11 replies to this topic

[Old grandpa]

I've begun eating 50 grams of dark chocolate regularly for about a year now. I've noticed that my chess rating has improved about 300 points to just over 1700 and my reaction time and reflexes have improved. I'm 57, so this is a big difference for me. I haven't had a chess rating this high since my 20s.

It's a weird effect but if I drop something, it seems to move in slow motion. I know how it's going to fall, I can easily track it, and I always catch it. My sense of balance has also improved and I can catch myself before any falls. I feel more sure of my steps. My wife plays a word game that gives you letters randomly placed in a circle and you form words from them. She'll hand me her phone and say, "What's this word?" And I'll look at it and instantly get it, like I'm not thinking, I just see it.

Whatever it is, it's transitory, because if I forget it for a week or so, my chess score begins dropping rapidly. I just don't see things and I'll lose ten or fifteen games in a row. Eat dark chocolate and it starts climbing again. Anyone else noticed anything like this?

Edited by Mind, 15 January 2022 - 09:34 PM.

[Mind]

I eat super dark chocolate every day. Most research says this should be very pro-longevity, however, I am worried that most chocolate has higher levels of heavy metals than most foods.

[Old grandpa]

Everything is a double-edged sword. Is it possible to source cocoa without heavy metals?

Do you think it's helping and do you mind if I ask your approximate age? It's hard to deny my chess rating rising and falling concurrent with chocolate use. I don't think it's placebo because I wasn't expecting anything.

Btw, I enjoyed your interview with Patrick Theut. I'm new here and browsing a lot of older content.

[brendan1]

What % cacoa?

[Old grandpa]

82%. They make higher but I can't stand the taste.

[Mind]

I eat everything from 70% up to 100%. I think it is healthy. It gives me some small amount of energy because it has caffeine in it of course.

 

The raw cocoa nibs and powder I use (Navitas) is supposed to be organic and not have as much heavy metal content.

[geo12the]

I love really dark chocolate. It's the ultimate health food.

https://www.nutraing...cocoa-flavanols

[Galaxyshock]

The dark chocolate I usually buy is only 47 % cocoa but tastes good. I used to buy those 70-90 % dark chocolates sometimes but they taste very bitter. I've also bought some raw cocoa nibs which actually tasted fine. Theobromine is the main xanthine alkaloid in cocoa. https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC4335269/

[Old grandpa]

So how does one empirically test reflex and reaction speed?

I swear this is eerie. At my son's house over the weekend we were shooting a game of pool on his new table. He went to make a shot and I heard a bang and I KNEW he had knocked over my beer sitting on the table, without seeing him do that, and I spun around without thinking and caught my beer bottle before it hit the floor. Everybody in the room cheered, it was such a good save. Just this morning I set a bag on the piano, and once again, I KNEW from the sound that I had knocked a small bottle off the edge and I reached down and snatched it halfway to the floor before it hit.

The other only confounding variables are I'm doing Turnbuckle's mitochondrial fission/fusion protocol. Yesterday was a fission day but Sunday at my son's was a fusion day. And I'm doing alternate day fasting but again, yesterday was a fasting day and Sunday was a feeding day.

I would like some way to compare my reflexes to those of my age group. I would post videos of my results.

[Old grandpa]

I should add this--- In no way am I bragging because this is probably normal here at Longecity, but I've tested as low as 142 and as high as 149 in IQ, so probably in the middle. I used to have exceptional balance. I could walk on my hands, do back flips, balance things my nose, etc. So I don't think I'm gaining any extra, just getting back to where I was in my youth. Also, I did a lot of drinking and drugging in my 20s-40s, so my current attempts to live healthier could be a factor.

[Old grandpa]

So on fusion days I'm taking 50 grams dark chocolate, 20 mg. Sulphoraphane (not precursor), 1 gram AKG, 20 mg. PQQ, and 1 gram GMS, first thing in the morning with my coffee. Fission days are 100 mg. Fisetin, 1 gram AKG, 100 mg. Apigenin, 2 grams Niacinamide, 5 grams D-Ribose and 20 mg. PQQ. I'm eating paleo-ish on feeding days, whatever amount I want but with an emphasis on beef and vegetables. One small salad with a little fatty fish (sardines, tuna, anchovies, or salmon) on fasting days. So every other day I'm now eating 50 mg. dark chocolate, but prior to this fission/fusion protocol I was eating 50 mg. dark chocolate every single day.

[Old grandpa]

Last post I'm allowed. I suspect dark chocolate may be at the base of these effects because I noticed them before starting either of these regimens. But it does seem to have kicked into overdrive since I started the fission/fusion protocol.