How often have you said "I neeeeeed chocolate!" - with a groan, in desperation ..
When we're tired, moody, or just feel like a pick-me-up, chocolate is often the go-to snack.
And with so much information out there that chocolate is a great source of healthy antioxidants, why not?
Well, if you have endometriosis you may want to reconsider. It may be making your endometriosis worse for 2 reasons.
1 - Sugar.
Most chocolate contains a lot of sugar, especially white and milk chocolate, and very little real chocolate. For example, the normal dairy milk chocolate from Cadbury's contains 14 grams of sugar per serving (4 squares, but who stops at 4 squares once you get going?). That is 3 teaspoons (or more)!!
Sugar is a known inflammatory food: it plays havoc with your immune system and increases your overall inflammation. And inflammation is at the core of your endometriosis. So ... more sugar means more inflammation .. means more endometriosis.
2 - Chocolate
Even if you go for low sugar, dark chocolate or even raw cacao, some of you may still making your endometriosis worse.
The cacao in chocolate contains histamine.
You probably know that when you have an allergy like pollen, your body produces histamine in response to the pollen particles. The results is inflammation in your nose, back of your throat, etc. Histamine is not just produced in response to an allergen, it is also found in many foods, including chocolate.
Some of you will have a histamine intolerance, which means that your body is super-sensitive to histamine. So it will respond to histamine in food with ... you guessed it ... inflammation.
Even if you don't feel that chocolate is a 'trigger food' for you (read this article about trigger foods and why it's not enough to just remove them from your diet) it is likely to still make your overall inflammation worse and as such, your endometriosis.
What could you have instead of chocolate for a pick-me-up? Try an apple or a banana or other piece of fresh fruit (except citrus). They provide great energy with some added nutrients that will help fight your inflammation.