Addicted to Chocolate

LegacyUser

As the title says, I am literally addicted to chocolate. I gave it up for Lent, and towards the end of Lent I was doing great. Feeling great, my head was clear, my mood swings were gone. The day before easter, the craving got intense so I had one little egg and the frenzy started again. I said to myself and other people, after being successful in not eating it for three weeks, that i wouldn't have an easter egg and i wouldn't touch chocolate again. but i did and now i am a crazy, emotional wreck. I am on antidepressants but I stopped taking them and haven't felt the need for them while off the chocolate. but now i feel i need them again. i know it's an incentive big enough to stop eating chocolate altogether, but i feel guilty now for eating it in the first place, which spirals down to a depressed feeling, making me needy for more chocolate and then it spirals more out of control. I don't know how to make it stop...

Lamp69

chocdep wrote: »

As the title says, I am literally addicted to chocolate. I gave it up for Lent, and towards the end of Lent I was doing great. Feeling great, my head was clear, my mood swings were gone. The day before easter, the craving got intense so I had one little egg and the frenzy started again. I said to myself and other people, after being successful in not eating it for three weeks, that i wouldn't have an easter egg and i wouldn't touch chocolate again. but i did and now i am a crazy, emotional wreck. I am on antidepressants but I stopped taking them and haven't felt the need for them while off the chocolate. but now i feel i need them again. i know it's an incentive big enough to stop eating chocolate altogether, but i feel guilty now for eating it in the first place, which spirals down to a depressed feeling, making me needy for more chocolate and then it spirals more out of control. I don't know how to make it stop...

I think you need to go easy on yourself. I eat choc every day and I'm diabetic. You could be addicted to something worse than chocolate. But I know it's causing you a lot of guilt so maybe see a counsellor to sort it out

amdublin

Google a lchf diet - low carb high fat diet - it is the only thing that keeps the chocolate cravings away for me.

Penny Tration

I'd be more concerned with getting your mental health under control before focusing on chocolate.

Did you stop your meds under medical supervision, or just stop taking them? If you just stopped, what you're feeling now could be withdrawals.

shaymus27

Eating rubbish is a habit that has been there for years.

It's hard to just not eat chocolate. You should replace it with fruit you like (not bananas).

Eat an orange/... after a meal to provide a more natural sugar.

Eat fruit or something healthy before you think you will get a craving for chocolate to stave the craving away.

If you had a goal to work to it would motivate you to avoid chocolate. To lose weight for example.

The happier you are the more you will want to look after your health and eat less rubbish.

I think it is impossible to eat a little rubbish every day so cut it out completely

It looks like eating chocolate makes you feel low and you need your anti-depressants more then. Start to view chocolate as poison as it is poisonous to your mental health.

See your GP about your situation.

No need to feel guilty about eating chocolate. We all know it is bad for us yet we do it. You are not alone in doing that. Doctors smoke.

Give up the chocolate, it is ruining your life. Work on your self - esteem. Try get some happiness in to your life.

It is very possible to give up chocolate and rubbish, feel better physically and mentally. You need to change your diet and stop eating anything that makes you feel bad and only eat things that make you feel ok or good. Your mood will improve.

Remember the tv programme you are what you eat. People felt sluggish etc and after they improved their diet they felt physically and mentally better. You can too. You may need help to do this.

You can change.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

santana75

Have you ever read "The Chimp paradox" by Prof Steve Peters? I strongly urge you to take a look at it, really think it would help you to understand, and deal with, whats going on beneath the surface here. On the face of things you could argue, sure its only chocolate, there are worse things to be addicted to, but thats not facing up. Its obviously something thats causing you big problems so its definitely worth facing head on and sorting out.

Windorah

Just throwing out my two cents but maybe your whole diet and lifestyle needs revision.

Check out "whole30" or Gaps Diet. Both are very strict elimination diets, from my understanding, but one of the many benefits is improved mental health and well being as well as reducing sugar cravings.

shaymus27

Windorah wrote: »

Just throwing out my two cents but maybe your whole diet and lifestyle needs revision.

Check out "whole30" or Gaps Diet. Both are very strict elimination diets, from my understanding, but one of the many benefits is improved mental health and well being as well as reducing sugar cravings.

OP,

You would be amazed how much better you will feel if you improve your diet.

You obviously have to sort out how you think and how you lead your life.

If you are going to give up chocolate and rubbish I recommend doing it completely. Replace chocolate with fruit (not many bananas) and keep yourself occupied as if you have too much time you will be thinking of the rubbish.

skirtgirl

" Replace chocolate with fruit (not many bananas) "

Off topic but what have bananas got to to with this?

shaymus27

skirtgirl wrote: »

" Replace chocolate with fruit (not many bananas) "

Off topic but what have bananas got to to with this?

It is tempting to eat lots of bananas as they are an easy to eat, tasty fruit.

Bananas contain potassium and too much potassium can have a negative affect on your health.

I have seen doctors recommend people not eat too many bananas.

I have eaten loads and haven't keeled over yet but I have cut back after realising that you can over-do potassium in you diet.

CassieManson

shaymus27 wrote:

I have eaten loads and haven't keeled over yet but I have cut back after realising that you can over-do potassium in you diet.

How many bananas is too many? I eat one per day and really miss it if I don't

Chemical Byrne

Was the chocolate eating before you gave it up problematic? ie as in causing you weight, dental or other health problems?

I wouldn't trivialise this addiction due to it being only chocolate, if it is causing the OP distress it is a problem to be dealt with, provided or course that chocolate is the actual source of the problem and no other psychological issues underlie it.

You had a relapse op, it happened. Try not to beat yourself up over it as it's done and is water under the bridge. Look at the positives - you successfully managed to abstain for 3 weeks, when before you were at it every day! Quite the achievement, well done! You must look to the future - tell yourself you will aim to surpass that length of time and then do it.

Do you think you could get into a routine of having a healthy amount of chocolate, ie confining consumption to, say, chocolate desert once a week while eating out with a friend? That might not be possible though if you have a highly addictive personality.

Rubberchikken

don't be so hard on yourself,
talk to your gp and then start fresh again.

chocolate isn't bad. it would be one thing if it was the only thing a person eats, but if you get your normal day-to-day food sorted then a bit of chocolate won't harm you.

take care

Chemical Byrne

In my last post I am assuming that the chocolate consumption was at problem levels, ie causing weight or health issues, displacing proper proper food from the diet and following an addiction like pattern. If that is the case then something needs to be done.

However I'm concious that if its just your normal everyday type of choc consumption that's not causing any major problem in itself and this determiniation to give it up is causing such great stress, then it is possible that there is some other underlying psychological factor at play here that needs to be addressed rather than the chocolate issue itself. Abstinence of the sort practiced for lent should not cause this type of distress.

shaymus27

CassieManson wrote: »

How many bananas is too many? I eat one per day and really miss it if I don't

I eat two a day sometimes but I watched a programme recently about a man who tried different diets. He was English but went to the States. He consulted his doctor in England via webcam about each diet.

One of the diets was based on fruit.

His doctor on the webcam recommended eating only one or two bananas a day, I can't remember - I think it was only one but am not sure. I still eat 2 a day when I am driving and need a boost and am not worried but the doctor did specifically caution about eating too many bananas due to over-doing potassium.

The programme was on recently at around 9 on bbc or ch. 4. I think the man's father died young and he wanted to live longer.

The doctor's advice is given via webcam when he talks to her about him trying that fruit type diet.