addicted to chocolate

joeyboy12345

Hi folks
Im looking for some help on how to give up chocolate. My diet is fairly good as in i eat lots of fruit veg,meat and fish, no microwave meals,always cook my meals, takeaway only at weekends but not every weekend ect. My big down fall is chocolate!i eat it every day,maybe multiple times a day!at this stage i dont even go for a normal dairymilk as i know it wont be enough, i go straight for the big sharing bars!😕😕 im not at fat, im 5 11 and 180kgs but i know its not good for me!can you please help?

Glen_Quagmire

There must be a typo there, you said you're not that fat but are 180kg..

Try change to dark chocolate, its supposed to be a better alternative.

Alf Veedersane

joeyboy12345 wrote: »

Hi folks
Im looking for some help on how to give up chocolate. My diet is fairly good as in i eat lots of fruit veg,meat and fish, no microwave meals,always cook my meals, takeaway only at weekends but not every weekend ect. My big down fall is chocolate!i eat it every day,maybe multiple times a day!at this stage i dont even go for a normal dairymilk as i know it wont be enough, i go straight for the big sharing bars!😕😕 im not at fat, im 5 11 and 180kgs but i know its not good for me!can you please help?

Go for dark chocolate 80%+ cocoa as your chocolate of choice. It's nice but you're less likely to eat as much. But if you do, then you need to look at just straight up giving it up.

If you really want to give it up you will. But if you keep telling to yourself that its an addiction and that it hasn't affected your weight too much, then you won't give it up. You need to actually want to give it up.

No one makes you buy it. Don't buy it and it's not there. Make the right choice when you're shopping and it takes away the option of making the wrong choice at home. The former is far easier to do.

joeyboy12345

Glen_Quagmire wrote:

There must be a typo there, you said you're not that fat but are 180kg..

Lol yes i meant 80 kgs!

endacl

Best and only way to stop eating chocolate is to stop eating chocolate.

May seem like a smart answer, but it's not really.

marialouise

I used to be the same and just slowly cut it down over like a year, and then cut it out/only have 85% around. I could easily demolish a bar still but I don't keep it in the house, don't crave it, and don't buy it.

Start by reducing it. Allow yourself to have it every day (if you go cold turkey you'll possibly just binge on it), but try the 100g bars, then the smaller bars etc. Also if you find you eat too much in one go, break it up into phases - e.g. 50g twice a day is nicer than 100g in one go. If you can learn to appreciate just a taste instead of the whole bar, it's half the battle. Then buy smaller and smaller bars....

Eventually see if you can go ONE day without chocolate. One whole day. Allow yourself a sugary alternative like granola bars or even a protein bar which would actually have some nutritional value in it (I recommend Fulfil Peanut and Caramel - delicious!). Then see if you can cut those out too.

See can you go one day without chocolate each week! Allow yourself something else instead. It's not necessarily a sugar addiction you're battling maybe, it's really eliminating chocolate, so just find other sweet alternatives. Eventually try and replace these with healthier alternatives like fruit. If you feel a craving, take a walk to distract you, or something to take your mind off it.

A little bit of it now and then is fine, but I mean you also need to appreciate this is an addiction. You know it's not good for you, you've got excuses ("I'm not fat" etc) but there's just no reason you should be eating big huge bars of chocolate multiple times a day. Perhaps there is a psychological issue which needs addressing also?

Lady is a tramp

Use an app like myfitnesspal to track your calories. Do it for two weeks, tracking religiously every morsel you put into your mouth. Don't change your eating habits for these two weeks, unless you want to.

I'm not a fan of strict calorie counting in the long term - it's not sustainable, unless you haven't much of a life - but in the short term, it would be a real eye-opener of how many calories you're consuming in chocolate for feck all nutritional value. Chances are it'll be enough to make you think twice in future, even if you don't stick with the app.

marialouise

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

Use an app like myfitnesspal to track your calories. Do it for two weeks, tracking religiously every morsel you put into your mouth. Don't change your eating habits for these two weeks, unless you want to.

I'm not a fan of strict calorie counting in the long term - it's not sustainable, unless you haven't much of a life - but in the short term, it would be a real eye-opener of how many calories you're consuming in chocolate for feck all nutritional value. Chances are it'll be enough to make you think twice in future, even if you don't stick with the app.

I wholeheartedly agree with MyFitnessPal being eye-opening, it is a wonderful short term exercise to see how you're doing nutritionally.

I know we haven't heard from the OP, but I think their issue is the addiction itself, as they say they have a healthy balanced diet, are not fat but know it's not good, so I don't know if MFP will only confirm it for the OP, I don't know if it's enough to bring about change. It is a great tip, worth trying!

GBX

I have stopped taking sugar in my tea/coffee... what I used to do was have lots of extra sugars as I drank these: Chocolate being the biggest culprit. Id bring multiple bars of chocolate to work and buy loads for at home with my cuppa.
I just said "Im cutting it out" Ive been doing quite well and have started execising more too.

You will find the will to do give up chocolate if you wish.

Macy0161

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Go for dark chocolate 80%+ cocoa as your chocolate of choice. It's nice but you're less likely to eat as much. But if you do, then you need to look at just straight up giving it up.

Yeah, did help me eat less for a while. But my taste buds adjusted and I could eat it as readily as "normal" chocolate now, so it isn't a long term fix for will power in my experience!

Alf Veedersane

Macy0161 wrote: »

Yeah, did help me eat less for a while. But my taste buds adjusted and I could eat it as readily as "normal" chocolate now, so it isn't a long term fix for will power in my experience!

Totally get that which is why I added the caveat for when you find yourself eating as much.

I prefer dark chocolate so I know it wouldn't be useful to me to have a great big bar of it but it works for some.

conzy

As mentioned above do not buy it. Its so much easier setup an ideal environment rather than constantly "spend" willpower on not eating the chocolate. If you go to the press / fridge and your options are meat and veg and dairy you are not going to binge.
Buying a "share" bar is the worst thing you can do, I for one have never shared one in my life

I dont think 100% restriction of anything is healthy. A few times a week go to the shop and buy A bar. Like one 2-300 calorie bar. Enjoy it with a tea / coffee, move on. You could even do that twice a day.

the important thing is not having it in the press at home if you dont have the will power to avoid it

ford2600

Not sure there is consensus as to whether there is such a thing a food addiction.

Interesting discussion here on food reward signaling

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.ie/2011/10/case-for-food-reward-hypothesis-of.html

Chocolate is rings a lot of bells in brain with sugar and fat present and salt. Pringles and the like probably worse.

I eat very clean but it's funny how when really full after a proper meal(and I mean something big, 500g of burgers, loads of veg, fried spuds and maybe 100g of added fat) and you can't eat another thing. Next thing there's a mention of chocolate/ice cream etc. Probably a worthwhile trait for most of evolution, not so much now.

Taking control of your food environment is probably one of the more important things you can do if you struggle with weight/food choices

Blacktie.

ford2600 wrote: »

I eat very clean but it's funny how when really full after a proper meal(and I mean something big, 500g of burgers, loads of veg, fried spuds and maybe 100g of added fat) and you can't eat another thing. Next thing there's a mention of chocolate/ice cream etc. Probably a worthwhile trait for most of evolution, not so much now.

This actually has something to do with how tastes interact with hormone signals to the brain. If you have something sweet before dinner you'll be much less likely to "have room" for dessert afterwards. I've only recently found out about this from one of the more recent episodes of Sigma Nutrition.

rondog

I suffered from the same addiction.Used to love a bar of choc with a cup of tea but was eating too much sugar so decided to cut down.

I started eating Kinetica toffee protein bars and found them deelish plus they have around 25 grams of protein and are decent with regards nutrition and low in sugar.

Id eat a good few of these a week but im still WELL below the sugar content that I was previously taking in and im getting a good amount of protein in aswell.

I pan on cutting down but everything is fine for me at the mo.Weight and all bloods(checked recently) all ideal.A year ago,when I got my bloods checked by blood sugars were very high,since I switched to the Kinetica bars my levels are now in normal range.