Taming the Beast: Control Chocolate Cravings

Many people have cravings for certain foods or activities at different times in their lives. There are some people that have salt cravings which is either due to a deficiency in their body or due to the habit of using salt on their foods. There are other people, such as pregnant women, who will have strange food cravings, wanting to mix the most bizarre ingredients together in a meal, such as pickles and ice cream. There are also certain cravings that will occur at different times of the month for some women, such as craving either salty or sweet foods, or a mix of both. Many times the sweet foods are chocolates, which have their own chemical reasons for causing certain people to crave them as a treat.

Taming the Mind

Since there is not a physical addiction that can be formed to chocolate, controlling chocolate cravings has to do with curbing the mind's draw to eating chocolate. If the mind can be controlled, the body can be too and the chocolate cravings will not be out of control any longer for that individual. There are chemicals in the chocolate that stimulate the mind, releasing certain chemicals that make the individual feel euphoric or at least at peace with the world. Since this is the case, the mind is more drawn to the chocolate, craving this peaceful feeling as well as the delicious taste of the chocolate.

One way to control the chocolate cravings is to distract the mind whenever the craving comes upon the individual. The person needs to plan ahead what he is going to do the next time that he has a chocolate craving. In order to control it, he must find something to do with his hands and mind so that he is consumed with that activity for the twenty minutes or so when the craving is the strongest. If he can pass the twenty minute mark, he is usually able to control the craving for the day, or at least until a few hours go by and the next craving comes around.

Another way to control the chocolate craving is to exercise. Since the chemicals in the chocolate cause feelings of euphoria and wellness, exercise is a good substitute since hard exercise also creates those feelings. In addition, exercise helps to control the chocolate cravings by getting the individual out of the house where the chocolate can be found, so it prevents its consumption by location.

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