Many people find they can’t stop eating chocolate and so conclude they are addicted.  But is there any truth in chocolate being addictive or are we just too weak to resist it?  Well, the truth is, chocolate is addictive in 2 ways.  Chocolate can be physically and emotionally addictive.

Physical Addiction

Chocolate Targets The Same Spot In Your Brain As Heroin

Although chocolate doesn’t affect you as strongly as heroin, it still affects your brain and you can still become addictive as you may well know.

On top of having opiate properties, chocolate also contains caffeine, theobromine (a strong stimulant similar to caffeine that affects the nervous system, particularly the heart), phenylethylaminphy (an amphetamine-like substance) and also traces of compounds similar to THC (the active ingredient in Marijuana).

So as you can see chocolate is full of addictive properties. But chocolate also contains sugar, milk and dairy products which also have highly addictive properties.

The best way to overcome these issues is to quit cold turkey but also to make it easy to quit cold turkey, you need to nourish your body properly. When you eat healthily and the right food you will not have intense cravings.

Chocolate can also, of course, be emotionally addictive. Like many other foods, chocolate is frequently used to comfort us.

Emotional Addiction

Emotional addiction to chocolate involves using chocolate in times of stress, boredom, depression and to cope with life.

To determine whether you are an emotional eater read this article: Are You An Emotional Eater? 6 Signs of Emotional Eating

If you still are unsure, take a few days to observe yourself and write down what triggers your cravings for chocolate. If they are related to stress or emotion, then you know you have some emotional eating tendencies at the very least!

The best way to deal with emotional eating is:

1. Become aware – by doing the observation task above you will know what your craving triggers are.

2. Learn to do something else to unwind instead of eating – To help you do this you can spend time writing a list. Sometimes having time alone to simply feel the emotions is all you need, other times you may feel a walk is more helpful to you. If you find that you are bored in the evenings and this is a time you will eat the most, then being creative or being active will better suit you. Write a list of things you have always wanted to do or activities that will satisfy your creativity. Make your lists specific to the emotions that trigger you chocolate cravings.

3. Get support – sometimes its simply not enough to work on it yourself and you may need someone to talk through your feelings to stop you reaching for food. Try to find someone supportive. Alternatively a great website for emotional eating which also has a forum is ShrinkYourself.com. ShrinkYourself.com also has lots of useful articles on emotional eating and offers a great 12 week intensive emotional eating program if you find you can’t cope alone. For more information about this program Emotional Eating Program.

Hopefully this should be enough information to get you started on your road to overcoming chocolate addiction.

Many people, especially women are addicted to chocolate. Some even prefer it to sex. But what exactly is chocolate’s appeal?Well first of all chocolate is an addictive substance. Chocolate targets the same area of your brain as heroin, and although not to the same degree as heroin still have a powerful hold over many people. I know that I would go out especially, even at 1am, to get my chocolate fix. Those few moments of pleasure seemed worth it to me.

Eventually though, we can all become sick of our lives evolving around chocolate. It might not seem so bad having chocolate once in a while, but then it turns into everyday, several times a day and you wonder why you want it so much.

You can overcome chocolate cravings, I did. It was easier than I initially thought. Once I knew how to eat properly and eat a TRULY healthy diet I managed to completely eliminate my physical cravings for good. The book Combat Your Cravings helped me in my battle and it can help you too.

However, physical cravings were only half the battle for me. It was easy to give it up once I ate properly, but there were the moments of emotional distress that lured me back to chocolate. I used it to comfort me; I used it to soothe me. Instead of working out and focusing on what I really needed, I just numbed myself with a big ol’ chocolate bar!

So I started to observe myself and started noting down what feelings triggered my cravings. I then started to work through my feelings – allowing myself to feel and also getting support. A great book that helped me was Shrink Yourself. It really opened my eyes up to why I was so reliant on chocolate. The guy who wrote Shrink Yourself (Roger Gould) also has an online 12 week intensive program to help people overcome emotional eating, if one struggles to do it alone. The website also has some great resources as well and a great selection of useful articles on the subject.

Anyway once I was able to overcome my emotional needs for chocolate and start really addressing my true underlying needs and desires. I managed to quit chocolate for good. I don’t miss it. I don’t feel deprived. Chocolate tasted great and I love it, but it didn’t love me back. It just made me moody, irritable and miserable. I am so glad that part of my life is over with!

Stop Chocolate Cravings

“Please take me seriously when I say I am addicted to chocolate because I AM. No matter what I do I just can’t go a day without it. Even though I don’t buy it I still end up making a special trip out just to get my hands on some. I know that it isn’t doing me any favors because I end up feeling really grumpy and irritable especially when I don’t get it. Not to mention it isn’t exactly doing wonders for my wasitline~! What can I do to overcome this in the easiest way possible?”

Sound familiar? Many people really feel addicted to chocolate and it isn’t surprising when chocolate stimulates opiate receptors in the brain (not to degree of heroin but enough to keep you coming back for more and more).

So what can you do to overcome this chocolate addiction as painlessly as possible? First to overcome the physical cravings you experience for chocolate you have to eat right. Your diet plays a key role. If you want to overcome the cravings without having to really fight against them, then give yourself the right foods. One key food that most people do not eat enough of is fruit. Eat as much fruit as you desire before every meal and if you crave eat 4-5 pieces of one type of fruit. When we crave we crave for two reasons. The first reason being that we have not eaten enough, so we crave nutritionally. We go for the chocolate because this is the habit we have gotten ourselves into (even though it isn’t nutritious our body will search for the first and best familiar food item). If you eat 4-5 pieces of fruit and continue to so with physical cravings, you will find this will be the new habit you pick up. You will also feel satiated and quickly as fruit is easily absorbed and contains nearly all the nutrients the human body needs.

If physical cravings are the only thing you have to worry about then this should be enough to overcome them very easily. Make sure you do not even have a little piece of chocolate as a “treat” because after the first bite it is much harder to resist.

The second reason we crave is due to emotional triggers. In a society that uses food for comfort, celebration and mourning, many of us from an early age have adapted to use food as a way to comfort us and to repress emotions. This can be ok if it is on the odd occasion, but for some we do it more often than we should. Those emotions need to come out at some point so better now then never.

The best way to tackle the emotional addiction to chocolate is to know what triggers the cravings for chocolate. Once you know the triggers you can then start to make a plan of action to stop yourself giving in to the craving and also to replace the craving with something much more healthy when resolving emotions. There are some great articles available at Eating Naturally for emotional eating and there are also some great tools at ShrinkYourself.com.

Chocolate craving is a common occurrence among women. It can consume us especially when our period is about due. Most women simply give in to their craving and don’t think that it is that big a deal, but for others the cravings are so intense that it becomes almost life consuming. If you are turning your house upside down to find chocolate or going out late to specifically get chocolate you are not alone! 90% of women experience chocolate cravings but often it is not taken seriously enough.