I think I am addicted to chocolate.

[Sara]

I know. That probably sounds funny and I'm sure a lot of people are saying, "So am I." But I'm saying this in all seriousness. I really am struggling to stop eating chocolate. I crave it in a very intense way and I will eat it any way that I can get it as long as it is chocolate. Do you think it is possible to be addicted to it and if so, can someone *please* give me some suggestions on how I might stop eating it? I am so frustrated with this. I tell myself I'm not going to eat any more chocolate and by 5 pm each day I'm begging dh to stop and pick me up some M&Ms or something, anything to give me my fix. :shrug

I hope you're not laughing at me. :)

[apbfmom]

I am right there with you. I was addicted to chocolate, and ate it (in the form of candy) at least 4 times a day. Like you, if I didn't have it, by the evening I was running to the store to get my fix. That's when I decided this was enough, I had become a slave to my cravings (and managed to gain 10 pounds over the winter because of it).

What worked for me was a combination of things. 1. I started following a devotional/renewal program called Becoming The Woman I Want To Be by Donna Partrow. 2. I decided to give up chocolate (and hamburgers, fries, and soft drinks) for Lent. 3. I lean on God when the cravings start.

It was very difficult during the first week, but each week it became easier. I started eating more fresh fruits and to replace my absolutely must have a sweet at night habit, I started eating a frozen fruit popsicle. I feel so much better now. No more headaches or heartburn, and I've lost 8 pounds.

I wish you strength as you work to overcome this issue.
Lara

[jmom]

! I totally think I am crazy when I think I'm addicted to chocolate. Thanks for the op and for the suggestions.... Hope they help me too.

Nak :cup

[MarynMunchkins]

FWIW, I crave chocolate only when I'm eating the cheap stuff. If I splurge on the expensive dark chocolate, I eat much less of it less often. Unless I'm PMSing...:P

[crunchymum]

SO not laughing at you... i understand. :shifty

did you see super size me? in it, they had a nutritionist or something talking about how, when a heroine addict od's, they give him a shot of something to block the opium receptors in his brain. the drug gets blocked or whatever, then he 'comes out of it'. if they give the same shot to a chocolate addict, they will lose any interest in the chocolate. :wow so i think it can be a very real addiction!

i have 'gotten off' chocolate before, but only if i can push through the cravings for a few days... i agree with mary, if i get super quality chocolate, i only eat a little and i'm ok. :mrgreen (see? it IS a drug! :lol)

i don't know if i would ever give it up completely... it's very relaxing and enjoyable to me. but when i get crazy about it, i know it's time to back off.... ;)


i think my mom once told me if i was craving chocolate, i had a calcium/magnesium deficiancy... maybe you have some sort of nutritional need?



see, now i don't have any in the house and this disscusion is making me want some! :rolleyes :hkiss

[momofmany]

Yup, I've heard about the calcium/magnesium deficiency theory too... I use it as my excuse :lol

[schoolofmom]

My mom used to be addicted to chocolate. She couldn't go a day without eating it--literally would act like an addict coming off her drug of choice till we got her some. Then when she got on PRISM (weight loss program) she started taking a magnesium supplement and the cravings really did disappear like magic. So, I take one during PMS week in addition to my normal prenatal (for nursing), and I avoid that poundage I used to put on every month! ;) Of course, from your pic, you don't look like you need to watch your weight at all. But if you feel enslaved to it the magnesium might be worth a try!

[Sara]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I definitely have some ideas to go with now. The weight is just a very small part of it (I lost about 40 pounds last year and don't want to put that back on), but the biggest issue is that the chocolate makes my face break out terribly. :( Aside from the fact that it looks awful, it also *feels* awful because it hurts terribly! Whenever I eat more than just a bite or two of chocolate my face, which is normally very clear, breaks out with cystic acne (isn't that what it is called when they are large and under your skina dn hurt terribly?).

I'm doing pretty good coming off of the little Easter binge actually. I've been taking my vitamins and supplements (which I had been neglecting to do) and I really think that helps curb the cravings some. So far, I've eaten one miniature Hershey's chocolate bar (yesterday) and 2 Hershey's kisses (today). That's pretty good considering what I ate last week (which I'm not even going to talk about, LOL!).

[Gretchen]

Sara,

I don't have experience with craving chocolate specifically, but I definitely do get sugar cravings that border on addiction. For me, an all or nothing approach seems to work best. I have given up sugar completely for periods of time (Lent, etc.) and that works well for me. The first couple of days are hard but once I get through that I'm okay. I have found that drinking a few ounces of orange or apple juice in the early afternoon helps me get through those first few hard days. That helps with the sugar weaning process.

I gave up for sugar for Lent this year and felt fantastic, but I had a bit of an Easter binge, and yuck. Back to clean living tomorrow, LOL.

Gretchen

[milkmommy]

FWIW, I crave chocolate only when I'm eating the cheap stuff. If I splurge on the expensive dark chocolate, I eat much less of it less often. Unless I'm PMSing...:P


I'm the exact same way.. wander why I think I savor the more expensive stuff ans am more aware exactly how much I've consumed.. while I can o through a bag of hershey kisses in one sitting :O

Deanna

[Mamatoto]

I used to be the same way. :cookie Then this week I would see chocolate or cookies and not even *need* to eat them. I was thinking, "What on earth is wrong with me that I don't have to eat this stuff?" Then I realized that I have started taking cod liver oil daily for the past two weeks. Apparently my body was desperate for some fat and so I craved chocolate. Now that I am getting the good fatty acids I no longer have the craving. :wow :idea

[mama2grace]

Hmmn...I will have to check into the calcium/magnesium deficiency thing. I thought I remembered a deficiency in something causing you to crave sweets. I definately love my dark chocolate. I try to keep small pieces of dark chocolate around and one piece will satisfy a craving.

[Kaz]

I am SO addicted to chocolate too. sigh. I am ashamed to admit it, but we went grocery shopping lastnight and I bought two *blocks*...ate one lastnight and one today. I just cannot leave it there in the cupboard. And we're talking cocoa-rich quality choc too.

And I'm also addicted to toast. If it weren't for chocolate and bread I'd have lost my preg-fat by now.

We all have our addictions..I think its a way of avoiding certain emotions...not merely the biological addiction of the sugar/caffiene/whatever. Sometimes just to sit with those emotions instead of running to the kitchen takes lots of ' courage'. Most of the time I can't do it. :shrug
The only times I've been free of these addictions were when I was truly at peace..but it takes a lot of inner work and 'oneness with God' to get there and more often than not I just coast along in a generally spiritually out-of-tune state and scoff the chocolate. :think

[TillSuper6]

Oh yes I can so relate to the chocolate addiction. I use to have those heshey kiss stashed all over the place. Well when I did a cleansed I was able to stick to that except for chocolate. When I found out that most of the commercial chocolates has all those fillers and partially hydrogenated oils, and heard of the benefits of an occasional piece of dark chocolate. I bought one bar of organic high quality dark chocolate and I have had that bar a month. I just break off on square and savor it and my craving is gone. I guess I will get a calcium/magnesium supplement and see if that helps. But I still do like my chocolate :hkiss

[jujubnme]

Boy, I've been struggling with this too, ever since the Halloween candy season--then Christmas, Valentines Day and now Easter, and times inbetween. :blush :blush It really has sabotaged all attempts at weight loss. I'm going to try the calcium/magnesium supplement along with the good quality dark chocolate. Thanks for bringing this up.

[cobluegirl]

Hey am reading a book called "potatoes not prozac" that is talks about sugar addiction..very good book....lots linked with depression too.

[Soliloquy]

Add me to the list of the chocaholics! Ditto, ditto, ditto! If I can go a few days, I can go week! But, give me one piece and I start craving it again!

Exercise and just not having ANY sweets in the house is what I have to do. If I work out first thing in the morning, I don't have cravings. But, if I don't, then I start looking for sweets. When I binge on chocolate I feel so sick and unhealthy. And, I worry about the example I'm setting for my DD. She's never had chocolate (only 14 months old) but I don't want her to see me on this roller coaster. If banning it from my house is the only way I'll be in control, maybe that's what I'll have to do. But, I'd rather develop a healthier attitude toward it, be able to enjoy it now and then, and know when I've had enough.

This is a little off-topic but bear with me . . . Has anyone read Ellen Sater's books? She wrote How to Get Your Kid to Eat, but Not Too Much and Child of Mine: Feeding With Love and Good Sense. Anyway, the gist is that we're born with the ability to regulate our food to meet our bodies needs, but when parents interfere and try to control our eating, whether it's to force us to eat more when we're full or deny us food when we're hungry, we learn to ignore our body's signals of hunger and satiety. She tells parents to keep healthy food in the house, prepare healthy meals and snacks with a variety of foods, and let children serve and feed themselves.

I think that whenever we can't control our eating, it's because we've ignore the mechanism God put in our bodies to tell us when we're hungry and full. Lately I've been trying not to worry about whether my meals and snacks look like they're too big or small, but what my body tells me I need to eat. It's helped me to stop eating when I'm full if I know I can eat again if I get hungry.

Just some thoughts . . . sorry if I ventured too far off topic!

[Kaz]

Imanske, thanks for sharing about that book you read. It sounds really interesting. i am also concerned about dd imitating my poor food habits. And I've also heard that what you feed them in the first 3 years especially, sort-of writes their tastebuds for life.

I am all for making food a non-issue, trusting kids to their saiety awareness and setting a good example with lots of interesting, healthy food. It really would be good though to beat the problem before she becomes aware of it. Hmm :think