There are good days and bad days. Thanks for asking. The hardest part for me is determining what exactly triggers a reaction. I am trying to only eat foods on the "good" column, not even the "may be okay" column, but even then there have been a few flare ups. Then I get really frustrated because I'm denying myself things I love and still having issues. For example, the other day I had a flare. The only three things that were different were Fiji water, butterscotch cookies (from the IC cookbook) and caramel and vanilla ice cream. (Also supposed to be safe.) Now one of those three things caused an issue, but because I thought they were all safe I didn't introduce one at a time. (Can you tell I was trying to overcome the halloween candy sweetness?) So now I essentially need to go back and try them each individually. I am guessing it was the water only because timing wise that was what I was consuming right before and during the flare, but I don't know for sure. I am sure this is not a unique story...I bet everyone on here has been there before.:bonk: It was just one of those days where I got really frustrated. But I felt better the next day and today, so I guess its just a trial and error process.

[michreev]

Oh, I realized...Ghirdelli makes white chocolate now! I don't know where you live, but I found it at our local Target! Nestle also makes white chocolate chips that I found at Lucky's. If you have either of those stores you might check and see if they carry them. A friend who has a child with a LOT of food sensitivities (he can eat about 5 things, so I feel bad complaining about my diet!) said if you go to the help counter in Whole Foods and tell them what your sensitivities are they will give you list of all the products they carry that have ingredients you can eat and if they don't have it sometimes they will try to get something for you. I haven't tried it yet, but if there's a Whole Foods in your area it might be worth a try. (They are often too expensive for me, I stick with Trader Joe's, but I know they aren't in as many places.)

[Sera]

michreev, maybe you just consumed too much sugar in one period of time? Do you normally eat that amount of sugar combined with no reaction? What else have you been consistently eating that contains sugar? I'm sorry you had a flare =( and I do agree and recommend introducing a new food for three consecutive days before trying another new food. I'm even taking it a bit more extreme and introducing a new food once per week, mainly becauase if I have a flare I want it to be on the weekend and not when I am working or at college.

[michreev]

You know, that's a good point. I never really thought about the sugar content as being a potential issue. I don't normally consume that much sugar in one day, or at least not since my diagnosis. I was trying to overcome the post-Halloween-I-can't-have-candy blues, but I may have just overdone the sugar intake. Thanks!

[judy45]

the IC Shop has some great carob chocolate bars and ones with caramel and almonds and my favorite has toffee, which I never even knew I liked! I use these when I am craving chocolate and they are perfectly safe and yummy!

[elamar]

I generally don't like white chocolate - might as well be eating wax! But tobelerone makes a white chocolate that is actually good! Those are the triangle shaped bars. I can find them at my military commissary at McGuire AFB during the holiday season. I don't really like gummy type candies. Caramels are OK. Again, I have tried to avoid too much sugar to keep my yeast in check. Sugar also causes inflammtion in the body. Good luck.

[tangerine3]

this is so funny that this topic is at the top of the list. last night my mom flew in from CA and she brought some carob chips that I had asked her to bring, since she can't bring me salami and wonderful San francisco sourdough bread to me any more:mad: I ate one and swear it made me flare almost immediately and all day today, it is subsiding now though.

Has anyone had a bad reaction to carob. That's ok I didn't like it anyway. but just wondering. It is the only food so far that has (i think) gave me a bad reaction. I stick to the diet pretty good.

[krisillis]

When I crave something sweet I have werthers originals, salt water taffy, a baked sweet potato or if I'm feeling really naughty a steamed vanilla soy milk from starbucks.

Christine