I need motivation to give up cheap children's chocolate!

[artemisandaphrodite]

For a few months now I've really been getting into my exercise and now walk and swim regularly and am enjoying it a lot. I feel like I'm in the habit now and love how strong it makes me feel.

HowEVERRRRR, all that doesn't count for all that much if I can't nip to Tesco for a pint of milk without shoving a couple of Dairy Milks in my basket ... or a pack of Club biscuits ... or 3 Creme Eggs, and I scoff them ALL, usually. Or have a great surge of willpower and shove the remaining packet in the bin sometimes, but that's obviously not good either - total waste of money.

I think the fact I'm not actually overweight is part of the problem - I'm flabby and cellulite-y, but only about 9.5 stone at 5'4'' so nothing drastic, but I think that reduces my motivation to kick the habit. But it's embarrassing, inhaling bloody Maltesers aged 40!! Stupid stupid stupid.

Has anyone got any good tips to kick the habit and stop me buying stuff? Should we do it together???? I think what I need is to be presented with the hard evidence about what all that chemical crap - hydrogenated oils, palm oil, soya lecithin and all that chemicall-y jargon - will eventually do to my body. Has anyone had a wake-up call with this?

I also like a bit of reverse psychology and remember someone saying (possibly on here) that they had kept a Crunchie in their handbag for 6 months or something now, as a kind of willpower test ... not tried anything like that but may give it a go.

Any more tips?! I want to be healthy, not just slim and fit, and I know eating all that crap (every day, pretty much) is doing me no favours. Oh, and my face is looking old and shit too, and i know it wouldn't be if I just stuck to the fecking spinach smoothies!!

There was something linked from Facebook the other day saying that... "sugar is not food. Just because it has calories in, doesn't make it a food. Your shoe, or polystyrene packaging, has calories in it, but you wouldn't eat that, would you."

There was a recent thread about the book French Women Don't Get Fat and despite its many faults and limitations, the author's main thrust is about quality not quantity (and in the MN thread it was applied to clothes shopping as well as food!)

If you can get a taste for grown-up luxuries then a small quantity of something really divine will satisfy the craving (possibly).

I've got my children eating Lindt 70% so it's surely possible for an adult to get accustomed to it!

I read an excellent book about mindful eating a few years ago but unfortunately I don't think it's been translated into English (Maigrir sans regime by Zermati) however I believe that Paul McKenna is similar. To summarise, focus on what you eat, don't eat on the run, enjoy each mouthful and stop when you're nearly full.

The way I like to think of it is: does this contain nutrients or just calories?

I eat for health - I have never counted calories - and my weight is healthy and stable. That said, I think it's perfectly possible to enjoy the odd biscuit or cake too. But day to day I cook from scratch, eat lots of fruit and veg and wholegrains and try to eat everything the least processed possible (I always eat full-fat dairy, real butter, etc).

I eat at least 3 squares of dark chocolate a day, as far as I'm concerned it's a health food!

Dark chocolate all the way: Moser Roth from Aldi or Green & Blacks. I had to persevere at first but I'd never go back to milk now. I'm not that interested in the dark vs milk health debate, I just think dark has more flavour, gives me a better 'hit' plus I don't want to eat as much of it.

Thanks, this is interesting. I do stick to full-fat milk and real butter (though buy spreadable as well in winter!)

I would love love love to get accustomed to dark choc (and have me eat Lindt 70%, never mind my DC! )

But isn't Aldi stuff notorious for being packed full of crap, though?

I'll join you! I'm exactly the same. Pretty healthy diet, walk everywhere, 5ft 4 and 9 stone.......but, I can easily gorg on a jar of nutella, packet of mini eggs, couple of creme eggs etc. I definitely binge on something everyday and I have no self control. That handbag crunchy would last 5 minutes here.

I'm going small this week by saying I can have treats, but only if I eat them sitting down, noticing every bite. I'm also going to keep the house empty of crap.

I think it depends what you buy from Aldi but, as I say, I don't choose it for health reasons but because it tastes so good! I only eat a couple of squares a day and the rest of my diet is reasonably good e.g. I rarely eat cake or biscuits so, within reason, I'm not too worried about what's in it.

Curious, one of the few things I can stick to is only buying the small jars of Nutella, as I can easily finish them too ... Treats sitting down? Hm, might work ... I stuff too much in mindlessly while sitting in the car though Good luck on keeping the house junk-free!

I behaved the exact way you describe until this month when I decided to stop buying chocolate and sweets. I began eating low carb, there is a boot camp on MN with info threads. The first days were really tough and I realized that I was actually addicted to sugar. Its been nearly two weeks since I started now and I feel better, I only get mental cravings not physical. Its such a relief to not be a slave to the sugar cravings.

Training yourself to like foods is easy - just keep eating it! Your taste buds need to build up a tolerance first, then you'll start to appreciate it, then they live it - you've probably nagged your kids with the idea. It's actually part of growing up I think - the emotional resilience to keep in mind that it's not poison and not the worst sensation in the world. I did it with tomatoes (started by not picking them out of sandwiches), smoked salmon (started with Tesco sushi picnics at mum&baby cinema club), proper coffee, proper chocolate. The cake fussiness is because I bake my own. I am still working on olives and bananas - I force myself to eat one about once a year. I may start on gin next - can't stand it but it seems more grown up than spiced rum which is my favourite.

Artemis and curious-do you get enough fat and protein do you think? It's easy when you eat 'healthily', especially with fat, to fall short of what your body needs (especially at breakfast/lunch) and that can lead to cravings for sugar (even if that isn't what your body needs)...

My trick is to frequent a very naice hand made chocolate shop in our town (sells chocolate box size not bar sized chocolates). I buy 7 individual chocolates, or 8 if I feel like pushing the boat out.

I allow myself one a day, or end up trying to save them for the weekend, if they are gone, they are gone. So I have chocolate hit, it's good quality stuff, and I'll savour it.

The other tricks I used to break the cadburys habit, buying dried fruit (sainsburys died mango with lime is lush) and lots of fresh fruit so I had something other than chocolate in the house (still sugar, but breaking the chocolate habit), and having non-sweet 'picky food' in (cold cooked chicken, cashew nuts etc) so you can snack without having sugar.

and doing online shopping so I'm not walking round the supermarket being tempted. I always make sure we have bread and milk in the freezer so if we run out midweek I can use that rather than face temptation in the supermarket.

Unfortunatley, my good work has been undone by Christmas and I'm finding myself craving sugar again...

Sorry I meant it's simple, not the same thing as easy. Think about those tv shows where people face their phobias and discover they won't actually die of fear. Likewise food you don't like - if it's better for you than the food you do like, you have to make that choice.

I keep my morning snacking down with porridge made with whole milk and a few berries from the freezer/dried fruit depending on mood. The frozen berries are nicer IMO than any others you can buy in the supermarket but are too soft to use except in porridge/yoghurt/cooking.

And I haven't eaten cadburys since they dropped the coco content. It tasted cheap and greasy when they made the change and I refuse to touch it out of principle.

I do bake a couple of times a week, but I won't scoff home baking like I would cheap supermarket biscuits.

I think the G&Bs 85% choc is the easiest one to eat, I don't know why but it's less waxy and has a better flavour than the 70%, don't put it in the fridge, have a square with a cup of tea. I'm currently sugar free, I find it's easier to go cold turkey than to eat in moderation.

You have my sympathy OP. I'm struggling with this since working in a city centre again.
One comment on your OP though - throwing away half a chocolate bar isn't wasting it. You've already spent the money and you have to allow yourself to throw some away if you get part way through and remember it is actually wax painted brown not real chocolate.

Hi OP - I totally get what you are saying. It could be me writing it.

I am slim and in general have a healthy lifestyle. But I recently realised that because of my addiction to chocolate and sweet treats in general I was actually having massive amounts of sugar and bad processed fats on a daily basis. So I would have a really lovely and healthy dinner, but then follow it with a block of chocolate.
So since late last year I have decided to stop. I still have occasional treats - e.g. A piece of really nice home-made chocolate for a family birthday.

I normally eat very healthily, even more so now I can't eat much saturated fat, and now prefer salads for lunch and eat M&S big bags of buts and raisins or just nuts as snacks. (No one else's nuts are as nice). I would now also rather have a couple of squares of Montezuma's dark chocolate than anything by Cadbury's.

Changing what you eat us tough at first. Giving up (most) saturated fat for me has been like giving up sugar in tea. After a little while the thought of lashings of butter makes me feel queasy, and I don't like the richness. I gave up sugar in tea gradually but gave up saturated fat by just stopping eating it.

Despite all of the above, the only thing that I can't stop eating is M&S dark chocolate Florentines. They are rich and buttery and totally gorgeous. And addictive. Any other biscuit I can stop at one or two: with them it's 4. I now know that I just must not buy them, as I simply can't stop. Weird, but it is a simple solution, ie just don't buy them, and buy something I can stop eating instead.

I think that avoiding buying things that you can snack on helps - you can't eat part of a flake as it is too messy so you can't open it & think you are just going to have one. Also eating more protein helps as you are fuller longer. I don't have any more than that - but last night in sainsburys I didn't buy any of my normal vices as I have been on a more serious than normal exercise campaign.

I'm not doing too well atm as we still have some Xmas "quality" street and similar hanging about, but normally what I do is buy posh dark chocolate - green and black's or lindt - and when I want chocolate I have a small square or two with a cup of tea or coffee, and often dunk the choc to melt it slightly, it's a bit of a ritual so I can take time to enjoy it rather than just gobbling lots of dairy milk.

I'm sure you can go MUCH posher, I need something I can pick up at the supermarket but if you are a choc lover you could experiment with the really fancy stuff to keep you interested. Earl grey flavoured and what have you.

I eat chocolate pretty much every day and I wouldn't want to give it up. And it's not actually that bad for you, it's the added oil, sugar and crap in cheaper chocolate that is the problem. I can keep it minimal if I do the above. It may all go slightly tits up when I have pmt though

Yes. Posh organic dark chocolate is the way forward. I have a plan. Thank you,

I'm five days into giving up large amounts of sweet chocolate marzipan. I allow myself one small bar of 85% dark in the evenings, which satisfies my chocolate need.

I've gone from an intake of 60 grams if sugar in the evening to approx 3 grams. The results are motivation enough - my skin is already better (painful bumpy spots gone), I sleep quicker and better and I feel better. I don't want to lose weight either, just break the habit of eating sugary crap!

Ps Aldi chocolate is good and s

Sorry - packaged separately in small bars. Now I eat one 85% bar, not four! You will get benefits very quickly from cutting down, so it generates its own motivation.

Vanity is my big motivation - I have just bought some fairly expensive face cream, so I don't want to waste that money by gorging on sugar.