Stop Eating Chocolate All of the Time

Chocolate cravings can be incredibly hard to stop, especially if you have been indulging in a bar or two of chocolate each day. Although research has shown some benefits of chocolate, these benefits are outweighed when we consume too much chocolate and take in large amounts of saturated fat, caffeine, sugar and an array of sugary and fattening flavorings and fillings. In other words, the healthy impact of chocolate comes from a few pieces of the finest quality now and then, not from any old chocolate consumed in large quantities, all the time! If you think it might be time to pull back on the chocolate consumption, wikiHow is here to help you find the strength.

Steps

  1. Be realistic and don't be pessimistic. If you make a decision to completely deprive yourself of chocolate, your habit may well escalate! Any time you make a decision to give up something totally, you totter on the edge of falling back into your old way any moment and then finding even more excuses as to why the old habit is perfectly justifiable and doesn't need changing. Rather than taking an all or nothing approach, make a decision to cut down on, rather than cut out, chocolate from your way of eating. Since chocolate makes most people feel good, it has its own way of making us want to come back for more...[1]
  2. Allow yourself to truly love the chocolate that you do eat. In an era of "nutritional philosophy" as Michael Pollan terms it,[2] we're heavily focused on taking the pleasure out of eating food and we've stopped savoring it. In other words, it's much easier to scoff down a large Enjoy a Chocolate Bar unthinkingly than it is to eat just a few squares and truly immerse ourselves in the experience of how it tastes, what its aroma is like, feeling the texture, etc. And the moment you start to Overeat and Not Feel Guilty about your chocolate eating, there is a risk of becoming stubborn, sneaky, and making excuses instead of finding a more gentle way to enjoy chocolate. Research at Northwestern University's medical school has even shown that different parts of the brain are activated depending on whether we view eating chocolate as rewarding or something to be avoided.[3] Decide to change your mindset about how you eat chocolate and you will find yourself eating less of it but enjoying it more:
    • Savor every piece of chocolate. Notice its various tastes from Select Cocoa Beans for Chocolate Making to flavoring in the chocolate. Notice its texture. Notice its aroma. Slowly eat each piece and avoid wolfing down piece after piece as if you can't wait to get the bar out of your sight. Instead, keep the chocolate in your sight for as long as possible, consuming it mindfully, slowly, with a passion for it.
    • Read How to taste chocolate for more details.
  3. Change the type of chocolate that you eat. Reducing chocolate intake can be achieved by improving the selection of chocolate you do eat. Out with the over-sugared, fat-saturated common chocolate bars ("candy chocolate") available everywhere, and in with the more expensive, refined, and darker, more pure chocolate brands. The increase in cost will benefit you considerably because you just won't be able to afford quality chocolate as often as the run-of-the-mill junk chocolate and this is a good thing, for chocolate turns into an occasional treat.
    • Go for quality in small amounts rather than eating large amounts of poor quality chocolate. Quality chocolate high in cacao content and low in sugar and fat is good for you in small amounts as the cacao beans contain a high level of antioxidants.[4] It should only be eaten as a condiment, and one to two squares of quality dark chocolate after a meal each day rather than as a snack is acceptable nutritionally speaking.[4]
    • Good quality chocolate is high in cocoa and generally lacks fillings and artificial flavorings and colorings. If you avoid "candy chocolate", suddenly a lot of chocolate choices are off the menu and you will find it easier to enjoy quality chocolate properly on suitable occasions.
  4. Schedule occasions when you can indulge in eating a little quality chocolate. Instead of blindly turning to chocolate when you feel an energy slump or you're bored or it just happens to be sitting in front of you, choose your chocolate eating times with purpose and intent. As part of this choosing instead of reacting to unconscious triggers, map out the times when you will eat chocolate, such as after a sports game or a hike, during a weekly family movie night, on the weekend only, or when having friends over, etc. Also map out the times when you're likely to reach for it, such as during the afternoon slump or when you feel bored, and reach for a glass of water or a handful of nuts or sultanas instead. Do something rather than letting boredom be the source of your desire to munch away.
  5. Stop tempting yourself with chocolate. A simple response to preventing your Pavlovian salivation is to remove chocolate from sight and to cease Hide Your Candy Stash from Other People it in large quantities in places where you can easily access it, such as at home, in your bag, or in the office. Don't keep chocolate in the house – temptation is only at the reach of a hand when you keep chocolate stashes in the home. As an added bonus, if you don't have chocolate but have to make the effort to get it, you'll not only think twice about going to get it from that delightful boutique chocolate store on the other side of town but you'll burn up calories getting there!
    • Avoid places where chocolate is on display. Walk on the other side of the street rather than by the window of that sweet little chocolate shop. When you go to the grocery store, avoid walking by the chocolate aisle. At the checkout, try to go for the checkout that is confectionery free, or simply look elsewhere.
  6. Eat other food before chocolate. If it's mealtime, eat your meal first. If it's snack time, eat healthy snacks such as carrot sticks, Nuts and Seeds, gum, fruit, small amounts of dried fruit or celery sticks before having a piece or two of chocolate. You may not even want the chocolate with the other flavors in your mouth.
  7. Drink water. Sometimes it is easy to confuse being thirsty with a craving for sweets or chocolate.
  8. Consider whether your daily Control Cravings may be a form of food addiction. Chocolate contains chemicals that make us feel good, namely the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and phenylethylamine.[1] If you're in need of a psychological boost, chocolate can often fit the bill because it gives you a brief boost that increases your sense of well-being and acts like natural Prozac.[1] The challenge for you may be unearthing the reason why you need a constant psychological boost rather than masking it with chocolate popping. If you are relying on this aspect of chocolate regularly, it may be that you need to face underlying reasons as to why you seek chocolate as a source of medicating or calming yourself on a daily basis. If you are stressed, suffering from anxiety disorders, feel overly shy, or you aren't quite sure what's wrong, seek professional assistance to deal with the root of the problem.
    • It may be the fat and/or the sugar, it may be the caffeine or Manage a Chocolate Addiction, or it may be other elements in chocolate that cause the addictive nature. To test this, cut out candy chocolate (high in sugar and fat), then proceed to switching from chocolate to cacao. In this way, you might discover which part of the chocolate eating has caused the addition and you find chocolate or cacao that you can consume without ending in a chocolate addiction. Try raw cacao nibs. With cacao, you get all the benefits of chocolate (high magnesium content, the neurotransmitters, and a chocolate high) without the unhealthy additions of sugar and fat.[3]
    • Keep a journal that records both when you eat chocolate and the feelings associated it. If you can identify the eating pattern, this will go a long way to identifying problem feelings that need to be dealt with through other methods than chocolate sedation.
    • You might like to consider Satisfy Your Food Cravings With Perfume, chocolate bubble baths, Make Chocolate Soap, chocolate scented candles or other sources of chocolate scents as a way of meeting your need for the uplifting side of chocolate without actually having to consume it as well.

Tips

  • Every time you feel yourself being lured to the cupboard, brush your teeth a bit, then you'll have that minty mouth feeling that makes you not want to eat or drink anything. By the time it wears away, your craving will have gone.
  • Eat fruit when you want chocolate. It slowly changes the kind of sugar craving you have.
  • Accept those times in life when the only comforter on Earth is chocolate; sometimes these days happen and once in a while, giving in to this need will not harm you.
  • Have a well-balanced meal in order to not get addicted to a certain type of food. Remember, too much is never good.
  • Instead of regular chocolate eat dark chocolate then slowly cut down the amount you consume and before you know it you don't need it anymore.
  • Carob is still a source of saturated fat and does not contain the same elements that make chocolate so delicious. If you make a decision to substitute carob for chocolate on the grounds that it will be a fair taste substitute and that it is healthier for you, you are going down the wrong track. It is better to eat smaller amounts of high quality chocolate than to indulge in supermarket quality carob drops that contain hydrogenated vegetable fat, sweeteners and just as many calories. If you genuinely enjoy carob, by all means eat it but also keep it in moderation and seek quality versions of it.
  • You may eat chocolate occasionally, but only if you think that you won't become addicted to it again.
  • Chocolate can bring on headaches in some people (it has a high content of phenylethylamine). If you notice such a connection when you consume chocolate, you have an added incentive to cut down. Heartburn and acid reflux can also occur from eating chocolate. Unfortunately, chocolate is also a culprit in swelling, so downing it at that time of the month may be counterproductive![5]

Warnings

  • You may become addicted to whatever you are using as a substitute for chocolate. If so, recognize that you have an addictive nature when it comes to food and find coping techniques for dealing with this.

Things You'll Need

  • Quality chocolate
  • Alternative snacks and water
  • Journal

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 David Wolfe and Shazzie, Naked Chocolate, p. 71, (2005), ISBN 0-9653533-9-7
  2. ↑ Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food, p. 54, (2008), ISBN 978-1-59420-145-5
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 David Wolfe and Shazzie, Naked Chocolate, p. 92, (2005), ISBN 0-9653533-9-7
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sarah Bearden, Nutrition in essence, p. 10, (2006), ISBN 978-0-340-92730-4
  5. ↑ Health Assist, http://www.healthassist.net/food/side-effects/side-effects.shtml 29 Side Effects You May Not Know

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