Would this be an improvement on eating chocolate? Or would it be worse?

[Chocccg]

I eat so much chocolate and I know it’s so unhealthy. Aside from that I do eat generally well and I’m not overweight. But I know I eat too much sugar as I can easily eat say three Mars bars in one night or two packs of biscuits etc.

I’ve tried cutting it back and not buying it as often but find it incredibly hard. I wondered if I put a bit of sugar on fruit would that be a start to improve or is that actually more sugar than what’s in a bar of chocolate?!

I am a chocoholic or probably a sugar addict. I need to find a way to reduce my side intake as it goes up and down. I get it under control and then I spiral again and have spiralled. Personally I don't go for sugar on fruit as fruit is a completely different beast to me but it can help if you feel the need for something sweet. What helped me more is actually having a small amount of chocolate instead. Instead of a bar of chocolate after dinner I might have a piece of dark chocolate, which I find can satisfy my cravings without being moreish.

The chocolate packet will tell you how much sugar is in the chocolate,

Google or a weighing scale will tell you how much sugar is in a teaspoon and Google will also tell you how much sugar is in the fruit (but I don't personally count that!)

Seriously, wouldn't you be better off just having less chocolate than sugar on fruit?

I’ve found that when I’m craving chocolate, what I actually want is the sweet hit.

What about switching to something like a boiled sweet and seeing if that satisfies the craving? If that works, then once you’re off the chocolate craving, switch to a spoonful of sugar and continue to reduce

I agree with the dark chocolate suggestion, it worked for me. As a PP said, it's not as moreish, so I don't get carried away.
As i wasn't used to it though, I started with the lowest cocoa dark chocolate, then worked my way up through the percentages (higher percentage has less sugar), so I'm at 90 percent now. I tried 95 but it's nasty lol. So 90 percent for me. Nibbling away at one square is enough to satisfy me.

As for the fruit suggestion, it works for some, but didn't work for me, as I would have my yummy fruit (no added sugar needed), but then I'd still be wanting my chocolate afterwards.

Eat cheese instead

This however only works if you are quickly satiated by cheese. If you're a cheese monster you'll need a different approach

I don't like fruit much, nor am I keen on sweets, and I don't take sugar in tea or coffee. I do like chocolate. So I don't think it is the sugar in chocolate that does it for me, it is the chocolate itself. I prefer plain chocolate to milk chocolate as well.

And this is why all the “just has a few squares of dark chocolate” posts will fail. The OP is unlikely to be craving cocoa.

Most likely it’s sugar/calories because she’s not had enough food through the day (given she’s not overweight /gaining weight from this, she’s obviously not having enough calories from her main meals for her body), you don’t fix that in the evening when you are hungry by swapping out for a lower calorie snack, you fix it at breakfast lunch and dinner by eating more “real” food.

@Chocccg try a handful of almonds each time you want sugar. Almonds have something in them that stop sugar cravings (from someone who likes sugar, it works).

Another go to is a healthier sweet. Pitted medjool dates with some nuts inside - almonds, cashews, pistachios. You can't eat many and they have the added bonus of fibre.

What about something like strawberries with two squares of melted dark chocolate drizzled over the top? Feels decadent but it's really a much smaller amount of chocolate than you're eating now

A complete reset isn’t actually that helpful I’ve found.

I did a 4 week sugar detox, kicked off with 3 days of no carbs or starchy veg either. It was awful, and a month later I’m pretty much back to my high sugar diet (with some changes, but nothing that will be having a huge impact I don’t think - mostly more water and fruit teas instead of sugary drinks). It was an awful detox too, I’ve never been so ill…

try making your own versions? A lot of chocolate bars now have so many UPFs that you don’t get satisfied from the sugar and fat in them. Try your own- not even necessarily without the sugar. Just without the other shit.

There are 228 calories in a standard size Mars Bar, 151 calories in a Snacksize bar, 80 calories in a Funsize and 355 calories in a Duo pack.

Calorie and Nutritional Information for a Standard Mars Bar
Serving Size 51g

1 Bar/51g
Calories 229
Protein (g) 2.3
Carbohydrate (g) 35.4
of which Sugar 30.6
Fat (g) 8.6
of which Saturated Fat 4.2
Salt (g) 0.3

I agree with this. I have a Freddo or Little Bar every day. I factor it into my macros.
At the moment I'll have a tiny Malteser bunny. I enjoy the taste of something sweet to round of a meal and that is enough.
I think you'd need to gradually drop down to 1 per day though.
If I ate 2 Mars bars a day I'd be obese. It's crazy how differently our bodies react to the same things ay

@WheretheFishesareFrightening sorry, my post was a bit misleading. What I mean by a “reset” is not some crazy sugar free, carb free detox. I just mean not eating things like chocolate, biscuits etc on a daily basis and instead eating a balanced diet free from too much sugar and minimal UPFs.

i used to be a chocoholic. I actually ate a pretty decent diet but used to have quite a lot of chocolate every evening. I craved it so much I almost felt panicked it I didn’t have any at home! I decided to just stop buying it and after a few weeks my cravings were gone. I still have some chocolate occasionally - but not in large amounts on a daily basis.

Fruit with added sugar won’t replace chocolate. You might as well eat a spoonful of jam. You need either to stop buying chocolate or ration yourself if you have the self discipline. All the people I know who really struggle to lose weight eat chocolate.

Dark chocolate. Much better for you and you don't want as much. Or dates..which are gorgeous!

or rice cakes with a chocolate coating?

I went cold turkey after realising I was addicted to sugar. I decided that even fruit or sweetener didn't work for me as it just fed my addiction to sweet stuff. Like a pp says, it's changed my taste buds - anything seems too sweet for me mow.

My experience wasn't awful by the way. I'm simply unable to stick to a small freddo a day - for me its all or nothing.

Hypnotherapy/hypnosis can help with food/sugar cravings. They often arise from linking chocolate/biscuits with feeling happy as a child. Fine when someone else is in charge of the availability, but once you're an adult and have unlimited access to food based self-soothing it becomes a problem. Updating the internal operating system is generally quick and effective.

OP hasn't come back to confirm the biscuit/bar size or the spoon size.

At least Twixes are vile now so I can’t eat them anymore.

Good plan Stan

Here speaks someone who has never had an issue with food.

Dark chocolate will help OP. It's how I come off sugar after the likes of Christmas etc. 85% or above. Just break off a segment and it'll stop the cravings.